All the summer’s a stage around Baltimore
Theater lovers can rejoice this summer, as the region’s thriving community theater scene offers a full slate of performances to keep even the most ardent theater-goer happy.
Spotlighters Theatre closes out its run of Edward II on June 22, but comes right back with God of Carnage, from July 4 to 27. This dark voyeuristic drama is a verbal battle of wits between two pairs of parents, one of whose children has hurt the other at a public park. They meet to discuss the matter in a civilized manner, which turns out to be anything but.
Performances run July 4 to 6, 10 to 13, 18 to 20, and 25 to 27. Following the end of God of Carnage, Spotlighters will be home to Baltimore Playwrights Festival’s staging of In a Yellow Wood by Gary Kluger from August 15 to 17, 21 to 24, and 28 to 31.
Tickets are $20 for adults, $18 for patrons 60+, and $16 for students and military. (On select Thursdays, all tickets are $10.) Spotlighters is located at 817 Saint Paul St. For details, call (410) 752-1225 or visit www.spotlighters.org.
Vagabond Players — the oldest continuous little theater in the United States, now in its 98th season — presents The Exonerated — an award-winning docudrama that intertwines the true stories of six death row inmates who are proven innocent and released from Death Row. The play, running through July 6, poses the question: How many others have not been as fortunate?
From July 25 to August 10, Mrs. Maslow’s Boarding House by Cheryl Adam is the Vagabond’s Baltimore Playwrights Festival production. Jilted, jobless and homeless, Meredith Maslow flees Manhattan for her grandmother’s house in Baltimore, only to discover that the sprawling Mt. Vernon home is no longer a placid retreat.
Grandma Maslow, left penniless when widowed, has converted her home into a boardinghouse for a motley crew of lost souls and outcasts. But tough economic times once again have Mrs. Maslow on the brink of bankruptcy, and the fun begins when Meredith and the boarders cook up an outrageous scheme to set things right.
Vagabond is located at 806 S. Broadway St. Ticket prices are $18 ($15 on Fridays); $16 ($15 on Fridays) for seniors. Call (410) 563-9135 or visit www.vagabondplayers.org.
Toby’s Dinner Theatre performs The Pirates of Penzancefrom June 26 to Aug. 31.
This updated version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most popular musical had a smash Broadway run. The Pirates of Penzance spins a hilarious farce of sentimental pirates, bumbling policemen, dim-witted young lovers, dewy-eyed daughters, and an eccentric Major-General, all morally bound to the often ridiculous dictates of duty.
Tickets range from $51 to $56, including all-you-can-eat dinner or brunch. To order, visit www.tobysdinnertheatre.com or call (410) 995-1969. Toby’s is located at 5900 Symphony Woods Rd., Columbia.
At Cockpit in Court Summer Theatre at the Community College of Baltimore County-Essex, escape to Neverland with the timeless Broadway musical Peter Pan, on stage June 20 to 21, and 26 to 28 at 8 p.m., and June 15, 22 and 29 at 3 p.m.
Once you’re back from your adventures in Neverland, Legally Blonde: The Musical plays it for laughs from July 18 to 19, 25 to 26 and 31, and Aug. 1 to 2 at 8 p.m. Matinees are July 20, 27 and August 3 at 3 p.m.
When Elle Woods’ life is turned upside-down after her boyfriend dumps her so he can start getting serious about his life and attend Harvard Law, Elle — determined to get him back — uses her charm to get into Harvard Law as well. What begins as a struggle — albeit a funny one — turns into a triumph.
Cockpit Cabaret will also present the classic comedy The Odd Couple, as well as The Allergist’s Wife, while the Young People’s Theatre adapts the popular Annie with its production of Annie, Jr.
For ticket information for all shows, call (443) 840-ARTS or email cockpitincourt@ccbcmd.edu.
Center Stage’s 51st season comes to a close with Wild with Happy, running through June 29. Colman Domingo’s comedy, which was a recent hit in New York, is an entertaining look at perhaps the least entertaining of subjects — grief.
Gil’s boyfriend has left him, his acting career has stalled, and his mother has just died. Gil’s not taking any of this very well, but between his boisterous Aunt Glo, a sensitive funeral director and his outrageous best friend, he may just pull through.
Tickets range from $19 to $59. For more information, contact the box office at (410) 332-0033 or boxoffice@centerstage.org. Center Stage is located at 700 N. Calvert St.
Bowie Community Theatre (16500 White Marsh Park Drive), presents Sex Please, We’re Sixty on July 11 and 12 at 8 p.m., July 13 at 2 p.m., July 18 at 8 p.m., July 19 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., July 20 at 2 p.m., and July 25 to 26 at 8 p.m.
In this American farce, Mrs. Stancliffe’s Rose Cottage Bed & Breakfast has been successful for many years. Her guests (nearly all women) return year after year. Her next door neighbor, the elderly, silver-tongued, Bud “the Stud” Davis believes they come to spend time with him in romantic liaisons, and Mrs. Stancliffe reluctantly accepts the fact that Bud the Stud is, in fact, good for business.
Add to the guest list three older women, plus a retired chemist who has developed a blue pill called Venusia, after Venus the goddess of love, to increase the libido of menopausal women. The pill has not been tested. When Bud gets his hands on some of the Venusia pills, the fun begins, as he attempts to entertain all three women.
Ticket prices are $20, $15 for seniors. Call (301) 805-0219 or visit www.bctheatre.com.
Annapolis Shakespeare Company presents 22 weeks of comedy at the Courtyard of Reynolds Tavern, with the production of Moliere’s The Schemings of Scapin every Thursday at 7:30 p.m. through July 29. Enjoy the antics of the conniving servant Scapin, who is enlisted by two young men, Octave and Leandre, to save them after they pledge marriage to women their fathers wouldn’t approve of.
On Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. from Aug. 5 to Oct. 7, there is more hilarity with Moliere’s The Imaginary Invalid, in which the hypochondriac Argan wants nothing more than to be sick, or at least to be thought of as sick, and tended to by doctors and family (notably his scheming wife).
His desire for treatment outweighs his judgment, as he tries to set his daughter up to marry an idiot doctor-in-training. Only the brilliant collaboration of the maid, Toinette, with his brother, Beralde, can foil the wife, conquer the doctors and satisfy Argan.
Reynolds Tavern is located at 7 Church Circle in Annapolis. Tickets are $16 in advance; $20 at the door. Tickets may be purchased online at www.annapolisshakespeare.org or by calling the box office at (410) 415-3513.
Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre’s 2014 roster includes perennial favorite 42nd Street, through June 21; Shout! The Mod Musical, from June 27 to July 19; and Spamalot, from July 31 to August 31. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased by sending a check, payable to ASGT, to ASGT Ticket Office, 143 Compromise Street, Annapolis, MD 21401, or by visiting online at www.summergarden.com.
For a listing of theaters throughout Maryland, visit www.srbnet.com.