Articles Tagged With: Vanessa Strickland

Dejeanette Horne (left) as Troy and Isaiah C. Evans (right) as Cory in Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s Fences 📷 Kiirstn Pagan Photography

Fences at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

Reviews February 7, 2026 Amanda N. Gunther

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 Wilson’s 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,

Gregory Burgess (center) as Scrooge and the cast of Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s A Christmas Carol 📷Kiirstn Pagan Photography.

A Christmas Carol at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

Reviews November 30, 2025 Amanda N. Gunther

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;

Hand to God at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews September 8, 2018 Amanda N. Gunther 1 Comment

In the beginning we were one. There was no right and no wrong. But then someone invented right and wrong, where right is for all of us and wrong is just for you. Go to the Maryland Ensemble Theatre to see Hand to God…RIGHT. Skip out on seeing Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s Hand to God…WRONG. And you do not want to be in the wrong when it comes to this darkened,

1984 at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews October 26, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

There is a show running in Frederick.

WHAT SHOW. YOU MUST BE PRECISE.

There is a production of George Orwell’s 1984 as adapted to the stage by Michael Gene Sullivan running at a theatre in Frederick.

WHERE. YOU MUST BE PRECISE.

There is a production of George Orwell’s 1984 as adapted to the stage by Michael Gene Sullivan running at The Maryland Ensemble Theatre.

Review: Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells at MET’s Fun Company

Reviews November 30, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Great family-friendly entertainment plus your favorite theatre in Frederick equals the Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s Fun Company holiday production of Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells. BOOM! You do the math! That’s right, everyone! It’s that time of year when Junie B. Jones starts her holiday shenanigans with jingle-bell hats, Christmas sing-a-longs and— a burp-in-a-bag? Directed by Julie Herber, Adapted by Allison Gregory, and based on the book by Barbara Park,

Review: Frankenstein at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews October 24, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

I saw a figure. Or was it a reflection? A brilliant shimmering glimpse of Mary Shelley’s core essence, captured in theatrical perfection upon the Maryland Ensemble Theatre main stage as autumn brings a new adaptation of Frankenstein into their season. Devised by the ensemble under the riveting Direction of Co-Artistic Director Julie Herber, this new concoction is a striking and tragically beautiful amalgamation of Shelley’s most poignant words of prose.

Review: The Cat in the Hat at MET’s Fun Company

Reviews September 26, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Whether it is raining outside or perhaps it is sunny,

The MET’s Fun Company has a show that is funny!

It’s a fanciful jaunt, a chance to let your imagination run loose!

Because they’re mounting a production adapted from Dr. Seuss!

Katie Mitchell, the Adaptor, of this fantastical story

Adapts The Cat in the Hat and all of its glory!

Directed by Julie Herber,

Review: The Elephant Man at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews April 13, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Artists make illusions of illusions of heaven and the artists dreaming with the voices loud as thunder in the minds at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre have fabricated an illustriously dark and decadently dark distortion of heaven in their current production of Bernard Pomerance’s The Elephant Man. Directed by visionary and company member Julie Herber, this nightmarish dreamscape of fascination entreats the senses, tugs at the heartstrings and ensnares the soul in a fashion most mesmeric.