Tag Archives: Lorraine Brooks

Auditions for The Hollow by Laurel Mill Playhouse, Sep 7 & 8

Auditions for The Hollow by Laurel Mill Playhouse, Sep 7 & 8

Laurel Mill Playhouse announces auditions for:
The Hollow
By Agatha Christie
Directed by Larry Simmons
Produced by Maureen Rogers

Audition Dates: Sunday & Monday, September 7 & 8, 2025 at 7PM

Performance Dates: October 31 – November 23, 2025
Performance Location: Bowie Community Theatre at the Bowie Playhouse.

Web of Murder is a gripping murder mystery who-dunnit filled with dark family secrets, blackmail, greed, and revenge. Set in a brooding mansion high atop a remote cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the play centers on the wealthy heiress Minerva Osterman, who has convened her potential heirs for an advance reading of her will. Confined to a wheelchair for many years, the domineering Minerva has turned her desolate mansion into a virtual prison – not only for herself, but also for her quiet and long-suffering daughter Stephanie and her gentle and sympathetic housekeeper Nora, as they daren’t disobey lest they be disinherited. She is cared for by her personal physician, Dr. Adler, who also resides in the mansion. Fearing that her death may be imminent, Minerva has summoned all her possible heirs to watch their reactions as the will is read. She knows that it will please some and disappoint others – unless they take the sinister steps necessary to protect their interests. She asks her two nieces, Mary and Belle, to come alone, but they arrive with their respective fiancés, whom Minerva grudgingly allows to stay. Before revealing the contents of her will, however, she has the mysterious Dr. Adler put her into a hypnotic trance, during which she picks up a deck of cards and turns over the three of clubs – the card of death. Her prediction is that someone in the room will die before the weekend is over – a prediction that comes true when she herself dies. After that, more bodies turn up, and fear and suspicion grow among those remaining. The will mysteriously disappears before it was ever read. In the end, after agonizing twists and turns a murderer is unmasked – in a chilling, exciting climax that is held off until the final perilous moments of the play.

For more information, click here.

Fires in the Mirror at Laurel Mill Playhouse, Feb 7-23

Fires in the Mirror at Laurel Mill Playhouse, Feb 7-23

Laurel Mill Playhouse presents:
FIRES IN THE MIRROR
Written by Anna Deavere Smith
Directed by Lorraine Brooks
Produced by Maureen Rogers

Performances February 7, 2025 – February 23, 2025. Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm.

Location: Laurel Mill Playhouse

The play is a compilation of interviews and headlines dealing with the Crown Heights race riots in Brooklyn New York in 1991. The riots stemmed from the death of Gavin Cato, a Black boy who was killed when a vehicle driven by a Hasidic Jew allegedly ran a stop light and careened onto a sidewalk where Gavin Cato was playing. The incident set off a series of angry reactions on both sides, and culminated in the stabbing death of Rabbinical student Yankel Rosenbaum. The circumstances and aftermath reflected long-standing tensions between the Black and Jewish communities, and highlighted the (often similar) struggles of each group against discrimination and bias.

Themes include race relations, press coverage bias, perceptions of disparate treatment in health care, law enforcement, and political representation.

Ticket prices are as follows:
Adults: $20, Children 18 and under, Seniors 65 and over, and active duty military: $15

For further information, please call 301-617-9906, or contact Maureen Rogers at maureencrogers@gmail.com or 301-452-2557.

Out of the Blue at Laurel Mill Playhouse, Sep 11

Out of the Blue at Laurel Mill Playhouse, Sep 11

Laurel Mill Playhouse presents:
OUT OF THE BLUE – Reflections from Ground Zero
Written and Directed by Lorraine Brooks
Produced by Maureen Rogers

Wednesday, September 11, 2024 – 8PM

Join us for a moving presentation in the form of a staged reading of quotes from First Responders to the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. These quotes are taken from interviews with men and women who were part of the rescue and recovery mission after the attacks and subsequent collapse of the Twin Towers and surrounding buildings. A group of talented and dedicated actors will recreate the words of police, firefighters, and volunteers, as they navigated the overwhelming and dangerous tasks of searching for survivors, putting out fires, and evacuating Lower Manhattan to get citizens to safety.

Tickets are $20 General Admission and must be prepurchaed online. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Gear Up Foundation, founded by a retired NY Firefighter. Gear Up Foundation supplies fire and emergency equipment to underserved communities and third world countries.

For further information, please call 301-617-9906, or contact Maureen Rogers at maureencrogers@gmail.com or 301-452-2557.

The Old Settler by the Bowie Community Theatre at the Bowie Playhouse, Nov 10-Dec 10

The Old Settler by the Bowie Community Theatre at the Bowie Playhouse, Nov 10-Dec 10

The Old Settler
by John Henry Redwoods
directed by Lorraine Brooks

November 10 – December 10, 2023, excluding November 24-26
Fridays and Saturdays at 8PM, Sunday matinees at 2PM

Location: Bowie Community Theatre at the Bowie Playhouse

General Admission – $25.00, Seniors (62+) & Students – $20.00.

In World War II Harlem, New York, a fifty-five-year-old spinster (or as they were called in those days—an Old Settler), Elizabeth Borny, takes in a young male roomer, Husband Witherspoon, to help her with the rent. Husband has come to Harlem from South Carolina to search for his girlfriend, Lou Bessie Preston. Also living with Elizabeth is her sister, Quilly McGrath, fifty-three. There is an ominous cloud of tension that hangs over Elizabeth and Quilly’s relationship. This tension is further exacerbated when Elizabeth and Husband take to liking each other. Quilly, who doesn’t like Husband living with them in the first place, surely doesn’t approve of their “carrying on,” especially since Elizabeth is old enough to be Husband’s mother. It is this “carrying on” that exposes a thirty-year-old wound which, until now, only had a bandage—now the wound can heal for the sisters.

To buy tickets, click here.

Auditions for The Old Settler by the Bowie Community Theatre, Aug 18 & 19

Auditions for The Old Settler by the Bowie Community Theatre, Aug 18 & 19

Bowie Community Theatre announces auditions for:
The Old Settler
by John Henry Redwoods
directed by Lorraine Brooks

Audition Dates/Times:
August 18, 2023 – 7 PM – 9 PM
August 19, 2023 – 1 PM – 3 PM
Callback (if needed) – August 31. 2023 – 7 PM

Audition location: Grace Lutheran Church, 2503 Belair Drive, Bowie, MD

Performance location: Bowie Community Theatre at the Bowie Playhouse

Performances: November 10 – December 10, 2023, excluding November 24-26
Fridays and Saturdays at 8PM, Sunday matinees at 2PM

In World War II Harlem, New York, a fifty-five-year-old spinster (or as they were called in those days—an Old Settler), Elizabeth Borny, takes in a young male roomer, Husband Witherspoon, to help her with the rent. Husband has come to Harlem from South Carolina to search for his girlfriend, Lou Bessie Preston. Also living with Elizabeth is her sister, Quilly McGrath, fifty-three. There is an ominous cloud of tension that hangs over Elizabeth and Quilly’s relationship. This tension is further exacerbated when Elizabeth and Husband take to liking each other. Quilly, who doesn’t like Husband living with them in the first place, surely doesn’t approve of their “carrying on,” especially since Elizabeth is old enough to be Husband’s mother. It is this “carrying on” that exposes a thirty-year-old wound which, until now, only had a bandage—now the wound can heal for the sisters.

For more information, including roles to be cast, click here.