Category Archives: Baltimore

July 14, 2012

Labour’s of Love’s

By ritalovestowrite
English: Title page of the first quarto of Lov...

English: Title page of the first quarto of Love’s Labours Lost (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Love’s Labour’s Lost opened at the Baltimore Shakespeare Factory Friday night at the Great Hall Theatre at St. Mary’s Outreach Center on 3900 Roland Ave. The company moves to their outdoor space at the Meadow at Evergreen Museum and Library at 4545 N. Charles Street (between Loyola and Notre Dame) this weekend and runs thus August 5th.

The small company did a great job with this wordy show. The pacing was crisp, the comedy was spot on and the acting was tight. LLL is essentially a Shakespearian sit-com/rom-com and all the lovers on stage were delightfully witty. But this production really shines when the comedic characters strut onto the boards.  Chris Ryder’s Costard, Brian Hanson’s Boyet, Jess Behar’s Sir Nathaniel, Kerry Brady’s Holofernes, Kathryn Zoerb’s Moth and especially Ann Turiano’s Don Armado steal the show. The intimacy of the Factory and the way in which they involved the audience makes the comedy all the more engaging.

Contemporary songs add to the fun. The cast and director had a Q&A with audience members after the show to discuss how they brought the Bard’s play to life.

The cast, having partially changed out of their costumes sit at the edge of the stage for a Q&A.

 

The theatre at St. Mary’s Outreach Center has a thrust stage complete with balcony. The Baltimore Shakespeare Factory actors perform with out mics and with the audience lights up.

Later this season the group will present the Taming of the Shrew . For info or tickets call or email the Factory at info@theshakespearefactory.com or call 410-596-5036.

1 Comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Baltimore, Shakespeare, Theatre

July 2, 2012

Thought of the Day 7.2.12

By ritalovestowrite

“None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody – a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns – bent down and helped us pick up our boots.”

—Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1908. Today would have been his 104th birthday.

The grandson of a slave, Marshall knew first hand the long arm of a segregated society.  In 1930, after graduating cum laude from Lincoln University,  he applied to the University of Maryland Law School, but wasn’t accepted because of his race. Marshall went instead to Howard University Law School where he graduated magna cum laude. He later successfully sued UofM to admit Donald Murray to the Law school.

He moved to New York and became a special counsel for the NAACP. He helped draft  the constitutions for Ghana and Tanzania on the behest of the United Nations.

Marshall argued in numerous Supreme Court cases, most revolving around segregation. The landmark decision of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas demolished legal “separate but equal” segregation in the United States.

In 1961 Marshall was appointed by President Kennedy  as a circuit judge.  In 1965 President Johnson appointed him Solicitor General, and in 1967 Thurgood Marshall was appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States. He served on the Court until 1991.

He saw the Constitution as  living document , noting in 1987 on the bicentennial of the Constitution that:

“the government they devised was defective from the start, requiring several amendments, a civil war, and major social transformations to attain the system of constitutional government and its respect for the freedoms and individual rights, we hold as fundamental today…Some may more quietly commemorate the suffering, struggle, and sacrifice that has triumphed over much of what was wrong with the original document, and observe the anniversary with hopes not realized and promises not fulfilled. I plan to celebrate the bicentennial of the Constitution as a living document, including the Bill of Rights and the other amendments protecting individual freedoms and human rights.”

 

Thurgood Marshall, appointed by Kennedy to the...

Thurgood Marshall, appointed by Kennedy to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Leave a comment   |  tags: , | posted in American History, Baltimore, History, Maryland, Patriotic, postaday, Slavery, Thought of the Day, Thurgood Marshall, Today's Birthday, United States

June 17, 2012

Sailabration Celebration

By ritalovestowrite

The Battle of Baltimore and the Bombardment of Fort McHenry was a turning point in the War of 1812. As the country celebrates the bicentennial of the war Baltimore threw a Sailabration with tall ships, naval vessels, an air show by the Blue Angels, and festivities galore.

The ships began to arrive on Wednesday June 13th. Past met present as 1812 living history reenactors gave tours of important sites in the Battle of Baltimore (like the battles of North Point and Hampstead Hill)  while the 2012 Navy parachutist team, the “Leap Frogs,” put on shows at Clifton Park and Patterson Park.

Thursday was Flag Day, and as any good Baltimorean knows, the US Flag that flew over Fort McHenry during the bombardment was not made by Betsy Ross,  but was sewn by local widow Mary Pickersgill. When Francis Scott Key penned the Star Spangled Banner it was Pickersgill’s flag he saw waving at dawn’s early light.  During a special Flag Day ceremony at the Flag House three strands from the original Star-Spangled Banner were sewn into the National 9/11 flag.  Later that day the 33rd Annual Pause for the Pledge took place at Fort McHenry.

Looking at some of the smaller ships at the the marina near Rash Field. The Baltimore Aquarium is the background.

Free tours began on the ships at the Inner Harbor, Fells Point and Locust Point. And there was a concert and the Sailabration Festival Villages at Rash Field and Broadway Pier opened their stalls.

Friday boasted another beautiful day for touring the ships and enjoying the festivities.

Martin State Airport allowed visitors to get up close and personal with their military aircraft on Saturday and Sunday. Adventurous souls could even take a ride in the Navy Flight Simulator!

Four of the Blue Angels perform one of many jaw dropping maneuvers.

In the waters in front of Fort McHenry the Navy demonstrated its latest Special Warfare Combat Craft on Saturday & Sunday, while overhead the Blue Angels performed superhuman aviation tricks.  The Saturday night capped off with a concert and Fireworks at Fort McHenry.

Rigging of the B.E. Cuauhtemoc, a Mexican tall ship.

Today, Sunday, will bring much of the same beautiful weather, ship tours, (crowds) and Blue Angels. Tonight you can catch  a Star-Spangled Symphony  at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. The musical event includes the premiere of Philip Glass’ “Overture for 2012”.

Brazil’s NVe Cisne Branco was docked at the Inner Harbor

On Monday representatives from the US, Great Britain and Canada will commemorate the anniversary of the Declaration of War on Great Britain with “From Enemies to Allies” at Fort McHenry at 10:30. Ship tours continue.

The USS Constellation, a Sloop-of-War ship launched in 1854.

The Sailabration ends on Tuesday as the ships leave the Baltimore area.

Warships, like the Canadian Iroquois docked at Fells Point, debark from 7:00 to 11:00 am on June 19th.

The tall ships debark from 11:00 to 1:00 on Tuesday. (photo courtesy of notesoftheladyupstairs)

Although The Battle of Baltimore and the Bombardment of Fort McHenry didn’t take place until September of 1814, Baltimore has gotten a wonderful start to celebrating the bicentennial of the War of 1912 with this Sailabration.

Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

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All content is original. Photos by ritaLOVEStoWRITE and her daughter notesoftheladyupstairs.

All rights reserved.

2 Comments   |  tags: , | posted in 1812, American History, Baltimore, History, Maryland, Sailabration, Sailling, United States

June 6, 2012

Will (and Jane) this Summer in B’more

By ritalovestowrite

Frankly, when the wonderful Baltimore Shakespeare Festival closed its doors last year I thought it was curtains for live classical theatre in Baltimore.

Then I discovered the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. Their  summer venue under the stars at the old Patapsco Female Institute in Ellicott City is a bit of a drive, but this is SHAKESPEARE!

The CSC announced this spring that it has found a new indoor facility in downtown Baltimore. The  Merchantile Trust and Deposit Company building on East Redwood will allow for an eight month production schedule as well as extended educational programs. And they’ll continue with their summer tradition of performing alfresco at the PFI.

This summer the troupe will present two of the greatest love stories ever written. Huzzah!

Mass-produced colour photolithography on paper...

Photolithography on paper for Toy Theatre; Romeo and Juliet  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Catch the Bard’s star crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet as the CSC open’s its season this weekend (June 8, 9 & 10 is opening weekend). Two R&J has another full weekend then it begins to run in repertory with CSC’s other summer production…

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

The most famous of Jane Austen’s novel’s Pride and Prejudice takes stage June 22nd. There’s a special REGENCY WEEKEND to launch P&P (June 22, 23 & 24).

There is a strong argument for READING Austen. But when it is performed really well, and really faithfully I love it too. I got to see EMMA performed last winter in PA, and it was delightful. And, of course I’ve seen every Austen film out there from the A&E Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth to the Bollywood inspired “Bride and Prejudice”. I doubt there will be any wet shirts on stage at the CSC but knowing the caliber of their productions I have very high hopes for this stage version of P&P.

Try and come during Regency Weekend. There will be a costume booth where you can try on period outfits, English Line Dancing, a talk on “Kitty and Lydia” with some  JASNA;MD folks (on Sunday) and Jane Austen trivia with me on Saturday!  (If you can’t make opening weekend the show runs in repertory with Romeo and Juliet until July 29th.

For tickets to the Romeo and Juliet or Pride and Prejudice you can go to http://www.chesapeakeshakespeare.com/tickets.html

English: This diagram, or map, illustrates the...

For anyone who has stumbled upon this post and DOESN’T know the plot of Pride and Prejudice… this might help.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And there’s more good news on the Shakespeare front. The Baltimore Shakespeare Factory, which had been performing in Carroll County has moved to Charm City and taken over the Meadow at Evergreen Museum this summer.

The Baltimore Shakespeare Factory presents the Cannon as it would have been done in Bard’s day, in natural light (so the actors can see the audience as much as the audience can see the actors), minimal sets and contemporary music. We saw their Macbeth this spring and it was nicely done, indeed.

That’s the Doctor up in the tree, btw. He won’t be in the BSF’s performance, but how cool is that?

They will be doing Love’s Labour’s Lost from July 13 – Aug 5, and

the Taming of the Shrew from Aug 2 – Aug 26.

I have yet to see either of these to plays live so I’m very much looking forward to packing a picnic and heading to Charles Street to catch these.

For information on the Baltimore Shakespeare Factory go to  http://theshakespearefactory.com/

So in summary… Your summer should be filled with lots of great Shakespeare and Austen.

Breakdown:

Hope to see you under the stars this summer.

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BTW here’s my list of must brings to an alfresco theatre production: HAT, Sunscreen & Sunglasses (if its during the day), bug repellant, bottle of cold water, lawn chair or blanket, light sweatshirt/jacket (if its at night)  snack or picnic (optional), wine (optional), chocolate (optional, but always recommended.)

1 Comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Baltimore, Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Theatre