One of the most renowned plays from the Spanish Golden Age, Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s La Vida es Sueno (Life is a Dream), was initially published in 1636. In 1981, the “mother of Latinx playwrighting” María Irene Fornés adapted this classic into Life is a Dream, a production that has since been in a deep slumber, now awakened at Baltimore Center Stage. Cover photo: Segismund, portrayed by Jak Watson, is at the center of the narrative of Life is a Dream. (Photo by J Fannon Photography) Under the direction of Tony Nominee Stevie Walker Webb, Life is a Dream […]
Harvey Brings Joy to Baltimore’s Everyman Theatre
If you’ve ever revisited a story you remember from your childhood only to uncomfortably realize “Oh, that didn’t age well,” fear not. Mary Chase’s Pulitzer-winning play, Harvey, written in the 1940s, continues to shine a light on the timeless values of compassion and kindness, as showcased in this recent Everyman Theatre production. Led by resident company member Bruce Randolph Nelson as Elwood P. Dowd, the cast effortlessly brought the characters to life. Nelson’s portrayal of Elwood, with his infectious smile and unwavering kindness, immediately won me over. I couldn’t help but root for him, wanting to shield him from the […]
Sunset Soirée: LGBTQ+ Pride Launch Event to Benefit FreeState Justice
Come kick off the Pride season with FreeState Justice at the Sunset Soirée, a night of dinner and dancing on Friday, May 12th, from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. The Sunset Soirée will be hosted at the museum’s Jim Rouse Visionary Center on the third floor and consists of two events: a dinner and cocktail hour at 6:00 p.m., and a soirée starting at 8:00 p.m. Purchase of a dinner ticket comes with access to the soirée; however, soirée tickets can be purchased separately. The night is sure to be an amazing […]
Fifties Forever: Grease at Toby’s Dinner Theatre
We’re probably at a time in history where, unless you’re a very young child, you’ve heard of Grease, most likely the classic 1978 feature film that starred John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as the leads Danny and Sandy. Then in 2016 the Fox television network produced a live television special that melded elements from the movie and the original 1972 Broadway show (which itself has been re-adapted for the stage in the wake of the movie’s immense popularity), so you have to have been living under a rock to never have heard of Grease. And now Paramount Plus is streaming […]
Lady First – A chat with Strand Theater director, Emma Hooks
America’s first celebrity isn’t a founding father. It isn’t even a man. The accolade belongs to Charlotte Cushman, a 19th century actress well-known for playing male and female stage roles from Romeo to Lady MacBeth. She was also openly queer. Keeping with their mission of creating theater by women for everyone, Strand Theater is telling Cushman’s story in Barbara Kahn’s play The Lady Was a Gentleman. Baltimore OUTloud spoke with director Emma Hooks about Cushman’s life, the technical challenges of the production, and the importance of acknowledging queer joy. This is the regional premiere of The Lady Was a Gentleman. […]
Edgar Allen Poe comes home to Baltimore and it’s Not a Midnight Dreary
In 2006, the musical Nevermore, with music by Matt Conner and book by Grace Barnes featuring lyrics adapted from the writings of Edgar Allan Poe, made its live theatre debut. In northern Virginia. What’s wrong with this story? Ask any Baltimorean – Poe is ours. Yet somehow the musical ran in Virginia, England, and even Australia. Never Baltimore. After a 16-year wait, Stillpointe Theatre is to thank for Nevermore’s Baltimore debut. Director Ryan Haase, along with the talented cast and crew, have delivered a cryptic and immersive experience to finish their 13th season. Nevermore isn’t a full biography, but an […]
Queer Jewish Arts Festival on the Road in Baltimore
In honor of Pride month this June, the Gordon Center for Performing Arts invites the community to join for a series of programs on the road, in the gallery, and at the Gordon. The festival celebrates multiple facets of our identities – including gender, race, religion, and class – through the arts. Sponsored by the Grandchildren of Harvey M. & Lyn P. Meyerhoff Philanthropic Fund, the festival will highlight local, national, and international artists who are making art with queer and Jewish content and examine the complexity of how we present ourselves and move throughout life. “This year, we have […]
Angels in America’s Michael Kevin Darnall on Overcoming Fear and Avoiding Apathy
If you regularly attend live theatre in Washington, DC, there’s a good chance you’ve seen Michael Kevin Darnall perform onstage. Frequently spotted at the Hub Theatre and Spooky Action Theatre, Darnall recently made his Arena Stage debut in Tony Kushner’s epic play, Angels in America Part One: Millennium Approaches, which recently ended it’s run on the Fichandler Stage on April 23. Top image: Michael Kevin Darnall as Louis in Angels in America, Part One: Millenium Approaches. Photo by Margot Schulman. Darnall, who plays the role of Louis Ironson, spoke with Baltimore OUTLoud to share his thoughts on Arena Stage, the AIDS epidemic, […]
A Joyful Noise at DC’s Ford’s Theatre
Shout Sister Shout! tells the story of rock ’n’ roll’s Black godmother by Chuck Duncan Anyone familiar with music history, particularly the advent of the rock era, is sure to know that Elvis Presley is the King of Rock and Roll. What a lot of people don’t know is that Elvis’s musical style was not initially his own – it was something he honed into his own, as did many others of the time, such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash. Their style of music grew out of the blues, jazz, and gospel of Black musicians that white audiences […]
Insectivorous
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is visually stunning but emotionally empty by Chuck Duncan It’s been five years since we last saw Scott Lang, Hope Van Dyne, and their various family members together in their own film (although most of them did appear in Avengers: Endgame), but now they are back for a third time without the assistance of any of the roster of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) heroes to take on a “new” baddie in the Marvel realm, one that could have even larger implications moving forward than Thanos (of course, this “Big Bad” has already been introduced, unnamed, […]