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,
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?
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.
author: Rick Bergmann
Comic Chaos at its Finest: Moon Over Buffalo at MAD
There are certain classics in community theatre that, when done well, always bring joy to the stage. Ken Ludwig’s Moon Over Buffalo is one of them. This fast-paced comedy follows fading stage couple George and Charlotte Hay as they perform repertory theater in Buffalo while desperately hoping for a big Hollywood break. When they learn that a famous director might attend their show,
We are here to discover what no one has ever seen.
And The Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s penultimate mainstage production of 2025/2026— Arthur Miller’s The Crucible— is unlike any Crucible you’ve ever seen before. It’s a disquietingly innovative hot-take on the production that universally presents it as an everyman tale, wholly investing the ensemble in the story’s narrative burden whilst simultaneously reflecting the harsh reality of the present-day world in which we live— but subtly,
“Fear is like a rhubarb enema!” might just be the wildest thing I’ve ever heard come out of the mouth of a player at a Rude Mechanical’s show. And I’ve seen their King John! My one regret (aside from seeing their King John) is that I couldn’t hear the rest of the line— delivered in utter brilliance by Marin (Linda “Spencer” Dye) the fraidy-cat servant to Roselo because both myself and the rest of the audience were laughing so hard it drowned out whatever insanity came next.
Well leapin’ lizards! It’s a Christmas miracle that Children’s Playhouse of Maryland still has a ticket or two for their wonderful production of Annie next weekend! Aww, gee. You don’t have tickets yet? Aww, gee. You better not wait! They’re flying off the {digital} shelf faster than FDR’s new deal! Directed by Liz Boyer Hunnicutt with Musical Direction by Charlotte Evans and Choreography by Lauren Stewart, this time-honored musical theatre classic, is the perfect show for the Christmas season and is full of wonderfully talented young performers just radiating their best sunshine-positivity all over the stage!
“Bills don’t care about the holidays, Virginia.” Not quite the same ring as that line about truly there is a Santa Claus. But then again, this isn’t exactly your grandfolks’ Christmas Carol either. A glorious blending of the macabre meets the holidays, which is sort of what Dickens intended when he wrote A Christmas Carol so many Christmas pasts’ ago, or at least that’s how it turned out— what with the ghosts and all.
In the 10,000 or so productions of A Christmas Carol that I’ve seen over my ~15 years a reviewer, I have never seen one (and I’ve even seen the Richard Wade-Richard Gessner adaptation at Colonial Players a time or two before…) that had such a strikingly profound moment— a momentary minutia that hit with such heartfelt intent that I both gasped and wept in utter shock. But let’s back it up in true Dickensian style.
Tis the season of hospitality, merriment, and openheartedness! Come in and know them better, man! Tis the season— their 11th, in fact— for putting that timeless holiday classic, A Christmas Carol, upon their stage. Tis the season for uplifting spirits, for heartwarming festivities, and for radical, positive change. Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s A Christmas Carol is truly a cherished stage tradition, nestled right in the heart of Charm City and is bringing jubilation amid the bleakness that 2025 has turned out to be;
Wonderful… I’m callin’ it wonderful… it does sound wonderful, trust me, it’s fun! And while it may not be the GREEN v PINK everyone’s defying gravity over…remember a certain witchy-witch pair started off in their very own musical a long, long time ago— total reverse plot-twist that this is the original-origin of the ‘origin’ story! Are you ready to return to Oz? To the OG-Emerald City? Theatreworks Live has you covered with their adorable and talent-loaded production of The Wizard of Oz (youth edition.) Directed by Cathy Koncurat with Musical Direction by Megan Koncurat and Choreography by Leslie Perry,
author: Leonard Taube
“Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot. But the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville did not”. Sound familiar? No? Then go back to sleep. Don’t read any more. But for those of you whose mother might have read the famed Dr. Seuss book How The Grinch Stole Christmas to you when you were a child (it was written in 1957 believe it or not),
Bah! Humbug! The Christmas season is upon us. Again. Already. (Baltimore’s local 101.9 even had flipped the switch to their Christmas music on Thursday 11/20/25 as I was driving home to ring up Greg Burgess and interview him!) The holidays are upon us whether you’re ready or not. And in a world of so much darkness and chaos, aren’t the holidays meant to be what spreads a little love, a little light, a little joy?
A lady’s imagination is very rapid, and while this lady’s imagination is not jumping from admiration to love to matrimony the way some of the Bennet daughters do in Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, it is certainly jumping from point to point trying to extrapolate the thoughts and opinions formulated upon viewing Compass Rose Theater’s current production, as adapted by Emma Whipday under the direction of Madeline Austin (of no relation to the playwright.) I am only resolved to write in that manner,
Missed opening weekend? That’s your funeral, that’s your funeral!
Don’t have tickets yet? That’s your funeral, that’s your funeral!
But luckily for you— you can still get tickets to see the 10-year anniversary production of Oliver! at Third Wall Players, running through the 23rd of November in their resident play-space at Chestnut Grove Presbyterian. Directed by Andi Rudai, in her directorial debut (after playing the titular role in the TWP original production of Oliver!
Everybody needs to expose themselves to different points of view. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s essential. But what happens when the viewpoints are so skewed there’s no good side to take? What happens when no matter whose viewpoint you see a scenario through you’re in the wrong? It’s exactly that type of dialogue that WFB Productions is attempting to encourage with their production of David Mamet’s Oleanna. Referred to as ‘not-your-mama’s’ Oleanna,
Not your father’s root beer. Not your granny’s bingo. Not your mama’s— Oleanna!? The David Mamet play, which I can recall studying a bit during my BFA program at UMBC (though I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen or reviewed live on stage) is coming to the Motor House for a limited three-performance engagement. With a brand new theatre company, getting its feet wet and spreading its theatrical wings. WFB Productions— a family-run small professional company founded by M.