COMPASS ROSE THEATER EARNS
HELEN HAYES AWARDS RECOMMENDATION
The Gin Game by D. L. Coburn Opens January, 2024
Annapolis, MD (December 18, 2023) — Compass Rose Theater, an award-winning and critically acclaimed professional theater and educational nonprofit in Annapolis, has just received a Helen Hayes Awards Recommendation for its recent production, I and You by Lauren Gunderson, directed by Jerry Winters. The show featured actors Lilli Brown and Alie Karambash and was performed in the Compass Rose Theater at Maryland Hall.
Barbara Webber, Executive Director of Compass Rose Theater, said, “We are truly honored to receive a Helen Hayes Awards Recommendation. We add this well-respected recognition to our previous nominations and awards, including a Helen Hayes Award for A Chorus Line and five Helen Hayes Award nominations. This is a testament to our mission of bringing high-quality, professional theater to our community, and we are grateful.”
The group also announced its upcoming production, The Gin Game by D. L. Coburn, at Maryland Hall from January 19 to February 18, 2024, featuring Equity Actors Janet Luby as Fonsia and David Elias as Weller. To buy tickets, visit www.CompassRoseTheater.org.
Webber added, “To attain Equity membership in the actors' union means having devoted thousands of hours of training and experience working in professional theater. We are fortunate to have two such talented actors on our stage.“
In this 1978 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Fonsia and Weller, two residents at a retirement home play repeated gin rummy games, revealed as metaphors for their lives. Over hilariously feisty games, they share the laughter, tears, intimate details of their long lives, and the bittersweet realities of their most challenging chapter.
The Compass Rose Theater Artistic Team for The Gin Game includes Rick Wade (Director), Barbara Webber (Producer), Theater Advisor (Lucinda Merry-Browne), Emily Palmerchuck (Lighting Designer), Omar Said (Stage Manager, Scenic Artist), Susan Flynn (Costume Designer), and Craig Martien (Sound Designer). The production team includes Gavin Fernandez (Sound Assistant ) and Ariyanna Hill (Assistant Stage Manager).
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LOCATION: Compass Rose Theater is at Maryland Hall, 801 Chase St, Third Floor, Annapolis, MD 21401, minutes from downtown Annapolis. Parking is free. An elevator to the third floor is available.
TICKETS: Tickets are $25—$55, available until showtime while supplies last. Ticket prices and availability are subject to change. Reduced prices are offered for students, seniors, military/veterans, and groups of 12 or more. Purchase tickets at www.CompassRoseTheater.org or by calling 410-980-6662. Doors open 20 minutes before the show, with open seating.
PERFORMANCE DATES FOR The Gin Game: Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 p.m. or 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. January 19th through February 18th, 2024.
About Compass Rose Theater
Compass Rose Theater, founded in 2011 under the leadership of Founder and Theater Advisor Lucinda Merry-Browne, is an award-winning and critically acclaimed professional theater and nonprofit teaching company in Annapolis. It is rooted in the belief that theater education creates performance excellence. The theater's unwavering commitment to upholding the highest artistic and educational standards is at the core of each presentation, whether a play, musical, reading, or workshop. It has produced more than 50 shows, garnering a Helen Hayes Award for A Chorus Line, five Helen Hayes Award nominations, and a Helen Hayes Awards Recommendation.
Media contact: Barbara Webber, [email protected] or 410-980-6662.
About the Actors
Janet Luby
Janet Luby (Fonsia Dorsey) has been an actress for a very long time. In her youth, she studied acting at the University of Minnesota and ACT in San Francisco. She's performed regionally as well as Off and off and off off Broadway. She enjoyed a run of Barefoot in the Park in Europe and had stints in commercials, a music video and soap operas. For more detailed information on her acting days, invite her out for a glass of wine. In her mid thirties, Janet attempted to be normal and moved to Annapolis to be closer to family. She got married and had a baby but soon after giving birth she fell back into the addiction of theatre-Thank you Cindy Merry Browne. In this area Janet is mostly known for her performances at the Bay theatre company. Janet is pleased to be performing with the Compass Rose Theatre after a 10 year hiatus. Her best work of all is her son Tommy.
David Elias
David Elias (Weller Martin) is last seen in Annapolis as Greg in Sylvia at Bay Theater (opposite Ms. Luby's Sylvia). He has played Schotter, the ghetto comedian in Olney Theatre's world premiere of King of the Jews, Matt in Talley's Folly (Theatre at Lime Kiln), Ira Stone in Laughter on the 23rd Floor (both Wayside Theatre and Cumberland Theatre), Allan Felix in Play It Again, Sam, and William Blore in 10 Little Indians (both Cumberland Theatre), Friar Peter in Measure for Measure, and Bill Ray in On Golden Pond (both Wayside Theatre), Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha, and Frederik Egerman in A Little Night Music (both The Other Opera Company), Polpoch in Marat/Sade (Washington Shakespeare Company), and was in the Helen Hayes Award winning production of Assassins at Signature Theatre, as well as many other roles.
David has also been Production Stage Manager at Bay Theater, MetroStage, Voices Festival Productions, Theater J, Wayside Theatre, Imagination Stage, Totem Pole Playhouse, Studio Theatre, Spooky Action Theater, and many others, including The Alliance for New Music-Theatre for whom he stage managed two shows in Prague. He teaches Voice, and Acting at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, has taught Stage Management at George Mason University, and taught a seminar on creating a character at Brazil's Universidade de Natal.