Topical approach to summer theater
Stories of adoption, sexual identity, abuse dramatized by county performers
The month of June finds numerous productions throughout the region.
On Sunday, a performance of a staged reading of “My Other Mother — the Musical” is scheduled to take place at The Church at Covenant Park in Ellicott City. A story about adoption, the story is a fictional account loosely based on playwright Steffi Rubin’s life.
“When I was 12 years old, I was told matter-of-factly that I was adopted,” Rubin recalled. “It was like getting a super power.
This play is about this experience and all that began at that point.”
Rubin, who was raised in New York, found her birth mother and two half-sisters years later as an adult. While it has been a positive experience — her one sister is traveling from Connecticut to see the show —it has had its challenges, too.
“I had to deal with the comparisons of my fantasies with the reality,” Rubin said.
“There are several dynamics in the play where we come to terms with the things that shaped us and formed us.”
A graphic artist and designer, Rubin had a play produced in Raleigh, N.C., where she retired after 30 years in Howard County.
Miriam Kook composed the music.
The free presentation of “My Other Mother — the Musical” will be held June 3, at 3 p.m., at The Church at Covenant Park, 4550 Centennial Lane, Ellicott City. Free.
For information, go to myothermotherthemusical.com.
‘Making Advances ...’ Howard Community College’s Arts Collective will conclude its 23rd season with “Making Advances: Revealing Stories About Gender & Sexual Identity,” June 7- 17.
Created by the cast, the play is done improv style, said Sue Kramer, artistic director.
“This is our eighth original production,”
Kramer said. “This is not a written, scripted piece. The cast knows the beginning, middle and end, but it is not scripted on paper.”
The cast of10 actors will also be joined on stage by 24 people from the community through previously taped interviews that are part of the production.
“It was a beautiful process actually,”
Kramer said, of creating the production.
“We tried to attempt different takes in our storytelling.”
“Making Advances: Revealing Stories About Gender & Sexual Identity” will be staged in the Studio Theatre in the Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center at Howard Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia.
Tickets are $15; $10 for students, seniors, faculty, staff and military. Go to howardcc.edu or call 443-518-1500.
‘Telling This Truth’ On June 21at 7 p.m., “Telling This Truth,” a one-night show, will be presented at Slayton House Theatre.
The production was developed in conjunction with Hope Works Howard County, a nonprofit that provides services to women, men and children affected by sexual assault and domestic violence in Howard County, according to its website.
The production will tell the stories of 10 victims and how they survived, according to director Judy Templeton.
“They are actual victims of all kinds of violence, and they tell their stories and triumphs,” Templeton said. “It’s the real deal.”
The 10 stories are all very different, Templeton said. While some wrote their own scripts, others were given help to re-create their stories.
“We have a variety of issues,” Templeton said. “Immigration. Transgender. Rape.
Child abuse.”
All the stories come together under one script, she said.
“It is inspiring,” Templeton said. “It is not something you go home from feeling depressed.”
The June 21 show will take place at Slayton House, 10400 Cross Fox Lane, Columbia. Tickets are free. Donations are welcome. Call 410-997-0304. kvjones@baltsun.com
On Sunday, a performance of a staged reading of “My Other Mother — the Musical” is scheduled to take place at The Church at Covenant Park in Ellicott City. A story about adoption, the story is a fictional account loosely based on playwright Steffi Rubin’s life.
“When I was 12 years old, I was told matter-of-factly that I was adopted,” Rubin recalled. “It was like getting a super power.
This play is about this experience and all that began at that point.”
Rubin, who was raised in New York, found her birth mother and two half-sisters years later as an adult. While it has been a positive experience — her one sister is traveling from Connecticut to see the show —it has had its challenges, too.
“I had to deal with the comparisons of my fantasies with the reality,” Rubin said.
“There are several dynamics in the play where we come to terms with the things that shaped us and formed us.”
A graphic artist and designer, Rubin had a play produced in Raleigh, N.C., where she retired after 30 years in Howard County.
Miriam Kook composed the music.
The free presentation of “My Other Mother — the Musical” will be held June 3, at 3 p.m., at The Church at Covenant Park, 4550 Centennial Lane, Ellicott City. Free.
For information, go to myothermotherthemusical.com.
‘Making Advances ...’ Howard Community College’s Arts Collective will conclude its 23rd season with “Making Advances: Revealing Stories About Gender & Sexual Identity,” June 7- 17.
Created by the cast, the play is done improv style, said Sue Kramer, artistic director.
“This is our eighth original production,”
Kramer said. “This is not a written, scripted piece. The cast knows the beginning, middle and end, but it is not scripted on paper.”
The cast of10 actors will also be joined on stage by 24 people from the community through previously taped interviews that are part of the production.
“It was a beautiful process actually,”
Kramer said, of creating the production.
“We tried to attempt different takes in our storytelling.”
“Making Advances: Revealing Stories About Gender & Sexual Identity” will be staged in the Studio Theatre in the Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center at Howard Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia.
Tickets are $15; $10 for students, seniors, faculty, staff and military. Go to howardcc.edu or call 443-518-1500.
‘Telling This Truth’ On June 21at 7 p.m., “Telling This Truth,” a one-night show, will be presented at Slayton House Theatre.
The production was developed in conjunction with Hope Works Howard County, a nonprofit that provides services to women, men and children affected by sexual assault and domestic violence in Howard County, according to its website.
The production will tell the stories of 10 victims and how they survived, according to director Judy Templeton.
“They are actual victims of all kinds of violence, and they tell their stories and triumphs,” Templeton said. “It’s the real deal.”
The 10 stories are all very different, Templeton said. While some wrote their own scripts, others were given help to re-create their stories.
“We have a variety of issues,” Templeton said. “Immigration. Transgender. Rape.
Child abuse.”
All the stories come together under one script, she said.
“It is inspiring,” Templeton said. “It is not something you go home from feeling depressed.”
The June 21 show will take place at Slayton House, 10400 Cross Fox Lane, Columbia. Tickets are free. Donations are welcome. Call 410-997-0304. kvjones@baltsun.com
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