Articles Tagged With: Compass Rose Theater

Pride & Prejudice at Compass Rose Theater

Reviews November 21, 2025 Amanda N. Gunther 2 Comments

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,

Shining Like The Top of The Chrysler Building: Annie at Compass Rose Theater

Reviews September 25, 2025 Chris Pence

author: Chris Pence

Admit it, you had “Tomorrow” running through your head from the second you read the title. And who wouldn’t? It’s such an ebullient anthem to optimism (try saying that three times fast)! Producer Barbara Webber and Compass Rose Theater reignite inspiration, determination, and optimism with Annie, the classic tale of the little redheaded girl that has been stealing Americans’ hearts since 1924.

Based on characters from Harold Gray’s Little Orphan Annie comic strip,

Intimate Apparel at Compass Rose Theater

Reviews September 14, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

“Don’t you let no man have no part of your heart without getting a piece of his.” Profound words and life lessons to live by from Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel, which is now appearing on stage at Compass Rose Theater at the top of the 2024/2025 season. Directed by Lottie E. Porch, this vibrant period drama, set in Lower Manhattan in 1905, is a heartfelt tale of Esther, a colored woman who stitches intimate apparel to make her living and all of the subsequent trials and tribulations that accompany that lifestyle at that time.

(L-R) Omar A. Said (Panch), Beth Amann (Rona Lisa), B.J. Robertson (Mitch), Taylor Litofsky (Logainne), Cera Baker (Marcy), Preston Grover (Chip), Sam Slottow (Leaf), Lila Cooper (Olive), and Stephen Emery (Barfée) in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, presented by Compass Rose Theater ????

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Compass Rose Theater

Reviews March 16, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Charming— (adjective) ‘Extremely pleasing or delightful.’ Compass Rose Theater is now producing the most charming production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee I think I can ever recall seeing— and that’s saying something as I’ve covered it over a dozen times in as many years, including just a month ago elsewhere! C-H-A-R-M-I-N-G. Directed & Choreographed by Tommy Malek with Musical Direction by Rachel Sandler, this feel-good, upbeat, absolutely adorable musical is perfectly parsed in the intimate staging space that Compass Rose Theater has at Maryland Hall;

Review: Hamlet at Compass Rose Theater

Reviews October 24, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. Thinking on the whole that Compass Rose Theater is delivering a good production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is not a bad thought to have. Directed by Lucinda Merry-Browne, one of the Bard’s most iconic tragedies treads the boards in its most simplistic form. A harkening back to basic Shakespeare in the intimate black-box theatre, the production plants itself on solid ground and delivers a curious approach to madness as a central focus of these time-tested characters.

Review: The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd at Compass Rose Theater

Reviews May 9, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Wish upon a wishbone! Pluck a four-leaf clover! That you’ll snag tickets and understanding before this production run is over. Closing out the 2015/2016 season at Compass Rose Theater, Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley’s The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd takes to the stage with its beautiful music and curious political statement that burbles just beneath the surface of the overarching allegory of the tale in total. Directed by Lucinda Merry-Browne with Musical Direction by Anita O’Connor,

Review: If I Hold My Tongue at Compass Rose Theater

Reviews September 21, 2015 Joshua Engel

Desperation breeds desperation. The women of If I Hold My Tongue find themselves trapped, both from the outside and the inside, and struggle to break the patterns that hold them. Now playing in rotating repertory with Eleanor: Her Secret Journey at Compass Rose Theatre, this play written by Patricia Henley, is part of The Rose Play Festival in conjunction with the TheatreWashington’s Women’s Voice Festival.

The play is set in a halfway house in Baltimore,

Review: Eleanor: Her Secret Journey at Compass Rose Theatre

Reviews September 21, 2015 John Nunemaker

Google Eleanor Roosevelt, if you look at the Wikipedia page, or the White House history page or even your history book in school, you will learn quickly that she was the longest-serving First Lady. She served as First Lady during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four terms as president (1933-1945). Yet there is so much more to Eleanor than the history books and articles will tell you, even today as historians begin to reexamine the role Eleanor played in the White House and politics most people do not realize what an effect she had on women in the U.S.