CNN Covers Maryland Theater

Best of Maryland Theater 2009

Unlike the District of Columbia's tight knit theater community, Maryland's collection of theaters tend to be more scattered. Maybe it's a result of the rivalry between Baltimore and Washington (the one where Baltimore fights to keep up with DC while DC barely knows that Baltimore exists). Also, the rest of Maryland lacks a Helen Hayes Awards, or the Washington League of Theatres to link them together. Maryland doesn't have an organization that binds theaters together. Still, there is a collection of very strong theaters across the state and with the geography, most people can reach any of the major theaters with a not-too-long of a drive.

Here are my picks for the ten best stage productions of 2009 in the State of Maryland.

1. The Importance of Being Earnest- Centerstage

I believe it to be the best production of the season. Certainly the costume design and the scenic design were the best we've seen locally in some time. Centerstage regular Laurence O'Dwyer steals the show with his hilarious performance of Lady Bracknell. When Centerstage gets it right, they get it right. With this snappy production of the Wilde masterpiece, Irene Lewis and Centerstage get it right. I strongly believe that they (and Artistic Director Lewis)are at their strongest when they take on theater "chestnuts" like Importance of Being Earnest, Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe, The Matchmaker and Arsenic & Old Lace. They brought new life to all of them. Their Earnest is smarter, funnier and snappier than the usual production you may have seen of Wilde's popular romp.

2. The Mystery of Irma Vep - Everyman Theater

Bruce Nelson seems to be everyone's favorite local actor- and for good reason. At his best, this actor is ridiculously good. On occasion, his performances are a bit too far of a stretch (his recent performance as Hamlet's King Claudius comes to mind). But, when he's in his comfort zone, he's terrific. In Irma Vep, he's funny, full of energy and extremely likable. In larger than life plays like The Mystery of Irma Vep, he shines. He is a man of a thousand faces in this well directed play. This production was a lesson for other theater companies in how to stage a campy, zany affair and do it sharply.

3. The Puppetmaster of Lodz- Performance Workshop Theater

This piece gets produced often in Baltimore by the Performance Workshop Theatre. Although the play might be better suited as a one act (the story gets a bit thin), the performance by Marc Horwitz is terrific. He does an outstanding job of recreating a difficult role- of the not- likable title character. This little theater group left their tiny theater in Federal Hill for the only slightly larger Baltimore Theater Project space. I hope they don't move it to a larger space- I think it is very suited to an intimate performance space. Look for its revival in a few years- and don't miss it.

4. Hysteria - Rep Stage

Rep Stage's strongest outing of the year. This production was a shining star from beginning to end. The area's steadiest theater company can play it a little too safe- not solely with their stagings but also with their choice of material. That's why it's fun to have them select some more risky material. If there was one production to see this year on this list it would have been this one. Not because it was the best, but because it was so unique. Bruce Nelson in another one of the best plays of the season- and largely because of another one of his excellent performances. His Salvador Dali wasn't so much Dali as an interesting invention, but it worked. It was fun to watch the whole way through.

5. Cyrano de Bergerac - Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

This production sort of ran under the radar. By the time I had even heard that it was being produced, it was closing weekend. It was imperfect, but its highlights were remarkable. How can you mount a production of Cyrano with a so-so performance in the leading role and still have the production be so glorious? Yet this production stays in my memory months later. Possibly it was the magnificent outdoor setting, the epic direction of the piece or the incredible visuals of the production. Regardless, it was one of the most exciting productions of the year. Shame about the uneven performances. An outstanding outdoor theatrical experience from Ellicott City's best kept secret.

6. The Cherry Orchard -Everyman Theatre

Baltimore's favorite theater company occasionally ventures into pre-modern theater and mostly it's not their forte. But this production of The Cherry Orchard was surprisingly fresh. Maybe it's because the play feels so modern. Deb Hazlett and Wll Love were particularly strong in this earnest production. Director Vincent Lancisi's played it very straight- and that was refreshing for this play that seems to attract directors who want to "fix" the play. Some of the younger actors prevented the production from soaring, but still - a strong outing from Baltimore's favorites.

7. Sweeney Todd- Toby's Dinner Theater

Cannibalism is not the first subject matter that comes to mind when thinking of dinner theater material, but here it is. Toby Orenstein shows her skill at mounting musicals that please audiences. It's great to see her when she takes on a more challenging piece like Sweeney Todd. And although the production was hardly groundbreaking in nature, Russell Sunday gave one of the strongest performances of the year. Lynne Sigler is awfully good too. I could never figure out why Sweeney has an American accent though.

8. Eurydice- Round House Theatre

An uneven production from Bethesda's Round House theatre yet there are enough interesting things in this production to make it a bright spot in the theater scene. Eurydice was one of the daughters of Apollo and married Orpheus and has been the subject of many works o art over the years. The latest is a post-modern fable of sorts. The strength is Sarah Ruhl's fascinating script and very strong performances by Jenna Sokolowski and Adriano Gatt. Clint Ramos' set is terrific, but the direction of the play seems inconstant and the play wavers from sublime to adolescent. Still, it's great to see daring work like this.

9. The Wild Duck- Single Carrot Theatre

This young company gets a lot of attention- and I'm not always sure why. They're hungry enough and they take risks and that's commendable(!), but they don't often do it successfully. Still I admire their energy and determination. Maybe it's that every other theater company in town is so...old- and the contrast is so apparent. On occasion I think their work shows hints of great things to come. Their production of The Wild Duck was their best. The cast is strong and the direction is capable and the storytelling aspects of the production are first-rate. Plus, how often do you get a chance to see The Wild Duck?

10. Spring Awakening- The Hippodrome

Not produced by a Maryland theater company, but I've included it anyway. It's a wonderful production. The ensemble was particularly strong. The plotline of Spring Awakening focuses on a group of adolescents from the generation fated to become the parents of the Nazis. Their lives are none-too-enjoyable, what with sexual oppression, suicide, teen pregnancy, abortion and parents raping their children. Hardly the subject matter for a conventional musical. Still, the production was enormously moving, the acting top notch and the music was highly original.

Best Theater News

Anne Cantler Fulwiler, saved the Theatre Project from extinction. Things looked awfully grim at the start of the year, but through perspiration, ingenuity and grit, Ms. Fulwiler was able to keep the doors open on this Baltimore arts landmark. We're the better-off for it. They say the recession is over. Let's hope so.

In addition to the theater companies whose shows are represented in the article, Maryland is home to a number of fine theater companies like the famous Olney Theater Center, Frederick's Maryland Ensemble Theater, summer theater Cockpit in Court in Eastern Baltimore County, Annapolis' Bay Theater and Hamden's Baltimore Shakespeare Festival and Mobtown Players as well as the 93 year old Vagabond Players.

Broadway World Covers CSC's Julius Caesar

A Haunting CAESAR at the Patapsco Ruins

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar contains so many famous speeches—most of them filled with weighty words such as Freedom, Justice, Honor—it is easy to forget how much action the play packs into its tight structure. Easy, that is, unless one has recently come from the Patapsco Female Institute Historic Park in Ellicott City, where the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company is staging the great tragedy around that venue’s “Haunted Ruins.” And I do mean around.

You see, in this production—as in last season’s acclaimed Macbeth—the audience moves with the actors. Waiting “outside” the theatre for the play to start, we are surrounded by costumed people cheering Caesar’s latest military triumph, and suddenly, wonderfully, we are part of the mob—a point reinforced by the hurried entrance of two Roman senators, who accost us for our unruliness as we jostle past. Later scenes unfold before a balcony, beneath a tent, in an open field; Marc Antony delivers his funeral oration for Caesar—whose bloody assassination by Brutus, Cassius, and the rest of the conspirators plays out in a coldly lit courtyard—upon a flight of stone steps framed by huge columns.

The cumulative effect—even accounting for the inevitable, awkward transitions that occur when several hundred people squeeze simultaneously through narrow corridors—is to create one of the most intimate, riveting theatrical experiences I have ever had. Director Frank B. Moorman has trimmed the text to a crisp two hours, yet nothing seems to have been lost; the psychological complexities of Caesar, Antony, Cassius, and especially Brutus—Shakespeare’s first tragic hero who turns inward, and a crucial step toward Hamlet—are coherent and vividly brought to life by the first-rate cast.

Scott Alan Small’s Brutus and Michael P. Sullivan’s Cassius cut the most imposing figures, whether clad in soldier’s garb or in top hats and ties. (Costume designer Karen Eske sets the play in an apparently Victorian universe—the actual effect is less incongruous than it sounds, and perhaps it makes the characters a bit more accessible than if they’d simply worn togas.) These are strong, physical men, whose barely restrained power seems always on the verge of breaking through the checks forged by civility and intellect. “Brutus and Caesar,” tempts Cassius, “what should be in that ‘Caesar’? / Why should that name be sounded more than yours?” Watching Small and Sullivan chafe under their perceived bonds, we cannot help but agree.

Few conspirators in history are more notorious than Brutus and Cassius—Dante places them with Judas Iscariot in the bottommost depth of his Inferno—yet Shakespeare’s play is most compelling as it gradually reveals the friendship that cements (and is cemented by) their conspiracy. Small and Sullivan are equally affecting in this light, particularly when set against the more obvious marriage of convenience that exists between Octavius, Caesar’s great-nephew (and the future emperor), and Antony, Caesar’s favorite. Octavius and Antony win the battle that concludes the play, but Brutus and Cassius win our sympathy … and possibly our admiration.

That said, Antony’s is easily the flashier role—when well delivered, his “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears …” is one of the most exhilarating speeches ever written. And when the time comes for him to mount those stairs and command our attention, Daniel Corey is sensational. One hopes in a few years the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company stages Antony and Cleopatra, so that Corey has an opportunity to complete the great warrior’s own tragic arc.

Kevin Costa’s smirking Casca stands out amongst the conspirators. Rebecca Ellis is poignant in her lone appearance as Brutus’s wife, Portia; in contrast, Bridget Garwood’s voice is somewhat overwhelmed by the outdoor space, limiting her effectiveness as Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia. The same might be said of James Jager’s Octavius. As for Caesar himself, Frank Mancino seems mostly puffed with hot air—though the effect is funny, Mancino never quite locates the mighty heart that still beats in the aging body.

Moorman and set and lighting designer Dan O’Brien make efficient and occasionally ingenious use of the space—the simple strobe effect that O’Brien creates for Caesar’s ghost is particularly chilling. Fight choreographers James Jager and Eric Lund stage a crisp battle of Philippi, though I can’t explain why properties designer Kristina Lambdin equipped some of the soldiers with swords and others with shovels.

Julius Caesar closes November 1^st. Don’t miss the chance to see it.

Julius Caesar is playing at Patapsco Female Institute Historic Park, located at 3691 Sarah’s Lane in Ellicott City, on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 6 PM, through November 1^st. Tickets are $25-$30 for adults, $22 for seniors, and $10 for students 21 and under. For more information, visit www.chesapeakeshakespeare.com or call 866-811-4111. Groups of 10 or more should call 410-313-8874.

Baltimore Sun's Music Critic Covers Julius Caesar

Plucky 'Caesar' troupe carries on in downpour

Chesapeake Shakespeare Company performs amid ruins of Patapsco Female Institute

Jose Guzman, left, and Scott Alan Small perform in Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's production of "Julius Caesar" amid the ruins of Ellicott City's Patapsco Female Institute. (Baltimore Sun / October 26, 2009)

By Tim Smith | tim.smith@baltsun.com

October 27, 2009

You've got to admire the mix of imagination and chutzpah behind the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, which last year tried out the concept of an outdoor production that includes nearly as much action on the part of the audience as the cast.

That first "Movable Shakespeare" venture, "Macbeth," has been followed this season by a "Julius Caesar" that spreads all over the cool ruins of Ellicott City's historic Patapsco Female Institute, where "the deep of night is crept upon [their] talk."

On Friday, the seep of rain crept in, too - poured in, even, as the last scenes were played on a grassy knoll. That gave a new twist to the line, "The storm is up and all is on the hazard." But the actors soldiered on gamely; so did the spectators. (Act 5 was condensed because of the weather.) In retrospect, the "ill beginning of the night" - the first, brief rainfall delayed the start of the play - could be viewed as one more portent in a play partly fueled by portentous signs.

The Ides of October didn't really dampen things too much. Given the intriguing surroundings and the overall spirit of the actors, it was pretty easy to overlook any unevenness of talent and simply go with the unusual flow.

Caesar's murder was carried out in an intimate room of the roofless structure, inches away from some of those watching. Mark Antony asked for the lending of ears while standing on the building's imposing front staircase as angry Roman countrymen mingled with the audience to shout out reactions; everyone then trudged up those steps and moved through spooky corridors as sounds of an uprising against the assassins filled the damp air.

Director Frank B. Moorman reveals a knack for effectively keeping the play in motion. The production gets a 19th-century look from the costumes by Karen Eske, neatly matching the environs - the Patapsco Female Institute opened in 1837.

Exterior scenes can't help but be tricky acoustically. On Friday, some things couldn't be heard clearly by those not standing, sitting or leaning up close. (Concern for audibility presumably accounted for the way almost all the lines were shouted, reducing possibilities for nuance.)

The most persuasive acting came from Scott Alan Small, who caught the intense convictions of Brutus; Michael P. Sullivan, who revealed similar passion as Cassius; and Daniel Corey, whose Mark Antony exuded an affecting blend of fear and courage. Sturdy contributions came from Dave Gamble (Decius Brutus) and Kevin Costa (Casca). Frank Mancino needed more authority and personality for the title role.

If a certain collegiate level of acting flavored the rest of the cast, the overall commitment of the participants carried the day - and the appropriately volatile night.

"Julius Caesar" will be performed at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. Sunday at PFI Historic Park, 3691 Sarah's Lane, Ellicott City. Tickets are $10 to $30. Call 410-313-8874 or go to chesapeakeshakespeare.com.

Twelfth Night

Theater Review: 'Twelfth Night' is still tops among comic romps

By Anthony Sclafani

Posted 7/09/09

(Enlarge) Jenny Crooks, left, as Viola in her ruse as a man, gets a hearing by Lisa Hill-Corley in “Twelfth Night” by the Chesapeake Shakespeare Festival.

When William Shakespeare wanted to get serious, tragedies like "Macbeth" and "Hamlet" ensued. But when he was in a silly frame of mind, he could be unbelievably ridiculous, as evidenced by "Twelfth Night," being staged locally by the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company through July 19.

In "Twelfth Night," the Bard touches on all of his favorite comedy standbys. The play has twins, mistaken identity, and a pompous character or two who very much play the fool. There are even ill-fated love affairs — although rendered with a much lighter touch than in, say, "Romeo and Juliet."

The action in "Twelfth Night" kicks off with a woman named Viola (Jenny Crooks) washing ashore in a strange land after being shipwrecked. Viola needs a job and since women's lib won't happen for another few hundred years, she disguises herself as a man.

Sure enough, the ploy works, and Viola is soon working hard for the money of the debonair Duke Orsino (played by Michael Boynton). But the Duke doesn't have Viola doing any real kind of meaningful work; instead, she's dispatched to seek out Orsino's longtime crush, Olivia (Laura Rocklyn), and trying to help Orsino make a love connection.

You can pretty much guess that when Olivia sees Viola gussied up like a man, she gets an instant crush on her -- er, make that "him." Viola, meanwhile, is anguishing over her own secret crush on Orsino.

Director Jenny Leopold sets the action in the early 1960s, which might have you searching for an undercurrent of politics. But while some issues about women in the workplace are emphasized by Leopold and Kristina Lambdin's period costumes, what really seems to be brought out is how romantic relations between the sexes haven't really changed much, whatever the time period.

The play's subplot gets most of the attention, and for good reason. It concerns the classic Shakespearean character Malvolio, who serves as the head of Olivia's household.

This character has thrived through the ages as the prototype of virtually every pompous know-nothing who gets a rise out from audiences out of his complete, comical lack of self-awareness.

Dave Gamble gives the character a particularly compelling haughtiness, especially when he's forced to match wits with another one of Shakespeare's most inspired creations, the ridiculous Sir Toby Belch (played with Bill Murray-like deadpan wit by Jared Mercier).

The romantic complications are pushed further when the honorable Mr. Belch sends his boyish surrogate, Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Brandon Mitchell), to win over the sought-after Olivia.

"Twelfth Night" has become a favorite template for any madcap romp that gets people laughing simply because of the hectic pace of its silliness. Leopold siezes on the idea and has the various characters race on and off designer Heidi L. Castle-Smith's set as if to underscore the ridiculousness of the premise.

The only time the audience gets to catch its collective breath, it seems, is during Dan O'Brien's made-to-order songs, sung here with tongue-in-cheek earnestness by Steve Beall. Romance and song, the play seems to say, bring out both the pain and joy in life.

"Twelfth Night" by the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company continues through July 19 at the Patapsco Female Institute Historic Park, located at 3691 Sarah's Lane in Historic Ellicott City. Performance times are Fridays-Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m.

Admission is $25 Fridays, $30 Saturdays-Sundays, with senior citizen tickets running $22-$27, and students under 22 just $15. Children under 18 are free with a paying adult. An extended version will be staged Friday, July 17. For information go to www.chesapeakeshakespeare.com, or call 866-811-4111 or 410-313-8874 for group sales.

Howward County Times Cover CSC

Thinking Outside the Bard

Outdoor theatre

By Anthony Sclafani

Posted 6/03/09

With 'Cyrano,' Shakespeare troupe hopes to win by a nose

Nearly every weekday, Ian Gallanar makes his way up the hills to the ruins of the old Patapsco Female Institute in historic Ellicott City. There, in the expansive outdoor setting, the long-time theater director is taking on his most challenging mission to date.

Along with some 30 actors and assorted technical crew, Gallanar is mounting his biggest production yet with the troupe he co-founded over half a decade ago. The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company revival of "Cyrano de Bergerac" opens Friday, June 5 and will be nothing if not ambitious.

"The thing is huge," laughs Gallanar, who also serves as the troupe's artistic director. "There are over 40 roles in this play. There are about 80 costumes, and they're all period costumes, so it's not like you can put a brown suit on somebody.

"It's five acts, and each act is set in a completely different location," continues this Laurel-based director. "So it's a big, gigantic piece. You can't just go to any theater and sayy, I think I'd like to do 'Cyrano de Bergerac!'"

Over the past few years the company has gone from an upstart troupe to being one of the most critically acclaimed purveyors of Shakepearean drama in the state. It has received several Greater Baltimore Theater Awards, and in 2007 was the only Maryland drama troupe invited to perform in the prestigious Shakespeare in Washington Festival.

For the first time, Gallanar and company have looked away from the troupe's namesake for their signature summer offering (although they have staged a non-Shakespearean title or two in winter months). This time, instead of sticking with the boy who brought them, they've strayed off into untested territory with an oversized antique by French one-hit wonder Edmond Rostand.

Is this the time to take artistic risks?

"You know why we're doing it?" asks Gallanar with a rhetorical flourish worthy of Cyrano himself. "Because we can."

And he's not kidding.

"We talked it over and we looked at our budget. And we looked at our audience and thought, since we're in our seventh season, it's time to introduce something besides Shakespeare."

That meant a stretch in more ways than one. Gallanar had to hire more actors. Washington-area stage veteran Frank B. Moorman, who plays the title role, had to enroll in fight choreography classes to navigate through the play's many swordfights and physical challenges. And marketing director Rebecca Ellis had to come up with a large prosthetic nose realistic enough to turn Moorman into a believably authentic Cyrano.

It's "Cyrano," after all -- and everyone will be coming to see the man with the long nose.

The main man

"Cyrano de Bergerac," as most folks will remember from high school English class, is a romantic tragedy about a famed soldier and poet with an oversized proboscis who unfortunately is carrying a torch for the fairest maiden in France, Roxanne.

Things get complicated when Roxanne falls for Cyrano's fellow soldier, Christian de Neuvillette, who is too prosaic and tongue-tied to master the language of love. So Cyrano volunteers to be Christian's invisible surrogate and speech writer in the campaign to win Roxanne. As expected, he succeeds only too well for all involved.

First performed in 1897, the play has been rediscovered and adopted by virtually every generation since. It is periodically revived on the professional stage, and enjoyed a mainstream retelling in 1987 when comic Steve Martin wrote and starred in a movie update titled "Roxanne."

Gallanar says the play first got his attention in a cartoon version he saw in his youth. "It was a 'Mr. Magoo' cartoon," he confides. "For some strange reason in the mid-1960s, they made a series of 'Mr. Magoo' classics - cartoon renditions of classic plays like 'A Christmas Carol.'

"What appealed to me was the story. You see this basic story a lot -- in sitcoms, in movies -- it's everywhere."

The same mix of comic and tragic elements that has fueled the play's popularity through the years poses a special challenge for any director attempting to revive it.

As he gets set for another evening of running cast interference and untangling the text's mixed messages, Gallanar reflects on the obstacles already met.

"We have a variety of different actors. Some of them are kids, some of them are interns and some of them are professionals."

Notably included among the smattering of children are Gallanar's own daughter, Isadora Gallanar, as well as Addison Helm, the son of co-star (and managing director) Lesley Malin.

"When you're dealing with so many different kinds of actors, you have to talk to everybody differently."

Altogether, the summer production is another key step forward for a troupe that has been stepping up for some time. Even in a harsh economic environment, when people have notably less discretionary income for tickets, the company sold out its October run of "Macbeth" and had its second-highest attendance records for its outdoor productions last summer, despite near-continuous rainfall.

The troupe's last production, "The Country Wife," also sold out, even though it was a little-known Restoration comedy. Word of mouth about the company's quality has clearly gotten around -- and rave reviews from a variety of the region's media can't have hurt at all.

"It's the largest cast we've ever assembled. It's huge," Gallanar emphasizes, then ends with a wry note of understatement. "But it's great fun, like herding cats."

The company will also present "Twelfth Night" beginning June 26 and that production runs weekends to July 19. There will be a marathon double-header production of both plays Saturday, June 27.

DC Theater Scene Reviews Cyrano

Cyrano de Bergerac

June 10, 2009 by Steven McKnight
Filed under Features, Our Reviews

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Usually, the success of Cyrano de Bergerac depends upon the perfomance of the actor playing the French swordsman with the heart of a poet and the prodigious proboscis. Yet in the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s quality outdoor staging of the classic work, it’s the rest of the 40 member cast that supplies the panache which makes the evening entertaining and memorable.

For those unfamiliar with the story, Cyrano (Frank B. Moorman) is a proud soldier with the brains and talents of a true Renaissance man. And one outstanding facial feature. He loves from afar his cousin Roxane (Ty Hallmark), who in turn has fallen for a handsome young man named Christian (Theo Hadjimichael) newly assigned to Cyrano’s company in the Guard. Further complicating this romantic triangle is the fact that De Guiche (Dave Gamble), a powerful nobleman, is determined to force a marriage of convenience on Roxane that will allow him access to her charms. (A romantic quadrilateral?)

Ultimately Cyrano befriends Christian and lends his poetry to the inarticulate suitor while disguising his own feelings for Roxane. Cyrano decides it is better to have at least a partial role in winning her heart since he imagines she could not love a man with such a disfiguring nose. And what a nose it is in this production! Rebecca Ellis has created a prosthetetic device that would do Pinocchio proud.

Cyrano de Bergerac is a large work in size, cast, and lyrical themes. When done well, it offers a host of charms, including comedy, romance, drama, adventure, and tragedy and Chesapeake Shakespeare Company uses its classical background to do it very well.

Moorman handles the virtuoso role of Cyrano with a knowing intelligence and a droll sense of humor. The fact that he is a little seasoned for the role, however, undercuts the romantic credibility. In addition, due both to acting choices and the strain of a tremendous line load, Moorman fails to take full advantage of the opportunities to enjoy the passion of the character.

Fortunately, Moorman is surrounded by a wonderful cast. Ty Hallmark shines as Roxane, sweet and fair, aristocratic yet girlish at the same time. She beams the look of love when near Christian, including the second most famous balcony scene in English literature. It is Hallmark’s reactions that help make many of scenes, including the tragic finale, so touching.

Hadjimichael makes a fine Christian, deftly balancing the rough and ready soldier’s attitude with the tender side of the character. Gamble is intimidating and authoritative as the aristocratic scoundrel, while still giving the character the needed dimension.

The quality of the acting extends throughout the smaller roles. As Cyrano’s friend Le Bret, Michael P. Sullivan has a strong presence and a gift for handling expressive dialogue. Other memorable roleplayers include David Tabish as the pastry chef and poet Rageauneau, and Frank Mancino doubling as the poet-satirist Lignière and a Capuchin Monk.

Director Ian Gallanar demonstrates an adept feel for Cyrano de Bergerac and effectively summons the right energy from the cast to meet the dramatic demands of each scene. His choice of the well-regarded Burgess translation of the play (used by the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 1984 Broadway production) makes the dialogue and themes more accessible to broad audiences. Marilyn Johnson’s attractive period costumes and the appropriate setting of the ruins at the PFI Historic Park help the audience lose themselves in the seventeenth century era.

If you have ever enjoyed outdoor classical theatre in general or a past production of Cyrano de Bergerac in particular, it’s worth the drive to Ellicott City. The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company has a real nose for the spirit of Cyrano de Bergerac.

Cyrano de Bergerac
by Edmond Rostand
directed by Ian Gallanar
produced by Chesapeake Shakespeare Company
reviewed by Steven McKnight

For Details, Directions and Tickets, click here.

Howard County Times Reviews Country Wife

Theater Review: Living for today, 'Country' style

Chesapeake Shakespeare Company has its way with Wycherley

By Mike Giuliano

Posted 2/26/09

William Wycherley's "The Country Wife" was written in 1675, but the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's production of this English Restoration comedy is easy to follow in 2009.

You'll readily adjust to the play's stylized language and customs, because amorous intrigue never goes out of style. As for the three-hour running time: It flies by like a breathlessly paced sitcom in which every marriage just seems like an excuse to commit adultery.

"The Country Wife" is a zesty reminder that 17th-century England was a tumultuous place. The Puritans had banned theater, but they fell from power with the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. Whatever one might say about the ensuing Restoration theater, it was not puritanical. It celebrated life with such bawdy glee that you still sense the playwrights' excitement at being able to freely express themselves again.

The near-manic quality of such theater also conveys the feeling that these stage characters are vigorously living for today, because yesterday was grim and there's no guarantee that there will be a tomorrow. Quickly made references to war, smallpox and other life-shortening things in "The Country Wife" are reminders that there's no point delaying either a marriage or an adulterous affair.

Wycherley's play is predicated on the basic social assumption that marriage is a contract based on financial advantage, social position, and just possibly genuine affection; those who are married have no qualms about having affairs on the side. Not every character in this densely plotted play totally agrees with that assumption, which is one reason why their varied responses to it result in a three-hour play.

This story is brimming with innuendo-laden conversations whispered behind hand-held fans, characters hidden behind large screens, and passionate affairs that go postal with every letter sent to an eager recipient.

The complexities of that plot are best discovered for yourself, but they all spin off of the bawdy scheme that immediately gets the play going. Harry Horner (Scott Alan Small) is a swaggering London playboy whose curly wig is kept in motion by his pursuit of women. He hatches a plot to pretend that he's impotent, thereby making husbands trust him in the company of their wives. The duped husbands will assume Harry is just visiting to play cards, for instance, without realizing that he's playing another game.

Harry is a city slicker whose sly tactics are aimed at targets including a country couple, the stuffy Jack Pinchwife (Keith E. Irby), and Pinchwife's sweet-natured new bride, Margery (Rebecca Ellis). All three actors persuasively embody their roles, with Irby especially impressive owing to the fervor of his authoritarian pronouncements.

The large cast generally meshes well under director Heather S. Nathans, even though a few performers seem all too eager to mug. Among the actors doing fine work are Dave Gamble, Scott Graham, Frank Mancino, Jeri Marshall and Anastasia Wilson.

Surely the real star of this production, however, is costume designer Kristina Lambdin. There are so many beautifully designed costumes on men and women alike that the show becomes a lavish immersion in 17th-century society.

These characters love to adorn themselves with dainty lace, flashy jewelry and elaborate wigs. Their sartorial philosophy seems to be that you must love yourself before you can love anybody else.

Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's production of "The Country Wife" runs through March 1 at the Howard County Center for the Arts, at 8510 High Ridge Road in Ellicott City. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $25, $22 for senior citizens, $15 for students younger than 22. Call 866-811-4111 or go to www.chesapeakeshakespeare.com.

Baltimore Sun Reviews The Country Wife

The Country Wife': Low comedy in high style
Chesapeake Shakespeare Company ably pulls off 17th-century play


By Mary Carole McCauley | mary.mccauley@baltsun.com
February 12, 2009

"The Country Wife"

Lesley Malin (left) and Scott Graham star in "The Country Wife" at the Howard County Center for the Arts through March 1. (Photo by Kitty R Photography / February 10, 2009)

The ambitious Chesapeake Shakespeare Company spent more than six months putting together its current production of The Country Wife - much of it mastering the intricate movement style required of Restoration theater.

And every single minute of the troupe's hard work shows in this glittering version of William Wycherley's bawdy comedy from 1675.

Restoration theater is among the most difficult acting styles to master, but what's most impressive isn't the way the performers flip their fans or mince around stage with their feet turned out. Under Heather Nathans' sure direction, the mannerisms never overwhelm the acting.

This is a production that holds its own, ounce for ounce, with the big fish in the classical pond - Washington's Shakespeare Theatre, which last fall staged a different Restoration comedy, William Congreve's The Way of the World. It's as if the Aberdeen IronBirds were to tie the Baltimore Orioles in an exhibition game. It's not an impossible feat by any means, but it's certainly unexpected, since the major-league team has all the advantages.

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The Chesapeake company is composed of actors who also have day jobs and, not surprisingly, its bench isn't as deep as that of the fully professional Washington troupe. Performances falter in a few, smallish roles. But the local production is the clearer and more accessible of the two, and - perhaps because it is staged in a 100-seat black-box theater - the more intimate.

That said, Restoration comedy is a bit of an acquired taste. It can be too convoluted and clever by half, too enamored of its own wordplay. It's to the actors' credit that the dialogue generates lots of laughs.

In Wycherley's sex farce, the aptly named Horner pretends to be impotent to gain access to the wives of men he plans to cuckold. The newly married Pinchwife is wise to Horner's scheme, and keeps his wife a virtual prisoner to prevent her from being seduced. Meanwhile, Pinchwife's sister, Alithea, is determined to honor her engagement to a fop, though she loves another suitor.

Rebecca Ellis is a hoot as the willful and impetuous title character, who constantly blurts out whatever is on her mind - and who is just as constantly being shushed. It's great fun to see conflicting urges battle it out on Ellis' expressive face.

Scott Alan Small is virile and charming as the rake, Horner. Fresh performances also are supplied by Lesley Malin, as the all-too-conscientious Alithea (though it would be nice to see more of the character's inner struggle); by Scott Graham as her smitten suitor; and by Annie Grier as a saucy maid.

It's instructive that the most broadly comic roles result in both the strongest and weakest performances. As the fop, Sparkish, Frank Mancino is the human equivalent of meringue - all fluff - while Dave Gamble is a fatuous delight as the easily hoodwinked Sir Jasper Fidget.

Mancino and Gamble's portrayals are every bit as over the top as are those of their less-effective colleagues. So why are the former believable, while the latter (who shall remain unnamed) are not? Perhaps it's because Mancino and Gamble seem physically relaxed. They never screw up their faces, or seem to strain, or subliminally express reservations about their own performances.

I doubt that Kristina Lambdin had $1 million to spend on her sumptuous costumes, but she makes it appear as though that was her budget. When upon occasion the script gets too arch, you can momentarily tune out, and watch those gorgeous garments shimmer and gleam.

if you go
The Country Wife runs through March 1 at the Howard County Center for the Arts, 8510 High Ridge Road, Ellicott City. Tickets are $15-$25. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Call 866-811-4111 or go to chesapeakeshakespeare.com.

Baltimore Sun reviews Macbeth (in the Ruins)

Macbeth' action, unusual set give you a workout

By Karen Nitkin |Special to The Baltimore Sun

October 19, 2008

The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's production of Macbeth will make your heart pound, and not just when Macbeth wields bloody daggers after murdering Duncan, or when Banquo rises, eerily, from the dead.

Like other CSC productions, Macbeth is staged at the skeletal ruins of the Patapsco Female Institute, set on an appropriately spooky Ellicott City hilltop.

But this time, instead of sitting on folding chairs, the audience walks up and down stairs, climbs hills, peers through darkness, moves from one unheated roofless room to the other, and stands outside for much of the performance.

"We think of this as eavesdropping on the Macbeths," artistic director Ian Gallanar told members of the audience before the show began.

It's a neat idea, and one particularly suited to this ghost-filled, pre-Halloween production and its spooky setting. The logistics have been carefully thought out, and as the audience is guided from one setting to another, marketing director Rebecca Ellis leads the way, saying things like "Let's go see what Lady Macbeth is doing now."

But a little restraint would have gone a long way. Instead of changing locations a dozen or so times, the audience might have been better served with just two or three scene changes. Each shift in location takes more than a few minutes and requires audience members to find new places to stand or sit so they can see the action.

Though some rooms have chairs, and one outside scene offers picnic tables so audience members can feel as if they're part of a celebratory feast, the production, at 2 1/2 hours, requires a lot of standing time and stamina. And when the scenes move out into the dark night, following the action of characters dressed in dark clothing can be challenging at best.

The fine acting all around, particularly by Lesley Malin as Lady Macbeth and Scott Alan Small as the ambitious Macbeth, may make you forget about tired feet and the chilly October night. When Macbeth returns to his wife carrying blood-soaked daggers after murdering Duncan, the king of Scotland, the adrenaline and tension are palpable.

"I have done the deed," Macbeth confides, barely able to believe it himself.

The affection between the scheming Macbeth and his equally ambitious wife is also palpable, and when he calls her "my dearest love" his words contain an implied caress. Later, when she tells her husband to "screw your courage to the sticking place, and we will not fail," we can see him gaining quiet confidence from his beloved's words.

One centerpiece of "the Scottish play," as it is known, is the great banquet scene in which Macbeth, riddled with guilt and sinking into madness, sees Banquo rise from the dead after Macbeth arranged for his murder.

The company stages the banquet at outdoor picnic tables, even asking a member of the audience to pour wine into the newly crowned king's goblet. When Banquo, played by Colby Codding, emerges from the shadows with blood on his forehead, a frozen smile on his face and a blank look in his eyes, Macbeth's first reaction is to find someone other than himself to blame.

"Who has done this?" he asks, terrified, then speaks directly to Banquo: "Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake thy gory locks at me."

Like all Shakespeare productions, CSC's Macbeth is best appreciated by people who are familiar with the play. But the excellent acting brings all the terror, raw ambition and scheming of the play alive, even to those who are new to it.

Plus, it may be the only production of Macbeth that gives your body and your mind a workout.

WYPR- FM reviews Macbeth

Here is the transcript:Grown-up drama now on 88.1 I’m Sheila Kast. If you’re going to the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s Macbeth, be sure to wear comfortable shoes and warm clothes as this outdoor production draws the audience into the thick of the action. The theatre critic Martha Thomas who saw the play said braving the elements is worth the experience. Here’s her review.

The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company has transferred last year’s straight- forward production of Macbeth to a new setting and in the process has created a whole new play. The group is remaining at its summer home, the grounds of the old Patapsco Female Institute for this first production of the winter season, taking advantage of the warm evenings of October. But instead of sitting on folding chairs or picnic blankets the audience becomes part of the action, traipsing after the actors as they wend their way through the ruins.

The result may be the most exciting production of the Scottish play you’ll ever see. In some cases, we’re incorporated into the production, standing on a hillside at the end of the battle, as guests at table during the banquet. We feel as if we’ve traveled in time to a Scottish castle in order to witness this grisly drama unfold. The company makes good use of its surroundings, the ruins of a pre-Civil War era school for girls. Macbeth first appears atop a sweeping stone staircase, the great hall with the fireplace becomes the interior of the castle open to the inky sky. Actors appear on second floor galleries and leaning through windows. The opening night audience was double that anticipated and actors did an admirable job of staying in character as spectators often spilled into playing areas.

One of the most dramatic settings is a cramped room off the basement chapel, where Macduff learns that his family has been brutally murdered. Actor Patrick Kilpatrick is lit only by harsh work lights and his shadow looms large against the stone foundation as he rages in his grief while we, the audience, are pressed against the walls or huddled on the dirt floor. Lesley Malin’s Lady Macbeth wanders amid columns in the chapel, swatting her hands to rid them of imaginary spots of blood, while her doctor stands in an opening above to witness her madness.

If you’re keen to hear every word and see every facial expression, this isn’t the play for you. It moves at a pretty pace with audience members jockeying to find the best vantage point for each scene, sometimes unable to see the actors faces or even hear their lines. Cut to compensate for the time required to relocate an entire audience every scene or two, this production depends on broad brushstrokes. Its focus is Macbeth’s rise and fall and many details, like the Macduff story for example, have been eliminated.

It’s held together by the drama of the setting as well as by a powerful performance by Scott Alan Small. His fearsome Macbeth intensifies before us, even as his deeds bear down on him. When Macbeth sweeps into a room or locks eyes with an apparition, we are drawn to follow him. In the final scene Macduff and Macbeth battle it out on top of a hill. The two men race at each other across the grass, grunting, bashing, and clanging their swords. It’s a well choreographed fight that feels authentic in its force and physicality. And it’s a scene like none I’ve seen, with only the trees silhouetted against the starry sky as backdrop. You could just as easily be at the edge of the Birnam Wood as here in Ellicott City.