The Divine Sister at Vagabond Players

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All religion is a mania. And the maniacs are going to be coming after Charles Busch (the farce-loving playwright) for The Divine Sister. How do you solve a problem like Maria? Or a problem that you— ‘can’t face’? (Put that one in a British accent while you’re at it) well…take a hearty dose of holy high hilarity down at Vagabond Players to close out their 110th season. Whoever greenlit this one as the season closer has got a bone to pick with the big guy upstairs… or big girl?

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Bounce at Strand Theater 📷 Shealyn Jae Photography

Bounce at Strand Theater Company

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author: Erin Tarpley

 

“You’re my wife and I’ve grown to like you”

Relationships are complicated.  Familial, romantic, religious, friendships, cultural, marital… you name it.  Nothing is ever completely easy.  But these different types of relationships have a way of further complicating things when they come together in a sort of spider’s web of rules and expectations that can both entwine and suffocate any individual.  And in Somnia Mari Feral’s world premiere production of Bounce,

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The View UpStairs at Iron Crow Theatre

The View Upstairs at Iron Crow Theatre

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author: Ryan J Bordenski

Something big, bold, and beautiful is happening in Baltimore, and it’s here just in time for Pride Month! That’s right: we are talking about The View Upstairs, over at Iron Crow Theatre, directed by Sean Elias, stage managed by Haley Baugues, assistant stage managed by Lauren Marsh and Janell Hill (special shoutout to Hill for the iconic spotlight moments), and produced by Natka Bianchini. This queer musical debuted Off-Broadway in 2017,

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Something Rotten! at Theatreworks Live 📷Matthew Peterson

Something Rotten! at Theatreworks Live

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It’s… a… musical! A Mus-i-cal! Theatreworks Live is doing an amazing musical! With song and dance and sweet romance and happy endings by happenstance! They’re giving you bright lights— stage fights— and a razzle-dazzle ensemble…oop! Nothing rhymes with ensemble! But it’s still… a… musical! Yes! A Musical! In fact, it’s Something Rotten! on their stage, that’s the musical! That’s right, they’re fancy! And they are bringing you moments of culture and art and a whole lot of talented young performers who just can’t wait to show you all of their singing,

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Monica Tulia Ramirez (center on horse) as Inez Milholland and the company of Suffs 📷 Joan Marcus

Suffs at The Hippodrome

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Lifting as we climb, onward and upward we go! The rallying cry of Suffs— women on the march! Women on the move! And these women will show you who they are as they march for justice, for freedom, for equality! And they’re bringing that march right through the heart of Charm City— to Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre! The First National Tour of Suffs plays a limited week-long engagement at The Hippodrome and it’s playing in one of the most crucial moments in history.

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Emma at Everyman Theatre 📷 Teresa Castracane Photography

Emma at Everyman Theatre

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You can’t control everything, Emma! But isn’t it fun to watch her try!? Yes! Yes it is! And far more than fun— it’s practically a divertissement of the most jubilant nature; it’s a rather uproarious, madcap enjoyment! Emma, the Jane Austen classic— as recently adapted by Kate Hamill for maximum rom-com tomfoolery— is situating itself onto the Everyman Theatre main stage as the final production of the 2025/2026 season. Directed by Laura Kepley,

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The Mannequin at We Happy Few

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author: Erin Tarpley

“She has no ideas or wishes of her own at all: where you put her, there she stays”

I am remiss to admit, that before this weekend I had never heard of the brilliant Madame Germaine de Staël; but then, this was one of the objectives for the initiative “Expand the Cannon” as their {We Happy Few} mission “uncovers and uplifts classic plays by women & underrepresented genders – and is a call to action to produce them.” 

Having experienced Parisian life both before and after the French Revolution,

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Just Off Broadway

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How now, summer spirit? Have you brought us hot ice and wondrous strange snow? Or a mess of Athenian lovers, a Faerie Brawl, and some Rude Mechanicals all dusted up in one moonlit spell? All of that, says you? Then you must be alluding to A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Just Off Broadway! The first of the Bard’s ilk to tread the boards at JoB and it’s a sensational production under the keen and goodly direction of Mistress Kelly Williams Carlson,

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(L to R) Gillian Shelly as Martha, Steven Todd Smith as Nick, Maureen O'Neal as Honey, and Aaron Angelo as George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf at Ardeo Theatre Company 📷Michael Mason Studios

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf at Ardeo Theatre Company

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We all peel labels. The most innocuous, seemingly mundane line to not only land but stick indefinitely from a production that has arguably thousands of lines to choose from or resonate with. Edward Albee and Betty Brevity are not besties (spoiler: neither are she and I!) but there’s a reason his verbose textual structure has garnered him the success and accolades that it has through the decades of his works’ existence. But that one line— “we all peel labels” is the most brutally exacting descriptor for what’s happening in this current production of Who’s Afraid of Virigina Woolf?

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Every Brilliant Thing at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

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13. Being wholly in the moment with that one companion who just sees you no matter which you that you are in that moment, feeling loved, seen, and appreciated by that whole person and their whole being as you are being your whole self.

28. Face Glitter.

422. Home-grown Nasturtium blossoms

649. Not understanding how time can move so quickly and so slowly all at once and not at all.

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Maya Keleher (center) as Alice Paul in the First National Tour of Suffs 📷 Joan Marcus

Finishing The Fight: An Interview with Maya Keleher on leading the charge in the First National Tour of Suffs

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They’re merely soldiers in petty coats? Right? Think again, Mary Poppins, these are not your grandma’s suffragettes. I mean, technically, from a timestamp point they’re you’re grandma and maybe even your great-grandma’s suffragettes, but this is a whole new spin on the movement and after its critical success on Broadway, it’s currently touring its way across the nation as a part of the Broadway Across America series. What show? Suffs, of course!

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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at The St. Gabriel Miracle Players

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at The St. Gabriel Miracle Players

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In the end, there’s quite a prize if you can see with more than your eyes. And you’ll have to bring more than just your peepers along for the ride if you truly want to experience Charlie & The Chocolate Factory at St. Gabriel’s Miracle Players. You’ll need to bring your— IMAGINATION! Based on the novel by Roald Dahl, this newer musical theatre adaptation has more grizzly outcomes for the children as they traverse their way through Wonka’s chocolate factory and The Miracle Players are doing the best they can to bring you wonder,

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Shakespeare Bites with Theatre Students of Brooklyn Park Middle School (Apex Arts)

To Play Or Not To Play: An Evening of Performance with Apex Arts

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Shakespeare is a thief. Theatres are haunted. Live theatre is best served with comedy. This year’s spring showcase for the Theatre Students of Brooklyn Park Middle School (Apex Arts program) has a bubbly mixed-bag of topics presented in two parts— the sixth graders performing Live Theatre and the seventh and eighth graders performing Shakespeare Bites, both written by CJ Crowe, a teaching artist working with theatre students as a part of the Apex Arts program.

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Joshua Grosso (left) as Nick Carraway, Lila Coogan (center) Myrtle, and Will Branner (right) as Tom in The First National Tour of The Great Gatsby 📷 Evan Zimmerman

The Great Gatsby at The National Theatre

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author: Steven Kirkpatrick

Based on the iconic Jazz Age novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby rolls glitteringly into the National Theater from May 12th-24th. This 2023 musical adaption features music and lyrics by Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen and a book by Kait Kerrigan. It opened on Broadway in 2024, then had its European premiere in 2025, followed by this North American tour in 2026.  Should you attend?

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Rent at Street Lamp Community Theatre

Rent at Street Lamp Community Theatre

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author: Lisa Standish

Entering Street Lamp Community Theatre is always a treat, but their current production of Rent takes their signature intimacy to a whole new level. The beauty of this venue lies in how the creative team transforms a modest space into a completely immersive experience. As you walk in, the set greets you with a surprisingly childlike quality—featuring a slide and scaffolding—that serves as a reminder that despite the heavy themes of the story,

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Becca Korn (foreground) as Narraboth and Maya Catoe (background) as Page in Salome at The Rude Mechanicals 📷 Rachel Zirkin Duda

Salome at The Rude Mechanicals

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Theatre is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.

If you’re feeling a little nostalgic checking in with that opening line then you’re on the right path.

How you doin’? Betcha you’ll be da bomb after you hit up the current production of Salome with The Rude Mechanicals at Greenbelt Arts Center. Conceptualized and directed by Wes Dennis, this Oscar Wilde…adaptation doesn’t seem like the right word here,

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The Mouse That Roared at Salem Players

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Has your country gone broke? Are you about to have to go back to the ‘dark times’ where only one pomegranate per household per year? Are you on the verge of total extinction in your five-mile by three-mile country that NATO likely doesn’t recognize? Then have we got a solution for you! Why, declare war, of course! On the United States! Because there’s no conceivable universe— past, present, future, or otherwise— where you could win that war,

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The cast of Hadestown (teen edition) at Children's Playhouse of Maryland 📷 Kelly Williams Carlson

Hadestown (Teen Edition) at Children’s Playhouse of Maryland

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They will make you see how the world could be, in spite of the way that it is. They will sing you a song so beautiful that it brings the world back into tune. And where are you going? You’re going way down— Hadestown (Teen Edition) – way down under the ground. 21 young performers, one old, sad song— and they’re gonna tell it. They’re gonna tell it again. Children’s Playhouse of Maryland is living it up on top with their stellar and sensationally charged production of Hadestown (Teen Edition) and it will move your heart,

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Livin’ It Up On Top: The Graduating Seniors of 2026 from Children’s Playhouse of Maryland Chat About Their Final Show- Hadestown

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Way down… Hadestown… way down under the ground. And it’s the show that has swept the nation, captivated the hearts of my generation and their generation and the graduating seniors (class of 2026) at Children’s Playhouse of Maryland could not be more enthusiastic and passionate about getting to perform in it as their final production with CPM. In the fourth annual “Graduating Seniors Interview” we’ve sat down with this year’s group— a total of five individuals,

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Shakill Jamal (top) as Trinculo, with Vince Eisenson (center) as Caliban, and Matt Harris (below) as Stephano in Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's The Tempest 📷 Kiirstn Pagan Photography.

The Tempest at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

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Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a Duke o’er-thrown

That ended him and his daughter dear, on an island all alone.

Though not so alone as they thought they were— among spirits of earth and air

And then a conjured-magic sea-spun storm that brought their en’mies there.

The plot then thickens there, my friend, and there’s so much more to say

About the entities and denizens that populate this play

Magic.

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Sam McLellan and company in THE BOOK OF MORMON North American tour 📷 Julieta Cervante

The Book of Mormon at The National Theater DC

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author: Charles Boyington & Steven Kirkpatrick

 

How is it possible that a show which revels in profane shock words and satirical (even blasphemous) humor, is simultaneously one of the sweetest, most life-affirming and faith-affirming shows you will ever see? How is it possible that every jab of satire is matched with such lovely, uplifting charm that you’ll be cheering and swaying along with Elder Price, ready to affirm too,

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Ann Morrison (left) as Kimberly and Marcus Phillips (right) as Seth in the National Tour of Kimberly Akimbo📷 Joan Marcus

Kimberly Akimbo at The Hippodrome Theatre

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It’s Saturday night— in Baltimore City— and there’s parties everywhere— but we’d rather be at Kimberly Akimbo! Which is in Baltimore City, at The Hippodrome Theatre, through Sunday evening, truth be told! And this is the ugly-cry-feel-good musical that you didn’t know you needed. Evocative and tender, filled with the mots profound emotional expression of laughter-through-tears, this stunningly realistic musical that highlights familial and life-living dysfunction without glorifying it or shying away from it is exactly what the world needs right now;

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You Can’t Take It With You at Spotlighters Theatre

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author: Chris Pence

Do Not Be Stingy With The Blintzes: You Can’t Take It With You at Spotlighters Theatre

Now, stop me if you’ve heard this one: What do you get when you cross a tax-evading retiree, a wannabe playwright, a fireworks-obsessed husband and his best friend, a dancer, a xylophonist, a jealous housekeeper, a drunken actor, two Russians, a Scot, a Wall Street bigwig and his wife, some star-crossed lovers,

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4am Friends at Endangered Species Theatre Project 📷 Michael Mason Studios

4a.m. Friends at ESP Theatre

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We’ve all got our crew. Our people, our peeps, our “I need help moving a body”— Grey’s Anatomy defined it as “our person.” And several of us have a small army or contingency, but we’ve all got our ‘4a.m. friends’ as the tile of Endangered Species Theatre Projects’ newest work blatantly states. The takeaway from the play is that friends are important. The relationships that you cultivate over the years (and not all good friendships take decades to cultivate) are the ones that float you through life.

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Isabel Bray (center) as Frankie Healy and the cast of Jagged Little Pill at Scottfield Theatre Company 📷 Sam Dixon

Jagged Little Pill at Scottfield Theatre Company

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You’ve already won me over, in spite of me, and don’t be alarmed if I fall, head over feet. The album I played so many times in middle school I scratched the CD and had to ask for it for Christmas. Twice. ANd then it became a stage musical. And now it’s making its area debut at Scottfield Theatre Company in Havre de Grace. And isn’t it ironic– don’t you think? It’s a ferocious piece of theatre that is evocative and visceral and way too relevant for the world we live in;

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Remember The Ladies at Hood College & Arts@FCC

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“I desire that you would remember the ladies…” ~Abigail Adams, March 31st 1776 in a letter to John.
And sure, Abigail Adams is easy enough— she’s one of just two female roles in 1776 the musical. But what about Sybil Ludington? The 16-yo female Paul Revere, and maybe she gets more of a notice because she had a male-counterpart to be compared to, but I bet most of you coming out to this wonderfully new devised piece called Remember The Ladies (written and directed by Suzanne Beal) won’t recognize most of the other names dropped into the piece,

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Emily Koch (center) as Debra and the cast of the National Tour of Kimberly Akimbo 📷 Joan Marcus

A Great Adventure: Interviewing Emily Koch on Kimberly Akimbo

Interviews

Tie the fishline.

Open the mailbox.

Drop the glue trap.

And maybe you’ll pull back— a pair of tickets to see Kimberly Kimbo, currently touring the nation, and making a pit-stop in Baltimore later this month! In the meantime, we’re having a good-old-fashioned phone-interview (feels appropriate for a show set in the 1990’s, right?) with Emily Koch, playing Debra, and she’s got lots to say about just how excited she is to see you at the show!

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Bus Buddies at Endangered Species Theatre Project

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You ever ridden a bus? Taken it just because it was there? Or maybe you’re one of those regulars who depends upon the bus route for your day-to-day operations? Maybe you get to know the people on the bus as a part of your community, they become like your family, and are woven into your story as much as your daily cup of coffee? That’s the notion or at least the essence that playwright Nancy Luse is aiming for with her new work Bus Buddies,

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