Articles Tagged With: Olivia Pietanza

(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 đź“·Michael Mason Studios

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf at Ardeo Theatre Company

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?

Read More »


Arthur and Friends Make a Musical at MET Fun Company

Arthur and Friends Make a Musical at MET Fun Company

Hold onto your socks!! Because the MET Fun Company knows how to rock!! And they are ready to rock your socks right off with their adorably nostalgic production of Arthur and Friends Make a Musical. Based on the Arthur book series by Marc Brown, this quaint little kids show, which is wholly appropriate for both the youngins and those of us that grew up in the 90’s watching Arthur on PBS,

Read More »


The Crucible at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

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,

Read More »


The cast of Peter Rabbit and the Secret Garden Gate at MET Fun Company đź“· Spence Photoragraphics

Peter Rabbit and the Secret Garden Gate at MET Fun Company

This is passing extraordinary! This lovely, whimsical adventure— Peter Rabbit and the Secret Garden Gate, which is now appearing in the Stage II space at Maryland Ensemble Theatre as a MET Fun Company production! Charmingly devised and Directed by Shea-Mikal Green, a cast of four performers tumble around in the world of Beatrix Potter, most notably with the Peter Rabbit character and it’s delightful; a remarkably felicitous escape into the nostalgic world of childhood,

Read More »


Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells at MET Fun Company

Dear 34th Grade Journal,

I cannot believe it has been a whole ten years— that’s a decade— since I’ve visited Room1. (Literally so unbelievable I had to go count back through the archives, and BOOM! Do the math— 2015 to 2015— that’s ten whole years!) And it’s so wonderful, splendiferious, fabulously good fun to be back in Room1 with Mr. Scary, Junie B. Jones, and all the rest of the zany characters that populate the MET Fun Company’s production of Junie B.

Read More »


The Thanksgiving Play at Maryland Ensemble Theatre đź“· David Spence

The Thanksgiving Play at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

“Facts are facts. They don’t loosen or tighten. They just are.” ~The Thanksgiving Play; Larissa FastHorse.

Opinions, however, can be loose, tight, and all over the place. Popular or unpopular, we all have them, and we all share them. And that’s an important notion to keep percolating just at the back of the brain as you settle in for this 90-minute, no-intermission, genre-questionable work that is Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre as the second offering of their 2025/2026 main stage season.

Read More »


Eric Jones (center) as Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show at MET & FCC

The Rocky Horror Show at Maryland Ensemble Theatre & Frederick Community College

It’s astounding. Time is fleeting. Madness…takes it’s toll. But listen closely— not for very much longer— literally a performance tonight and three next weekend— they’ve got to keep control! Do you remember— doing the Time Warp!? It’s that time of year again! And the Maryland Ensemble Theatre has partnered with Frederick Community College to reprise their annual tradition of mounting Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show to the stage of the Jack B.

Read More »


Kevin Corbett (left) as Robert Shaw with Steven Todd Smith (center) as Roy Scheider and Willem Rogers (right) as Richard Dreyfuss in The Shark Is Broken at Maryland Ensemble Theatre 📸spencephoto

The Shark Is Broken at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” ~Chief Brody; Jaws 1975

Who knew that a line like that would still be titillating audiences literally 50 years later? I mean, “The human race won’t exist someday and here we are worrying about some stupid movie.” (Ian Shaw & Joseph Nixon; The Shark Is Broken.) As the Spielberg iconic film enters its actual 50th year of cinematic relevance, the Maryland Ensemble Theatre kicks off their 2025/2026 Main-Stage season with this wild new production The Shark Is Broken,

Read More »


Melanie Kurstin (left) as Yitzhak and Lynwood McLeod (right) as Hedwig in MET-X presents: Hedwig & The Angry Inch đź“· Jeff Behm

Hedwig & The Angry Inch at MET-X

Love is immortal because it creates something that wasn’t there…procreation…recreation…sometimes just creation… profound statement coming from Stephen Trask & John Cameron Mitchell’s Hedwig & The Angry Inch. It’s a project seven years in the making but it’s finally arrived on the MET-X Stage, produced by Eric & Nancy Jones, and it’s ready to rock your world, turn you upside-down, and give you all that glittery,

Read More »


Courtney McLaughlin (left) as Chordata with Tad Janes (center) as Sciurus and Matthew Harris (right) as Sciuridae in The Squirrels at Maryland Ensemble Theatre ???? Meech Creative LLC

The Squirrels at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Our subject tonight?

The Squirrels. Better still— The Squirrels at Maryland Ensemble Theatre as the penultimate production of their 2023/2024 main stage season. Written by Robert Askins (Hand To God) and Directed by Julie Herber…well… buckle up, you discerning patrons of the arts, because this one’s a doozey. Hell— I’ll say it. It’s nuts!

Playwright Robert Askins is wringing audiences in Frederick through the high-octane spin-cycle of this satirical washing machine.

Read More »