Daniel Collins - Page 6

To be gay was to be a criminal in Nazi Germany. Martin Sherman's play, 'BENT,' takes on the issue of homosexuality under Hitler's rule in this 2-act, 2+ hour production now at Baltimore's Mobtown Players theater.

What do three prostitutes, an old man, a brother and sister on their way to Utah, a man seeking his grandfather, a faded southern belle, among others, all have in common? They're all about to be evicted from 'The Hot L Baltimore,' now at the Spotlighters Theater.

When a can't-pay-the-rent musician meets a rich-in-coin-but-not-in-talent would-be diva named Florence Foster Jenkins, an unlikely partnership is formed that would shock the Beckstein, as the Vagabond Players present Stephen Temperley's SOUVENIR.

Now at the Fells Point Corner Theater, Lynn Nottage's RUINED is a haunting, probing work about the resilience of the human spirit during times of war.

A British talk show host takes on a former U.S. President in The Vagabond Players' production of 'Frost/Nixon.'

Award-winning actor/playwright/director Mark Squirek offers his insights as a Guest Reviewer into the Mobtown Theater's current production of Darwin in Malibu by Crispin Whittell, a work that's as much about faith as it is evolution.

East Coast battles West Coast with a teenage girl's home address in the balance...a man tries to conceal an unconscious lady of the evening from the lady of the house...an English actress has Oscar dreams and two couples learn you shouldn't visit too many Japanese restaurants on vacation...it's all smiles for the patrons of Neil Simon's 'California Suite.'

A baby lies dead...was it murder? The mother has no knowledge of even being pregnant...and she's a nun. A virgin birth? A psychiatrist with a serious anti-Catholic streak joins forces with a Mother Superior to delve the mystery of John Pielmeier's 'Agnes of God,' now at the Spotlighters Theater in downtown Baltimore.

Martin McDonagh's A SKULL IN CONNEMARA reflects today's attention-span-shortened audience...Concise but clever, with laughing and bashing, a playful bit of a play...but not particularly demanding of its audience...unlike, say Eugene O'Neill's THE ICEMAN COMETH. Does 'SKULL' represent a trend in modern theater? Are the days of 4-hour plays over?

A Mr. Mark Squirek -- a non-facebook subscriber but an individual with an evidently keen interest in theater -- sent me this response to a recently posted review of Eugene O'Neill's THE ICEMAN COMETH, now at the Fells Point Corner Theater. To post responses to BWW reviews requires facebook membership (it's a way to eliminate anonymous, hateful postings), but not everyone has joined the millions taking the facebook plunge. I was impressed enough with the detail and depth of this letter to include it as a READER FEEDBACK column. I will say that I am a member of the ICEMAN cast, so I believe it only right to note that here. In any event, here is Mr. Squirek's comments.

A 1970s resale shop in Chicago is the setting for award-winning playwright David Mamet's 'American Buffalo,' now at Baltimore's Center Stage.

Amanda and Elyot loved each other, passionately. They fought, passionately. They divorced...probably passionately as well. When both find themselves remarried and enjoying their respective honeymoons at the same hotel, well, passions are soon enflamed. It's Noel Coward's PRIVATE LIVES, now at Baltimore's Everyman Theatre.

The 2011 Inaugural Broadwayworld Baltimore Awards are now seeking nominations!

A young captain loves a woman who loves an ensign who doesn't exist...or does he? A hair-trigger-tempered Irishman, an over-coiffed country bumpkin, a lover who'd cut off his heart to spite his own happiness, an overbearing father, a romance-loving lady, and a bubble-headed 'she-dragon' who never met a word she didn't mangle, all join forces in 'The Rivals.'

When a young man at a 1950s boarding school isn't deemed a 'regular guy' by his peers, he seeks out 'tea and sympathy' and much more than that in Robert Anderson's famed play.

Three women representing three stages of life--youth, middle age, the senior years. Why do people change? When is the happiest time in our lives? These questions and more are explored in Edward Albee's award-winning drama, 'Three Tall Women,' now at the Fells Point Corner Theatre.

A blind woman finds that the best way to defeat evil is to 'Wait Until Dark' as Frederick Knott's acclaimed play comes to Baltimore's Vagabond Players theater.

Love conquers all, right? But that was before Prozac. Kevin Kostic's 'Unraveled on the Gravel,' now at the Spotlighters, poses an intriguing question: What trumps Love?

A bed, a side table, a phone. A man, a woman. Infidelity, doubt, murder, and clap-on-clap-off lighting. It's just a sampling of several original short plays part of the 3rd annual 'Friends & Neighbors Festival' at The Strand theater, now through June 19th

It's a very-adult 'Ransom of Red Chief'...it's an indictment on the power of the media in shaping our ideas...it's a send-up of the Church...it's a madcap Italian farce...but will it play in Bawlmer, hon? It's 'Abducting Diana' now at the Vagabond Players on South Broadway.