Maryland performances including Theater, plays, ballet and opera

Everyman Theatre to open new space in January

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Published on Wednesday, 05 December 2012 13:45

Written by Karen Gaspers

This coming January, six years of planning, preparation, and anticipation will culminate in the Grand Opening of a brand new home for Baltimore's Everyman Theatre. It's a milestone that has restored 315 West Fayette Street to its original purpose as a live performance venue.

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Theater review: Bus Stop playing at CenterStage

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Published on Monday, 03 December 2012 12:26

Written by Christopher J. Patrick

CenterStage in Baltimore brings in the Holiday Season with William Inge’s classic Broadway show, Bus Stop. On a cold and snowy night a half empty bus gets stranded at a diner somewhere west of Kansas City. There is the bus driver, an unruly young cowboy and his older best friend Virgil, an old alcoholic academic, a would-be starlet, a lonely sex starved woman running the diner, a young bookish waitress, and the town sheriff. It could have been the start of a murder mystery. A group of strangers, trapped together in a blizzard, with the phone lines down. But it’s not a show about murder and mayhem, it’s a show about love of all kinds.   First love, passionate love, love between friends, and some more unorthodox types of love.

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Maryland Theater Review- Heroes at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore

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Published on Sunday, 28 October 2012 14:32

Written by Anthony Douglas

Tom Stoppard’s “Heroes” Provides a Fitting Farewell

Reviewed by Anthony Douglas

As I waited for the lights to dim on the Everyman Theatre’s final opening night on Charles Street, the historic flavor of the moment was reflected in Vincent Lansisi’s (Founding Artistic Director) speech to open the night. He noted that tonight would be a return to the basics. While the Everyman’s move to West Fayette Street brings a new chapter to the theatre’s history, with a larger venue, featuring state-of-the-art technology, tonight’s audience was definitely waxing nostalgic- Lansisi included. “[In] describing what makes Everyman different,” he said, “I note the absolute intimacy of the theatre- that our actors don’t have to resort to grand gestures or gesticulations- so they can simply let the story speak for itself. And so, what we have for you tonight is, quite simply, a conversation. A conversation between three men.” he concluded.

Tom Stoppard’s “Heroes”, a translation of “Le Vent de Peupliers”, by Gerald Sibleyras, is far more than a conversation, however. In effect, it is a dance of most intricate language between three aging World War I veterans, known only as Henri, Gustave, and Philippe (played by John Dow, Wil Love, and Carl Schurr, respectively). The set, consisting of a terrace backdrop- designed by James Fouchard- was incredibly ornate, yet sparse enough to keep the focus on the three men telling the story. The actors are limited to a static set, placing subsequent weight on their intermittent dialogue, which truly ranges the emotional spectrum. Buried between turbulent spurts of humor are plenty of touching moments, as well. The intimacy of the Charles Street 116-seat theatre definitely played to the show’s advantage. “Heroes” absolutely demanded it.

Interestingly enough, “Heroes” is also an unexpectedly fitting homage as a final bow for the Charles Street theatre. Stoppard’s reflections on the continuity of the present moment in the face of the inevitable future speak volumes to the Everyman’s own imminent transfer.

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Edgar Allan Poe at Centerstage Theater Review

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Published on Thursday, 25 October 2012 14:26

Written by Nadja Maril

Actors Naomi Jacobson & Bruce Randolph Nelson.  Photo by RIchard Anderson.

Edgar Allan Poe, credited with writing the first detective novel, liked a good mystery. Thus it is fitting that "The Completely Fictional- Utterly True-Final Strange Tale of Edgar Allan Poe" by Stephen Thorne which opened last night at Baltimore's CenterStage theatre focuses on the mystery of Poe's death.

Performed in the Head Theater, set up as a theater-in-the- round, the ensemble cast of seven actors plus Bruce Randolph Nelson portraying Edgar Allan Poe; enter and leave the stage from multiple directions and levels, providing an multi-sensory experience.Eugene Lee, has designed  a deceptively simple but effective structural framework for  the Washington College Hospital in Baltimore setting, where Poe lies delirious recreating scenes from his life in his mind.

Initially attired as medical personnel, the actors swiftly change in and out of character roles as varied as Charles Dickens, French mesmerist Valdemar, and Poe's childhood bride Virginia. Their transformations are aided by the talents of costumer David Burdick, who managed to design garments that layer and transform themselves from glamourous and gaudy to filthy and ragged. The brilliant ensemble cast includes actors: Charlie Thurston, Jimmy Kieffer, Naomi, Jacobson, Erick Pinnick, Kenneth Lee Libya Pugh and Caroline Kaplan.

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