Spooky Dog and the Teen-age Mystery Gang coming to CT this Weekend Only!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - The Cumberland Theatre will present Spooky Dog and the Teen-age Gang Mysteries for a limited run of four performances this Friday and Saturday at both 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm. The show is being sponsored by four local businesses: Dig Deep Brewery, Guiseppe’s Italian Restaurant, Mise En Place and JZ’s Pub.

Billed as “an unauthorized parody for adults” the show features characters based on a popular Saturday morning cartoon from the seventies and eighties as well as popular music from the time period.

A pop culture icon is missing from a starring performance at a creepy county fair and can only be located by this familiar gang of "teen" sleuths: a butch, blonde frat boy, an even more butch brainy gal with a trusty flashlight, a hot-to-trot diva in a miniskirt, a spaced-out hippie, and a talking dog. Sound familiar?

On a campy and comical quest to find their missing friend, they'll face the ghost of a dead country singer, a not-so-psychic fortune teller, and the sinister couple who run the fairground – and that's not all! Even more frighteningly, the Teen-Age Mystery Gang will also confront their own burgeoning sexual desires, tasty dog treats with unexpected side effects, and a surprise penchant for busting a move.

Spooky Dog uncovers the hilarious, hidden subtext that we’ve long suspected with razor-sharp wit and affectionate homage. You'll never see Saturday morning the same way again!

The show is under the direction of Bill Dennison who also appears at “Scraggly”. The show also features the talents of Seth Thompson (“Ted”), Kimberli Rowley (“Tiffany”), Morganne Chu (“Thelma”) and Trevor McCabe (“Spooky Dog”). Playing the lineup of creepy characters the “gang” encounter along the way are Sean Besecker and Krystal Pope.

Patrons are encouraged to come in costume and play along during the show with the unauthorized Spooky Dog Drinking Game (must be 21 to participate). Beverages and snacks will be available in the theatre’s lobby.

Tickets are available at cumberlandtheatre.com or by calling the box office at 301.759.4990. Please note the show contains language, situations and innuendos that may not be appropriate for all audiences.

Still Two Weeks to Visit Hill House!

Get your tickets to see Shirley Jackson's Classic Come to Life on Stage

From Left to Right: Samantha Kennedy, Erik Alexis, Lura Thompson, Krystal Pope, Sage Newman and Reed Lancaster. Not pictured: Sean Besecker

The Cumberland Theatre continued its 34th Season with the opening of The Haunting of Hill House this past weekend. The show continues this weekend and next weekend, closing on Sunday October 23rd.

Based on the Shirley Jackson novel of the same name, the show centers on Hill House, cut off from the outside world by its remote location and shunned by all who know its forbidding and sinister reputation. The story has had many adaptations over the years, including radio shows, two Hollywood films and, most recently, the Netflix series, which is very loosely based on the original novel.

The stage version follows Jackson’s story more closely than other adaptations, relying mostly on suspense instead of big visual scares. Hill House has remained empty and silent for years except for the daily visits of its grumbling caretaker and his wife. Its isolation is broken by the arrival of Dr. Montague, an investigator of supernatural phenomena who has been granted a short lease by the present owner. His mission is to delve into the morbid history of the house and to come to grips with the occult forces that have made it uninhabitable for many years. He is joined by three others, all unacquainted, but all having their particular reasons for accepting the invitation to share his Hill House sojourn. Their visit begins with jovial informality, but their sensibilities are soon jolted by strange and eerie occurrences. As they struggle to disguise their mounting fears they are joined by Dr. Montague’s wife and a friend, who have come to Hill House for purposes of their own. They too are absorbed by the supernatural, but their approach is via direct communication with the departed spirits which brings on a crisis in which the evil forces of Hill House are goaded to a new and fatal fury.

The show features the CT debut of New York based actor Sage Newman, who will head the cast as Eleanor. They have appeared in were most recently seen as Berowne in Love’s Labour’s Lost with Irvington Shakespeare Company. Earlier this year, they appeared off-Broadway in FunikiJam World Music’s production of Shenanigans: Irish Celebration!

Sage Newman is making their Cumberland Theatre debut as Eleanor

Returning to CT are Krystal Pope as Theodora, Reed Lancaster as Luke, Samantha Kennedy as Mrs. Montague, Erik Alexis as Arthur, Sean Besecker as Dr. Montague and Lura Thompson as Mrs. Dudley. Pope is a native of Arizona and was last seen at CT as Kendra in American Son. Lancaster appeared as Dally in The Outsiders and Ross in this season’s Macbeth. Kennedy’s recent appearances include August: Osage County and Company. Besecker was last seen as Macduff in Macbeth and has also appeared in Assassins, The Great Gatsby and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Thompson as been performing at CT for many years and has appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird, The Full Monty and Sweeny Todd among many more.

The show is under the direction of Jennifer Clark with stage management by Hayden Kline. The creative team consists of Rhett Wolford (set/sound design), Brendon McCabe (lighting design), Kimberli Rowley (props design) and Elizabeth Mudge (costume design). The run crew consists of Trevor McCabe (light/sound tech) and Thomas Kifer (deck crew).

Performances are Thursday – Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sundays at 2:00 pm. For tickets, visit www.cumberlandtheatre.com or call 301.759.4990.

August: Osage County Production Review

by Trish Morgan

Cumberland Theatre Continues its 34th Main Stage season with the award-winning dark comedy “August: Osage County”, which will continue this weekend for the final four performances - Thurs-Sat, 8 pm and final curtain on Sunday at 2 pm.

Written by Tracy Letts, the play won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for drama and has been produced in regional theaters all over the world since its premiere at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago.

The play centers around the Weston family, brought together after their patriarch, world-class poet and alcoholic Beverly Weston, disappears. The matriarch, violent, depressed and addicted to pain pills and truth-telling, is joined by her three daughters and their problematic lovers, who harbor their own deep secrets. There is also the sister Mattie Fae and her family, well-trained in the Weston family art of cruelty, and finally, the observer of the chaos, the young Cheyenne housekeeper Johnna, who was hired by Beverly just before his disappearance. Holed-up in the large family estate in Osage County, Oklahoma, tensions heat up and boil over in the ruthless August heat. With rich insight and brilliant humor, Letts paints a vivid portrait of a Midwestern family at a turning point.

“August: Osage County” debuted on Broadway in 2007 and played an open run at the music box theater. It went on to win both the Drama Desk award and the Tony award for outstanding play. In 2013, a film version was released featuring Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Cumberland Theatre features a vanished father, a pill-popping mother, and three sisters who harbor shady little secrets. When the large Weston family unexpectedly reunited after dad disappeared, their Oklahoman family homestead explodes in a maelstrom of truths and uncertain secrets. Mix in violence, the drugged-up, scathingly acidic matriarch, and you’ve got a major play that unflinchingly and uproariously exposes the dark side of the Midwestern American family.

This production is being directed by the fabulous Nicole Mattis, who is the chair of the theatre and dance program at Frostburg State University. She performed such magic with this cast! Nicole had a terrific handle on each character’s persona, and the actors under her direction measured up to Nicole’s high standards. What a coup having Nicole in the director’s chair for this deep, dark look into this family’s core.

Here is the summation of one of the best casts I have ever seen on the stage. Julie Herber, who played Violet, was a powerhouse of an actor. So expressive, so “Meryl Streep”, so deep into her cigarette-smoking, pill-popping, painfully-honest character that every single person in the audience was blown away. Julie - you are a star, and you were surrounded by the incredible talents of Valentine, Rowley, Wicker, Baughman and Halmos - stage veterans who have such stage presence and talent for grasping a character and going full-out. Julie - they all helped brighten your star on stage.

I’ve seen almost all of the actors who are in this play on stage before. With this show, Mattis has somehow drawn out the most intimate, deep rooted truths and secrets from each of these actors so that their very souls were exposed and raw.

Tom Valentine spent several weeks, as each actor did, studying character and in his case, growing raggedy facial hair to bring Beverly Watson to life. This is one of the greatest ensemble performances I have ever seen. It turns funny, heartwarming and sad, and it is a stellar display of top-notch acting.

As it turns out, Valentine’s role was short-lived in the beginning of the play, and it turns out he’s the lucky one. After a few days of infighting and bloody backstabbing, it’s easy to see why anyone trapped in this domestic hell-hole would rather drown themselves than sit down to a family dinner. All of the roles in this play call for leaving nothing at the table. There’s little relief. This makes for a powerful production that leaves you aghast, mouth hanging open at the ferocity with which families can hurt one another. It also leaves you so fatigued and spent, it’s hard to understand why one should continue to watch it all any longer.

When you watch this play, you’re peering in on moments that are so intimate and painful that we really shouldn’t see them. The truth is, the characters don’t want to be part of it either. Everyone here in this play has pain, and while we join these characters for a short time, it’s easy to see that the cycles of lies, distrust, and abuse go back for generations – clinging to this family like the hot summer dust of the empty plains that surround them.

This review would not be complete without mentioning the extraordinary talents of set designer Rhett Wolford, who has out-done himself once again. How he comes up with the design ideas in such a small amount of time and brings the set to life for each production is absolutely amazing. The family fight scenes are worth an outstanding mention, as well, and Darrel Rushton, Brian Records and Seth Thompson made everything look so real, and it’s hard to believe it was all choreographed.

The cast consists of Tom Valentine, Beverly Weston; Alexis Geyer, Johnna; Julie Herbert, Violet Weston; Nicole Halmos, Mattie Fae; Jim Wicker, Charlie; Samantha Kennedy, Ivy Weston; Kimberli Rowley, Barbara Fordham; Matt Baughman, Bill Fordham; Cailin Peluso, Jean Fordham; Seth Thompson, Sheriff Gilbeau; Shea-Mikal Green, Karen Weston; Bill Dennison, Little Charles; Mike Virts, Steve Heidebrecht.

Production staff working with Director Mattis is as follows: Hayden Kline, stage manager; Elizabeth Mudge, assistant stage manager and wardrobe assistant; Rhett Wolford, set design; Jennifer Clark, costume design; Megan O’Brien, lighting design; Eric Ringler, props master; Trevor McCabe, lighting tech; Darrel Rushton, fight director; Brian Records, assistant fight director; Seth Thompson, fight captain.

There will be two 10-minute intermissions at each performance, as the play runs a little longer than most productions. Because the drama and the comedy are so moving and these actors bring us right on stage with us into their dysfunction, you won’t notice that you sat a little longer than other plays you may have attended here.

Please note the show contains violence, adult situations and strong language, and may not be suitable for all audiences. Parental discretion is encouraged.

For ticket information and reservations, call 301-759-4990 or visit Cumberland Theatre on Facebook.