Northwood News ♦ October 2006

Reveling in the Nearby Silver Spring Stage

By Karen Devitt

Did you know that there is a first-rate, award-winning, community theater right in our neighborhood?  The Silver Spring Stage has been presenting professional-quality theater since 1968.  Housed in what was once a bowling alley, it sits in the Woodmoor Shopping Center right next to the CVS.  The theater can be reached by a leisurely 15- to 20-minute walk, or if you wish, a short drive.  There is ample parking.  The Silver Spring Stage is all-volunteer and nonprofit.  (As a pianist and vocalist, I had the pleasure of performing an hour of Rodgers and Hammerstein music at the Stage in early September as part of its fundraising benefit.)

I urge you to explore this jewel of an artistic resource in our own community.  Perhaps your own thespian urges will take over and you’ll find yourself auditioning, helping build sets, or selling tickets.

With seven full-length plays per season, an annual One-Act Festival, readings of new plays, and presentations by visiting artists, the Stage has the busiest and most diverse season of any community theater in the Washington area.  Original scripts from the Stage’s One-Act Festival have received national attention.  Part of each season is devoted to productions involving new ideas, daring cultural concepts, and social issues.

The Stage’s current production, “The Play’s the Thing,” runs through October 22.  It is a “frothy, fun, and festive window into playmaking and young love when a playwright hastily writes a hilarious scene to convince a young composer that his eavesdropping on his fiancée was all merely mistaken as making love to an actor.” It was written by Ferenc Molnar with a translation by P.G. Wodehouse.

Other plays to be presented in the upcoming season include “Bus Stop,” “Visiting Mr. Green,” “Dimly Perceived Threats to the System,” “The Drawer Boy,” “Morning’s at Seven,” and “Never the Sinner.”

A full season subscription (seven plays) can be had for less than $100.  You’d be hard pressed to match that value for your entertainment dollar anywhere in the metropolitan area.  Individual tickets are $18; $15 for seniors and students.  Group discounts are also available.  Friday and Saturday shows are at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.  The Stage is handicapped accessible.  Call 301.593.6036 or visit their terrific website at www.ssstage.org.

Check it out.  You’ll be glad you did!   ■