Johnna Leary - Page 4

A show about older women celebrating and commiserating aging has been done countless times in entertainment, from Steel Magnolias on stage to The Golden Girls on television. However, 20th Century Blues, a world premiere play at the Contemporary American Theater Festival written by Susan Miller and directed by Ed Herendeen, breaks the mold when it comes to the female ensemble dramedy.

The New Voice Play Festival, opening on June 24 at the Old Opera House in Charles Town, WV, provides the opportunity for audiences to witness completely new and original plays from playwrights all across the nation and vote on which play is their favorite. The four plays chosen this year vary in topics from mysteries to the mystical and present various challenges to the actors and directors

Opposite of many summer stock seasons offering Golden Age musicals and classic plays, theaters in West Virginia this summer will offer many new, thought-provoking premieres, modern twists on classic works of theater and contemporary musicals in some of the state's professional theaters. Listed below are four of the top picks for live theater shows this summer, but these are only a small offering of the many fantastic performances and live theater seasons occurring in West Virginia.

Get ready to call out 'Bingo!' (literally) as Bingo: The Winning Musical debuts at the Apollo Civic Theatre in Martinsburg, WV this weekend!

It's been said your wedding day is supposed to be the best day of your life......so naturally, it's the perfect opportunity for everything that can go wrong to go wrong, which is precisely what happens in the Washington County Playhouse debut production of Perfect Wedding.

Opening this Friday at the Old Opera House in Charles Town, WV, Skin Deep proves romance is based on more than just appearances and beauty is really much more than skin deep.

Opening April 8 at the Apollo Civic Theatre in Martinsburg, WV, the musical Dogfight will deconstruct some serious subject matter while taking the audience on an emotional ride through the turbulent 1960's Vietnam conflict era.

Get ready for even more craziness with the Verdeen cousins as a huge helping of southern fried comedy, the farce Rex's Exes, debuts at the Old Opera House. Directed by Will Heyser-Paone, this stand-alone sequel written by Jones-Hope-Wooten, the comedic trio behind hits such as The Dixie Swim Club and The Hallelujah Girls, will premiere at the Old Opera House. Gaynelle Verdeen refuses to admit that she's turning 50, so her cousins attempt to throw her a surprise birthday party. However, the surprise is on them when the cousins are forced to turn the party into a full fledged family funeral!

It's time to 'Brush Up Your Shakespeare' when Kiss Me, Kate opens at the Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater on March 4.

Tragic love affairs are nothing new for opera story lines. However, in time for Valentine's Day, Hub Opera Ensemble will present one of opera's most famous love stories, Carmen, in a uniquely imaginative way at a new location.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, the ultimate American theater classic about life and love lessons, Thornton Wilder's Our Town, will open at the Apollo Civic Theatre. Directed by Amanda Hartman, Our Town is a slice of small town life over a decade in Grover's Corners. The town citizens reveal every day problems and pleasures while the central story focuses on the lives of two families, the Webbs and Gibbs, as they eventually join together as George Gibbs and Emily Webb become romantically involved.

A wedding should be a perfect romantic occasion...... so it's the perfect setting for the day when everything that can go wrong does, in the new Lewis Black comedy One Slight Hitch.

With the cold weather just beginning, the Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children's Theater will present the chilling thriller Deathtrap for the first show of their 2016 season.

This Christmas season, check into the Snowflake Inn while Dashing Through the Snow, a crazy Christmas comedy, opens December 11 at the Apollo Civic Theatre! Directed by Jeff Wine, Dashing Through the Snow takes place four days before Christmas, in a tiny town in Texas, where a colorful array of characters check in to the Snowflake Inn. Varying scenes tell the different holiday stories of all the crazy characters. A brother and sister attempt to end a holiday feud between their aunts. Self-absorbed actors from a low budget "Christmas Carol" production return to the inn to fulfill a promise, while Mrs. Clause and one of Santa's elves attempt a romantic rendezvous right before Christmas Eve!

Christmas is coming to town..... and so are the worst kids in town, the Herdmans! The Best Christmas Pageant Ever opens this Friday at the Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children's Theater in Hagerstown, MD.

'Seventy-Six Trombones' are leading the big parade right into Charles Town, West Virginia as The Music Man opens at the Old Opera House just in time for Christmas!

To pee or not to pee? That is the question in the outrageously satirical musical Urinetown, premiering this weekend as the Shepherd University Scene Stealers fall musical in Shepherdstown, WV.

Some people complain they're bored to death while playing board games, but what if a seemingly normal board game was actually the cause of death? In A Party to Murder, premiering this weekend at the Old Opera House in Charles Town, WV, characters fight for their lives in a murder mystery game.

Just in time for Halloween, Hub Opera Ensemble presents Benjamin Britten's opera The Turn of the Screw. Directed by Joe Marshner and musically directed by Andy Rosenfeld, The Turn of the Screw tells the story of a governess who arrives at the Bly House under mysterious circumstances and a strange set of instructions. She is instructed to take care of the two young children and as the opera progresses, discovers the children may be possessed and ghosts of former employees may still haunt the mansion.

"Right this way, your table's waiting" for Cabaret at the Washington County Playhouse, opening this Saturday, September 26 in Hagerstown, MD.