Podcasts about chesapeake shakespeare company

In this episode, I sit down with Lesley Malin, the Producing Executive Director of Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. Lesley helped grow this Baltimore gem into one of Maryland's largest theaters, taking it from a passion project to a major player in the Shakespeare world. We talk about how she led the renovation of a historic 1886 bank into their now iconic venue, and what it's like to manage a theater that never stops evolving.But it's not just about Shakespeare. Chesapeake Shakespeare is currently producing Joe Turner's Come and Gone as part of Baltimore's August Wilson Celebration, running from September 20th through October 15th. Lesley gives us a sneak peek into this gripping play, a crucial chapter in Wilson's American Century Cycle that captures the heartache and hope of the Great Migration.This episode is part of my ongoing media partnership with Baltimore Magazine. Want to support Baltimore's thriving arts scene? Make sure to catch Joe Turner's Come and Gone at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, and explore the full lineup of plays in the August Wilson Celebration. You won't want to miss these powerful stories on stage. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation.If you have a story about art, culture, or community in Baltimore, share it with us at rob@thetruthinthisart.com for a chance to be featured on "The Truth In This Art" podcast. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to the arts and culture podcast scene and showcase your insights on "The Truth In This Art" with Rob Lee.Follow The Truth In This Art on Twitter, Threads, IG, and Facebook @truthinthisart Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard.Episode illustration by Alley Kid Art.About "The Truth In This Art"Hosted by Rob Lee, "The Truth In This Art" podcast dives into the heart of creativity and its influence on the community. This arts and culture podcast from Baltimore highlights artists discussing their ideas, sharing insights, and telling impactful stories. Through these artist interviews, listeners gain a deeper understanding of the creative economy and artistic life in Baltimore. Support the show:Merch from Redbubble | Make a Donation  ★ Support this podcast ★

Pigweed, Crowhill, Longinus, and all three wives went to Baltimore to see an adaptation of The Oresteia, which was originally a 3-part play by Aeschylus. In this podcast they reflect on the play and related issues. The play focuses on the web of vengeance within the family of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, starting with Agamemnon's sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia, before the battle of Troy. When Agamemnon returns home with Cassandra the prophetess of Apollo as a spoil of war, Clytemnestra invites him back in regal style, but then murders both her husband and his new girlfriend. It then falls on Orestes, their son -- urged on by their daughter Electra -- to avenge the death of his father. But then, who is to avenge Clytemnestra? How far does this go? Where does it end? The play addresses issues of just war, faith, free will and determinism, religious and moral obligations, family relations, and vengeance and justice. The show ends with a discussion of Troy and the alleged historical backdrop to the play.

It's time for another visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins us each week with her reviews of the Maryland, DC and Virginia regional stage. We discuss The Oresteia at The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company through March 10, 2024.Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Host Luisa Lyons chats with performer and writer Alexandra Palting whose new solo musical 0874 A Filipino American Love Story recently played the She NYC Arts Summer Theater Festival, where the show won Best Score. The musical tells the story of when Alex's college boyfriend moved across the country and her Lola (grandmother) showed her a grocery bag filled with hundreds of love letters from Alex's grandfather.Alex shares how her Lola inspired not only the show but Alex's love of musical theatre, her unique vocal approach to writing her one woman show, the development of the show, and the process of performing in the She NYC Arts Summer Theater Festival.Alexandra Palting is an actor and writer based in New York City. She is the performer, writer, lyricist and co-composer of 0874: A Filipino-American Love Story, a one-woman musical that tells the story of her grandparents' courtship and immigration to the United States. The show premiered off-Broadway at the Connelly Theater during SheNYC Arts (Festival winner: Best Score) and was developed through The Kennedy Center's Page-to-Stage residency.  She has performed her music at venues including The Lincoln Theatre and Merriweather Post Pavilion and has sung at venues from the swing clubs of Baltimore to the Vatican. Favorite acting credits include CATF, Olney Theatre Center, Imagination Stage, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, The Keegan Theatre, InterAct Theatre Co. and Shakespeare in Clark Park. Her on-camera work can be seen on "Law and Order," in independent films, and in productions for clients like Apple, the NIH, and Home Depot. Her work as an audiobook narrator can be heard anywhere from NYT Bestsellers at MacMillan Publishers to Microsoft. As a producer, she has raised over $60,000 for arts organizations that champion diverse voices and for nonprofits like Feeding America and RAINN that provided direct aid to vulnerable populations throughout the pandemic. She studied at the University of Delaware, RADA, and Harvard Online Business School. @alpal1210, alexandramariapalting.com.Show Links The Making of “0874: A Filipino-American Love Story” at the Kennedy Center: https://youtu.be/uyY5pHSDbOI Support the showFilmed Live Musicals is where musicals come home. Use the searchable database to find musicals filmed on stage to watch from the comfort of your living room! Visit www.filmedlivemusicals.com to learn more. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. You can also support the site at Patreon. Patrons get early access to the podcast and site content, no matter how much you pledge. Become a Patron today!Filmed Live Musicals is created by Luisa Lyons, an Australian actor, writer, and musician. Luisa holds a Masters in Music Theatre from London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and now lives, works, and plays in New York. Learn more at www.luisalyons.com and follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Two theater artists are attempting to revive something of a summer theater tradition here in Baltimore, Shakespeare's plays in outdoor venues. The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company will present the bard's wonderful comedy, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at four Baltimore parks this month in a series they're calling “Shakespeare Beyond.” Seamus Miller is the Associate Director of the production. Annie Montone is a Magic Consultant for the show.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's time for another visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins us each week with her reviews of the mid-Atlantic regional stage. Today, we look at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's production of “Macbeth,” which continues at the Patapsco Female Institute Historic Park in Ellicott City through July 2See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we find out what it takes to live like a historical figure and how collections like the Adams Papers can help us rethink daily life in both the past and the present. We sit down with Gwen Fries, the Production Editor of the Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society, to discuss an experiment she conducted during the lockdown of 2020. Gwen spent a week of her life living like John Quincy Adams. We discuss what daily life was like for the sixth president of the United States and what it was like to emulate him.  Learn more about episode objects here: https://www.masshist.org/podcast/season-2-episode-7-to-live-like-john-quincy-adams Email us at podcast@masshist.org. Episode Special Guests:  Gwen Fries is the Production Editor of the Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society. Fries holds degrees in history and corporate communications from Elizabethtown College and has been with the Adams Papers since 2016. Neal Millikan is the Series Editor for Digital Editions with the Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society. She is currently editing the John Quincy Adams Digital Diary, part of the Mellon-sponsored Primary Source Cooperative at the MHS. Laura Rocklyn is an award winning actress, writer, and first person historical interpreter who has performed with regional theaters across the country and worked at museums up and down the East Coast. She is currently an Acting Company Member with the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company and a museum educator at the Paul Revere House Museum. This episode uses materials from: Cases to Rest by Blue Dot Session (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported) Psychic by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk) Curious Nature by Dominic Giam of Ketsa Music (licensed under a commercial non-exclusive license by the Massachusetts Historical Society through Ketsa.uk)

It's time for another visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins us each week with her reviews of the Maryland-DC regional stage. Today, she talks with Tom about two classic shows currently in town: Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's production of Hamlet and Everyman Theatre's production of Harvey. Hamlet is widely considered to be William Shakespeare's greatest tragedic play, while Harvey is a 1944 comedy about a man whose best friend is a giant, invisible rabbit. Do these two plays have anything in common? In this new production of Hamlet, Baltimore native and nationally recognized Shakespeare director, Eleanor Holdridge, reveals this iconic piece of Shakespearian literature as a contemporary world full of tension. “We're creating a world of magic and wonder in which Hamlet can grapple with the questions of our existence,” Holdridge said of the production in a press release. “Even when he tries to make sense of and avenge his father's untimely death, he discovers the ineffable strength of his own humanity.” Harvey tells the story of Elwood P. Dowd (played by Resident Company Member, Bruce Randolph Nelson), a lovable eccentric who claims his best friend is a six-foot-tall invisible rabbit named Harvey. When Elwood's sister, Veta, tries to have him committed in hopes of protecting the family's social standing, chaos ensues. The original Pulitzer Prize-winning play was written by Mary Chase.  It's directed at Everyman by Jackson Gay. Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's production of Hamlet and Everyman Theatre's production of Harvey both continue through May 21.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's time for another visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins Tom each week with her reviews of Maryland's regional stage. Today, she's here with her take on Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's updated production of Much Ado About Nothing, the ever-popular Bard comedy that's now on stage at the open-air PFI Historical Park. Directed by Seamus Miller, the 16-member cast includes Anna DiGiovanni and Dylan Arredondo (pictured above), who joined us here on Midday last week to talk about the production, as well as Molly Moores, Kate Forton, Jose Guzman, Ryan Tumulty and Abigail Funk, among others. Much Ado About Nothing continues at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's "In-the-Ruins" venue at PFI Historical Park in Ellicott City, Maryland until July 24. Follow the theater link for program and ticketing information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We turn now to the theater, and to the new production of Shakespeare's ever-popular comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, being staged by Baltimore's Chesapeake Shakespeare Company-In-the-Ruinsat the PFI Historic Park in Ellicott City, and directed by Seamus Miller. Joining Tom to talk about the play are two members of the cast: Chesapeake Shakespeare Company member Anna DiGiovanni, who plays "Beatrice", and Dylan Arredondo, who plays the role of "Benedick." They connect with us on Zoom. Much Ado About Nothing continues at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company through July 24. Follow the theater link for show and ticketing information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How much of Baltimore's economy depends on tourism? As the summer season gets started this weekend, Al Hutchinson, president and CEO of Visit Baltimore, discusses reenergizing the city's hospitality and tourism industries. “Based on the trend line to date, we're trending up,” he says. “So if we can achieve that 27 million in visitors at the end of the summer of 2022, I believe that's a good news story for Baltimore.”   Check out the Visit Baltimore calendar of upcoming events in the city. Details about the Baltimore By Baltimore event here. Then, how are local business leaders recovering from the pandemic and preparing for summer? Bob Haislip, general manager of the Royal Sonesta Harbor Court, discusses changes in travelers' booking habits, and Lesley Malin, producing executive director of the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, tells us how theater is bouncing back.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Midday on the Arts concludes with a visit from our theater critic, J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins Tom each week with her reviews of the regional stage. Today, she shares her take on William Shakespeare's Henry V, now getting a rousing new production at Baltimore's Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. With its themes of strident nationalism, war and "band of brothers" bravado, Henry V is one of the Bard's most muscular and popular history plays. This CSC production is directed with timely resonance by Alec Wild. Henry Vcontinues at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company through May 15. For showtimes and ticketing information, click here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Midday on the Arts.  Coming up later in the hour, we'll hear from the young cellist who burst on the classical music scene when he performed at the wedding of Prince Harry and Megan Markle. Sheku Kanneh-Mason and his sister Isata, a wonderful pianist, will be performing in Baltimore this weekend, and they both join us. We'll also check in with theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck who will give us her take on Henry V, the latest production at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. But we begin with David Simon, the journalist, author and filmmaker. He is the creative force behind The Wire, The Deuce, Show Me a Hero, Treme  and many other acclaimed TV series and movies. We'll talk about his latest project: the HBO limited series We Own This City,based on the book by Justin Fenton, about the notorious criminal enterprise that was embedded in the Baltimore City Police Department called the Gun Trace Task Force. The first episode is available on HBO Max. New episodes will stream over the next five weeks. David Simon joins us on Zoom. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here's a Stoop Story from Jake Jacobson about cultural exchanges … and memorable mishaps. There's a live Stoop coming up next Wednesday, December 8, with the theme: Bah, Humbug!: Stories about making mistakes, making amends, and making merry.  It starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. At the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African-American History and Culture next Monday evening, December 6.  At 7 p.m. Gayle Jessup White will discuss her book,  Reclamation: Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson, and a Descendant's Search for Her Family's Legacy. She will be in conversation with Dr. Izetta Autumn Mobley,  Director of Interpretation, Collections, and Education at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. Links: Live Stoop, Reginald F. Lewis Museum Gayle Jessup book discussion. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Community artist Ashley Minner tells of growing up in Dundalk, surrounded by family. Her bond with her grandmother was special. Minner is a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. She recently launched the Guide to Indigenous Baltimore, a website and mobile app, in collaboration with Dr. Elizabeth Rule of the Chickasaw Nation. The guide offers an illustrated history of the Lumbee community in East Baltimore. And Mary Curtin shares a difficult story about climbing out of deep depression. Listen to more stories from the Stoop. Find out about the next live Stoop Show on December 8th at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here's a Stoop Story from Gregory Hartzler about searching for the way to deal with a special kind of hunger. There's a live Stoop show coming up! The theme is ‘Bah, Humbug!: Stories about making mistakes, making amends, and making merry.' It happens Wednesday, December 8, at  7 p.m. on the set of “A Christmas Carol” at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in downtown Baltimore. Musical Guest is Charm City Bronze. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On May 23, 2021 Burkhalter will be playing the role of Fiona in "Counterpoint" by Hortense Gerardo, produced by Scribe Stages Theatre company based out of Los Angeles, Ca. Also on May 23, 2021, she will be working with Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's Black Classical Acting Ensemble Summer Kick off! ​ On Feb. 26, 2021 Burkhalter played Zoe, in "Dark and Stormy," a virtual event produced by Scribe Stages in Los Angeles, California. ​ On Feb. 13, 2021, Burkhalter participated in a Diversity Panel for BIPOC students at the Alabama Thespians Festival ​ On March 8, 2020, Burkhalter performed at Stages Theatre in Fullerton, California. The Women Get Loud Event, produced by Project La Femme, was a great success and well received by theatregoers who were in attendance. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/matthe-tiger-impersonator/message

It's time for another visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn. Rousuck, who joins us today with her review of William Shakespeare's Adventures of Pericles, in a new production by the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, performing live-on-stage "In the Ruins" at the PFI Historical Park in Ellicott City. Directed by Matthew R. Wilson, with scenic design by Dan O'Brien and costumes by Kristina Lambdin, the Bard's seldom-produced play follows Pericles on a series of fantastic journeys, encountering kings, pirates and shipwrecks along the way. It's a tale of separation, reunion, and renewal, conveyed with energy and broad humor by the eight-member cast, led by CSC resident company member Jose Guzman in the title role.The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's production of The Adventures of Pericles continues at the PFI Historical Park in Ellicott City through August 1st. Follow the CSC link for more information See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's guest is Gerrad Taylor (he/him). Gerrad is an actor, director, educator, and Associate Artistic Director for Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in Baltimore, MD. We talk about transitioning from neuroscience to the arts, approaching the classics without the white-gaze, and his surprising connection to Divinia. Host: Divinia Shorter Producer: Jacob Zeranko Charity of choice: Casey Cares Foundation You can support and find more information about their work on their website: https://www.caseycares.org/ (https://www.caseycares.org/) Follow us! Twitter: @greatestcityco Instagram: @greatestcityco Facebook: @greatestcityco Website: http://www.greatestcitycollective.org/ (http://www.greatestcitycollective.org/)

In this episode Adam and Budi interview actor Julian Elijah Martinez. Julian studied acting and theater design at Elon University before he was accepted into the Yale School of Drama studying under teachers such as Ron Van Lieu and Evan Yionulius. Broadway credits include Network. Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway credits include Anatomy of A Suicide (Atlantic Theater Company); Mud (Boundless Theater Company); and Alligator (New Georges). Selected Regional Credits include Father Comes Home From The Wars Part 1, 2, 3 (co-production with Yale Rep and A.C.T); The Square Root of Three Sisters (Dmitry Krymov Lab); 9 Circles (Forum Theatre, Helen Hayes nomination); Locomotion (The John F. Kennedy Center); and The Hampton Years (Theater J). Television credits include Wu-tang: An American Saga (now streaming on Hulu), Elementary, Madam Secretary, and High School Lover. He is a board member of Developing Artist Theater Company and a former member of Chesapeake Shakespeare Company and former artistic director of the Yale Cabaret.Mentioned in this episode:Wu-Tang: An American SagaNetwork@thatninjajayAlbert CamusShadi GhaheriEncompass CollectiveThe JungleUbu RoiFrances McDormandJonathan MajorsMalcolm GladwellThe Actor and the TargetAcrobat of the HeartWisdom of no escapeThe Fire Next TimeMiracle of MindfulnessDmitry KrymovIvo van HoveBrian CranstonTatiana MaslanyErika AlexanderTo submit a question, please visit http://www.speakpipe.com/theatreofothers for voice recording or submit an email to podcast@theatreofothers.com Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwiseIf you enjoyed this week´s podcast, we´d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest in it and make it even betterMusic credit: https://www.purple-planet.comhttp://www.theatreofothers.com

Planet Shakespeare's series of interviews with Shakespeare theater practitioners from around the world starts with a conversation between Ian Gallanar, host and Founding Artistic Director of the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company and Actor's Shakespeare Project Artistic Director Christopher Edwards from Boston, Massachusetts. The conversation runs the gamut of Shakespeare topics including- who is Shakespeare for?

Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Tom in the studio for another of her weekly reviews of the Maryland stage. Today, she tells us about Dracula, a haunting adaptation of Bram Stoker’s seminal 1897 vampire novel that opens Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's 2019 season. Adapted by Steven Dietz and directed in the CSC's ornate theater space by Gerald Alex Taylor, the play unfolds in a sanatorium, as a series of sinister events reveals the presence of the greatest vampire of all time. The cast includes Michael P. Sullivan, reprising his 2013 CSC performance as Dracula; Hannah Kelly as the Count's love interest, Mina Murray; and Scott Alan Small as Renfield, the asylum patient. Emily Lotz designed the sets, and Kristina Lambdin designed the costumes.Speaking of blood...On Thursday, October 17, from 1 to 6pm, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company will host Dracula’s Blood Drive, a community blood donation at the CSC acting studio in the heart of downtown, at 206 East Redwood Street, 4th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202. It’s easy to make an appointment to donate: Visit redcrossblood.org and enter the blood drive password: SHAKESPEARE. Walk-ins are welcome.Lesley Malin, CSC's Managing Director, says all donors to Dracula’s Blood Drive will receive a voucher good for 20 percent off regular-priced tickets to Dracula, which continues at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company Theater, located at 7 S. Calvert Street (at Redwood Street), in Baltimore, MD 21202, through November 2, 2019.

It's Thursday, and theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck is back with another of her weekly reviews of the Maryland regional stage. Today, she joins Tom to spotlight Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's new production of the Bard's ----Love's Labour's Lost,---- staged outdoors ----In the Ruins---- at the Patapsco Female Institute (PFI) Historic Park in Ellicott City.In this pun-filled romantic comedy penned by William Shakespeare in the mid-1590s, King Ferdinand of Navarre (played by Jonathan Jacobs) and three courtiers -- Berowne (Jose Guzman), Longaville (J.C. Payne), and Dumanin (Alexander Kafarakis) -- agree to avoid the distractions of women for three years while they study and pray. Their high-minded plans are derailed when the beautiful Princess of France (played by Lauren Davis) and her three ladies -- Rosaline (Elana Michelle), Maria (Micaela Mannix), and Katherine (Hilary Morrow) -- arrive on a diplomatic mission, and the men soon become love-struck fools. For their part, the women conspire to confound the men's amorous ambitions, but the play ends as the death of the Princess's father puts all the romancing on hold for a year.Directed by Erin Bone Steele, the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company production of Love's Labour's Lost continues at the PFI Historic Park in Ellicott City through Sunday, July 28th. For more information, click here.

In June, Holocaust victim and diarist Anne Frank would have turned 90 years old. Her story lives on … but research shows that knowledge of the Holocaust is fading in the collective American memory. “Spring of Remembrance,” a host of events focused on lessons of the Holocaust, is meant to counter that effect. One of them is Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s “The Diary of Anne Frank” We meet actor and managing director Lesley Malin and UMBC theater professor and director Eve Muson to hear about what went into producing the play.

It's Thursday, and time for our regular studio sojourn with theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins us every week with her reviews of the Maryland regional stage. Today, she tells us of Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's new production of Henry IV Part II, one of the Bard's major historical plays, and the repertory companion to Henry IV, Part I, which the Company performed in tandem with Part II on a series of recent Saturday marathons.In a historical sequel rich with explorations of paternal relationships, King Henry IV's rogue son, Prince Hal - a carousing and impulsive young man in the sway of a friendship with a rough-edged knight named Falstaff - faces new responsibilities as the king's health grows increasingly frail, and as the king's armies battle to put down an insurrection. Those armies eventually triumph, and Prince Hal is reconciled with his dying father. And as Hal assumes the throne as King Henry V, he lets Falstaff know their reckless friendship is history. Henry IV, Part II is co-directed for the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company by its founder and artistic director Ian Gallanar, and by Company actor and CSC associate artistic director Gerrad Alex Taylor. The production's cast of more than three dozen actors and musicians features resident Company members Seamus Miller as Prince Hal, Ron Heneghan as King Henry and Gregory Burgess as Falstaff.Henry IV, Part II continues at Baltimore's Chesapeake Shakespeare Company through April 7.

Tonight, is the opening night of Henry IV Part I at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. The play is the first of Shakespeare’s seven “Henry’s,” as they’re known by aficionados of the Bard, and it’s considered one of Shakespeare’s most ambitious history plays. Written between 1596 and 1599, Henry IV Part I and Henry IV Part II tell a story of friends, fathers and sons, war, and the weight of honor. Tom is joined in Studio A by Seamus Miller who plays Prince Hal; and Gregory Burgess, who plays Prince Hal’s mentor, the incorrigible Sir John Falstaff. The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company will be presenting Henry IV Parts I and II in repertory on selected Saturdays in March. This segment was streamed live on the WYPR Facebook Page.

It's time for another visit from our well-traveled theater critic, J. Wynn Rousuck, who join us each week with a review of one of the region's many theaterical offerings. Today, she's spotlighting the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's new production of the Bard's romantic farce, A Midsummer Night's Dream, being performed on the outdoor stage at the PFI Historic Park in Ellicott City.A Midsummer Night's Dream was written by William Shakespeare in 1595-96. The play portrays the madcap events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, the former queen of the Amazons. These include the humorously interconnected adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors who are manipulated by the Fairies who inhabit the forest in which the play is mostly set. One of Shakespeare's funniest and most popular works for the stage -- and performed by theater companies around the world -- AMSND is directed for the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company by Gerrad Alex Taylor. He guides a 19-member cast that features guest actor Michael Toperzer as Theseus/Oberon, CSC member Elana Michelle as Hippolyta/Titania, and Imani Turner as Puck.The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream continues at the PFI Historic Park in Ellicott City, Maryland, through Sunday, July 29. For ticket info and directions, click here.

Funny thing about making a podcast: You never know who’s listening. Turns out, Baltimore’s mayor, Catherine Pugh, is a fan of Out of the Blocks, and she invited producer Aaron Henkin to join her in front of a live audience for a conversation about the show. (Aaron got to ask her some questions, too.) This episode is a recording of the event, which happened Monday evening, June 25th, at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s theater-in-the-round in downtown Baltimore.

Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins us today with reviews of two plays now running in the region: Red Velvet, by the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, and All She Must Possess, a world premiere at Rep Stage, on the Howard Community College campus.Chesapeake Shakespeare's Red Velvet (profiled on Midday's January 31st show) tells the story of Ira Aldridge, a celebrated and controversial African American actor who won international renown for his groundbreaking portrayal of Shakespeare's Othello at a London theater in 1833. The play by Lolita Chakrabati is directed by Shirley Basfield Dunlap, and features Christian R. Gibbs as Ira Aldridge and Yuri Lomakin as a London theater manager.All She Must Possess, directed at the Rep Stage by Joseph Ritsch, is the world premiere of a play by Susan McCully, who portrays the lives of Baltimore's Victorian-era Cone sisters -- Dr. Claribel and Etta Cone. The iconic pair's passion for collecting art and curios from around the world brings them into the rarified company of many of the artistic and literary geniuses of their day, including avant-garde writer Gertrude Stein.Red Velvet at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, and All She Must Possess at Rep Stage in Columbia, both continue through February 25.

In 1833, English audiences were shocked to see an African American man play the role of Shakespeare’s Othello. Ira Aldridge was London’s first African-American Othello and is the subject of the play Red Velvet by Lolita Chakrabarti. Shirley Basfield Dunlap, Director of Red Velvet at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, tells us about Aldridge. Dunlap is an Associate Professor, and the Theatre Coordinator, at Morgan State University.

Ira Aldridge was 17 years old when he left his father’s home to pursue his dream of becoming a professional actor in England. Born in 1807 New York, Aldridge grew up during at a time when chattel slavery was legal, and black actors who performed works associated with Anglo culture, were met with chastisement and violence. Alone in a strange land, Ira would go on to become one of the most celebrated actors in the world. Red Velvet, is the story of an actor and the performance that transformed him into an international star of the theater and seminal figure in the narrative of African American achievement.Shirley Basfield Dunlap is an Associate Professor in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts and Coordinator of Theater Arts at Morgan State University. She is directing this new production of Red Velvet, and she joins me in Studio A. The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s Maryland premiere of “Red Velvet” by Lolita Chakrabarti includes free public events in the community made possible by partnerships with the arts and culture community of Baltimore. For more information, click the link below: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T-dxzeLaONAuOEfWTBFHAwi5K-eTOyDsLpZ82nzbRFM/edit?usp=sharing

Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Tom in the studio each Thursday with her weekly reviews of the region's thespian offerings. This week, she critiques the new production of The Tempest from the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company .

Henry V 4.1 – We take a late-night, early-morning stroll with Henry, to clear our heads. No sleep 'til Agincourt! Chesapeake Shakespeare Company  National Theatre Live David Tennant, Richard II