Of these two things I am certain; all else is confusion:
Itâs thrilleritis-malignus at its finest!
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 thereâs a reason his verbose textual structure has garnered him the success and accolades that it has through the decades of his worksâ existence. But that one lineâ âwe all peel labelsâ is the most brutally exacting descriptor for whatâs happening in this current production of Whoâs Afraid of Virigina Woolf?
Just what kind of community do you want to live in? Ask yourself that the next time you think about running for town council or stepping up to attend a city hall meeting. Itâs a valid question. What kind of community do you want to live in? Itâs a surface level question that could have a surface level answer. It could also be a fathomless question with a bottomless answer that really gut-checks reality for you.
author: Chris Pence
Photographs & Memories: Her Portmanteau at Strand Theatre Company
Culture shock is a very real side effect of immigration, to which family can be both a cure and an agitator, in varying degrees. As a first-generation Nigerian-American storyteller and educator, Mfoniso Udofia knows these struggles intimately, sharing her understanding through Her Portmanteau, a profound dive into the hearts and minds of a family working to find connection despite a divide carved by 30 years and 5,300 miles of distance.
Powerful Acting Carries Sweat at Greenbelt Arts Center
author: Rick Bergmann
We often imagine theater audiences as âpredominantly white, affluent, middle-aged or older, and highly educated,â and the stories on stage as far removed from everyday struggle. Lynn Nottageâs Sweat, now playing at the Greenbelt Arts Center, dismantles that assumption. Centered on flawed, hard-working individuals clinging to the promise of the American Dream, the play lays bare how quickly that promise can unravelâand how easily anyone can break.
author: Kenny Sigal
Whodunnit? Whodunnit? By golly whodunnit?!? That is exactly what you will find out at the end of Agatha Christieâs Murder on the Orient Express (directed by Joey Hellman) at the Dundalk Community Theater. This murder mystery is chugging down the tracks with an amazing cast for your enjoyment that is sure to keep you entertained throughout the entire show.
The show revolves around Hercule Poirot (Greg Guyton) who’s commanding stage presence was strong enough that even I almost confessed to the murder!
author: Chris Pence
Fate Works Her Own Dread Work: Antigone at Spotlighters Theatre
âGrief teaches the steadiest minds to waverâ â Sophocles, Antigone
Man versus woman, government versus people, morality versus legality. These themes have forever been debated on the theatrical stage, though no discussion has been more powerful than Sophoclesâ Antigone, currently in production at Spotlighters Theatre. One of Sophoclesâ most cherished works,
author: Steven Wilson
Themes of mortality, sexuality, ambition, dishonesty, and greed take center stage as Other Voice Theatre presents Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Tennessee Williams’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play brings us into the plantation home of the Pollitt dynasty, wealthy Mississippi cotton planters. The family’s watchword seems (unintentionally) to be “mendacity,” the quality of dishonesty and, more specifically, living a lie. And lies abound. Big Daddy Pollitt is dying of cancer,
author: Charles Boyington & Steven Kirkpatrick
The Questions: If in Shakespearean times, all the roles in his dramas were played by men, should we not have dramas today where all the roles are played by women? If Hamlet is arguably the best character Shakespeare has ever written, should not every woman want desperately to play him? Should you spend your money to see this community production? Yes.
In Women Playing Hamlet,
If you say something, you know it. If you donât say something, you donât know it. So many people keeping their sayings to themselves so that theyâ what? Get to remain unknown? Anonymous? Ignorant? Blood may be thicker than water but betrayalâ that can cut deeper than any bond. Arthur Miller and his seemingly ageless drama A View From The Bridge is painting a bloody and brutalâ and tragically still relevantâ picture of the American condition.
author: Rick Bergmann
By the Way, Meet Vera Stark Balances Screwball Comedy and Sharp Cultural Reckoning
By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage, now showing at Laurel Mill Playhouse, sets out to do a lotâand nearly pulls it off. First produced in 2011, the play examines the legacy of African Americans in Hollywood, skewering racial stereotypes while reveling in the conventions of classic cinema and theater.
Some people build fences to keep people out. Other people build fences to keep people in. A powerful statement to be sure; an evocative thought that primes the mind for the emotional journey that is August Wilsonâs Fences. Produced at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company as a part of the multi-year, city-wide Baltimore August Wilson Celebration, this striking production is a theatrical pleasure, inviting audiences into the intimate details of day-to-day life in the backyard of the Maxson home in Pittsburgh,
author: Rick Bergmann
A Stage for the Soul: Save My Black Soul Shines at Laurel Mill Playhouse
One of the great joys of being immersed in the community theater scene is the occasional chance to encounter something genuinely new. New works are always a riskâsometimes rough around the edges, sometimes still finding their voiceâbut they offer the rare thrill of discovery. It is therefore a pleasure to report that Save My Black Soul,
You need seasons to mark where you are. Itâs currently winter season; halfway through the darknessâ halfway through season 77 at The Colonial Players of Annapolis. And theyâre bringing you Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin Baitz. Directed by Laura Gayvert, this edgy, albeit questionably dated, drama hits hard with its deep questions of family dysfunction when secrets threaten to unravel pre-existing ways of life.
While the play itself isnât wholly âdatedâ there are references that for the younger audiences will be obscure and it certainly bears the signature of its timestamp.
author: Chris Pence
Perpetual Guests in Foreign Lands: From East, Like The Sun at Rapid Lemon Productions
âGive me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.â Written in 1883, Emma Lazarusâ The New Colossus has welcomed immigrants into The United States since being mounted inside the Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening The World) since 1903. From its inception, The United States has stood as a guiding light for disenfranchised immigrants,
By the pricking of my thumb⌠a wicked new year does this way come!
Not exactly what Shakespeare had in mind, but the dude had a lot going on with thumbs. I mean biting them started a whole street brawl in that other bloody tragedy, so why shouldnât pricking them bring about the end of days? Seems par for the course with the countryâs current climate. What better way to welcome the new year than with a production of the bloody and iconic,
author: Cybele Pomeroy
Web of Murder of Bowie Community Theatre: Killer comedy? Or comedy killed?
Really, this show should slay you in your seat. Itâs a cozy little Victorian scenario, with all the tropes youâd expect, including lots of doors for popping in and out of, a set decorated to within an inch of its two-by-four life, an eight-member multi-generational cast, dogs, secret passageways, supernatural trances and enough villainous intent to fill an Orient Express.
author: Leonard Taube
Few plays in world history are mired in as much controversy as the one being currently produced by Silver Spring Stage (Silver Spring, MD). In 1664 France, a delightfully funny yet extremely controversial three-act play by French playwright Moliere was performed titled Tartuffe. While received well by the public, it immediately sparked conflict amongst certain groups who did not take too well to the portrayal of someone who is outwardly pious but fundamentally deceitful.
author: Leonard Taube
Intense. Thought provoking. Suspenseful. Relevant. Those are just some of the adjectives I can think of to describe the powerful piece of theatre that is Silhouette Stageâs (Columbia, MD) current production of The Crucible by American playwright Arthur Miller. This dramatization of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1692-1693 may be part fiction, but one thing is for sure. While the play was written as an allegory for McCarthyism (when the US government persecuted people accused of being communists),
author: Kenny Sigal
Was it the husband? The Ex-Girlfriend? The Steward? The only way to find out is to come to Artistic Synergy of Baltimore and check out this 1940s classic Whodunnit mystery that is Murder on The Nile. Written by Agatha Christie, and directed by Jim Morgan, this classic follows a newlywed couple on their honeymoon cruise filled with relaxation, refreshments, and murder. With a perfectly selected cast of experienced actors,
author: Chris Pence
It was the one case that kept Poirot awake at night, the one that had more twists and turns than a rail line through the mountains, the Murder On The Orient Express. Agatha Christieâs timeless mystery finally comes to the stage, roaring into the station at Manor Mill Playhouse.
Based on the novel of the same name by the Mistress of Murder herself, Dame Agatha Christie,
author: Steven Howell Wilson
When an ensemble cast meshes seamlessly, hitting every cue, overtalking in the right places,
quipping and bickering, interweaving a dozen diverse life stories, it’s uniquely satisfying. It’s as
impressive as watching the coordinated dives and catches of a troupe of aerial acrobats. Well,
maybe the audience’s blood pressure stays lower with the actors than with the acrobats.
Greenbelt Arts Center’s production of The Hot L Baltimore hits this satisfying mark.
Everybody needs to expose themselves to different points of view. Thereâs nothing wrong with that. Itâs essential. But what happens when the viewpoints are so skewed thereâs no good side to take? What happens when no matter whose viewpoint you see a scenario through youâre in the wrong? Itâs exactly that type of dialogue that WFB Productions is attempting to encourage with their production of David Mametâs Oleanna. Referred to as ânot-your-mamaâsâ Oleanna,
Not your fatherâs root beer. Not your grannyâs bingo. Not your mamaâsâ Oleanna!? The David Mamet play, which I can recall studying a bit during my BFA program at UMBC (though I donât think Iâve 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 Productionsâ a family-run small professional company founded by M.
author: Erin Tarpley
âA coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once.â
As the sun begins to set behind the many hills of Historic Ellicott City, the air begins to cool. But tonight (or today, if you go on a Sunday), you are not in Historic Ellicott City. No, my friend. You have travelled back in time and space 2,000 years to the historic seven hills of Ancient Rome.