Articles Tagged With: Jacqueline Youm

Sweat at Greenbelt Arts Center

Reviews April 13, 2026 Rick Bergmann

Powerful Acting Carries Sweat at Greenbelt Arts Center

author: Rick Bergmann

We often imagine theater audiences as “predominantly white, affluent, middle-aged or older, and highly educated,” and the stories on stage as far removed from everyday struggle. Lynn Nottage’s 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 unravel—and how easily anyone can break.

By The Way, Meet Vera Stark at Laurel Mill Playhouse

Reviews February 25, 2026 Rick Bergmann

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 lot—and 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.

A Man For All Seasons at Kentlands Community Players

Reviews January 14, 2026 Rick Bergmann

author: Rick Bergmann

Conscience on Trial: A Man for All Seasons at Kentlands Community Players

One of the ongoing frustrations of community theater is how often companies return to the same familiar titles. Box-office logic tends to favor what is popular and proven, even if it means repeating shows audiences have seen many times before. That is why it is genuinely exciting when a theater announces a new work—or, as Kentlands Community Players has done this week,

Tartuffe at Silver Spring Stage

Reviews November 4, 2025 Leonard Taube

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.

Fires in the Mirror at Laurel Mill Playhouse

Reviews February 10, 2025 Chris Pence

author: Chris Pence

The More Things Change: “Fires in the Mirror” at Laurel Mill Playhouse

What defines us, and what defines our views of the world? Is it our race? Gender? Religion? Culture? The community in which we live, or to which we belong? Laurel Mill Playhouse gives us a moment to reflect on these and many more questions in presenting Anna Deavere Smith’s Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights,

Out of the Blue at Laurel Mill Playhouse

Reviews September 13, 2024 Chris Pence

author: Chris Pence

Where Were You when The World Stopped Turning: Out of The Blue at Laurel Mill Players

“September 11th, 2001, revealed heroism in ordinary people who might have gone through their lives never called upon to demonstrate the extent of their courage.”

– Geraldine Brooks

Everyone remembers where they were on that blue cloudless day in September when the Twin Towers fell,

In The Next Room or The Vibrator Play at Silver Spring Stage

Reviews February 24, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

What thing can put a man to death and bring him back to life
again? Why the cure for women’s hysteria, naturally, or better known as
electricity. Thank you, Mr. Edison, for the focal point of Sarah Ruhl’s play
with two titles, In The Next Room or The Vibrator Play. While electricity
does run as a strong alternating and direct current throughout the script,
there are so many more deeply layered,

Season of Light: A Winter Fairytale at Silver Spring Stage

Reviews December 8, 2018 Amanda N. Gunther

The winter woods are ripe with snow; there’s a crisp clear moonlight glow and the world is ready for winter’s end. The solstice! December 21st this year, but don’t wait until then to celebrate. Silver Spring Stage has a fabulous story all about hope in the bleakest darkness of winter right now upon their stage in the spirit of the season. Season of Light: A Winter Fairytale by Steph DeFerie makes its debut as the seasonal,