Entertainment Archives - Page 97 of 112

“The Catalina Haunt” Has Been a Kensington Halloween Staple Since 2015

Published October 23, 2022 at 12:07PM

Holly Agouridis started “The Catalina Haunt” (video below) at her Kensington home back in 2015. The haunted house, located on Catalina Terrace, is now in its 8th year with a growing audience each year. “Between October 1st and Halloween night I have about 500-600 people stop by. The last halloweens I have been on the news and we have about 300+ come on Halloween night.” Agouridis told us.

She started really getting into decorating in 2015- initially using small props and homemade scarecrows and pumpkins. Then, she found the store Spirit Halloween and it took off from there. Agouridis has lived in MoCo for nearly 20 years, since 2003. When she was trying to figure out a name for her haunted house, a neighbor’s child who was 7 or 8 and would sit on her driveway everyday to watch her work on the house said “Ms. Holly, we live on Catalina Terrace so let’s call it the Catalina Haunt Yard” and the rest was history.

Halloweentown Star, Kimberly J. Brown, is From Gaithersburg

By MCS Staff

Published October 23, 2022 at 8:55AM | Updated October 24, 2022 at 7:13AM

Actress Kimberly J. Brown, best known to audiences for her portrayal of the teen witch Marnie Piper in the Halloweentown films, is from Gaithersburg. In a 2016 interview with a Maryland-based blog, she referenced growing up in Gaithersburg in the 80s and early 90s. “There were certain areas near where I lived that were so serene. I love that whole country, green feel. Our family ritual was going to duck ponds in the area and playing with the baby chicks. I love being able to have a bat and a ball, and not caring where the ball lands if that makes sense. In Los Angeles, you don’t have that luxury all the time.” In the interview she also refers to Washington as her favorite NFL team.

Brown got her first big break playing the role of Marah Lewis on the daytime soap opera Guiding Light– the daughter of “super couple” Josh Lewis and Reva Shayne. When she was 13 she was cast in Halloweentown as Marnie Piper, a young witch who is determined to learn magic from her grandmother Aggie, portrayed by Debbie Reynolds. Halloweentown aired on October 17, 1998, and was well received by audiences, leading Disney Channel to produce three sequels; Brown reprised her role as Marnie in two of them, but was replaced by Sara Paxton in the fourth installment, Return to Halloweentown, a decision over which Brown expressed confusion and disappointment.

MoCo Native and Lead Guitarist of Hootie and The Blowfish, Mark Bryan, Will Perform With His Band “The Screaming Trojans” (Nod to Seneca Valley and Gaithersburg) in Frederick This Saturday

By MCS Staff

Published October 19, 2022 at 12:23PM

Half of Hootie and The Blowfish, Mark Bryan and Dean Felber, are graduates of Seneca Valley High School in Germantown. Mark Bryan, lead guitarist of Hootie and The Blowfish, will […]

8th Annual Bernard/Ebb Songwriting Awards is Accepting Applications; Finalists Will Perform Their Songs at Bethesda Concert For a $10,000 Grand Prize

By MCS Staff

Published October 18, 2022 at 5:35PM | Updated October 18, 2022 at 6:32PM

The eighth annual Bernard/Ebb Songwriting Awards is searching for the best songwriters in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. The competition, founded by Cathy Bernard, is named in honor of Fred Ebb, one of the great American songwriters and creator of Broadway hits such as Cabaret and Chicago and iconic songs including New York, New York. Applicants must submit three original songs. Each song must have lyrics. Therefore, instrumental compositions are not accepted. All genres are accepted. Maximum song length is 4:30 min.

The contest will be a multi-staged, adjudicated competition. Jurors will include professional artists, venue operators, booking agents and music academia. The jury will select the finalists who will perform their original songs during a concert in Bethesda, Maryland on Friday, April 1, 2022 at the Bethesda Blues and Jazz Club. Each finalist will perform two of the songs they submitted for the competition. The Grand Prize Jury will attend the concert to select the winners. The winning songwriter and young songwriter will be announced at the close of the show. Judging criteria below:

Former Rockville Resident Connie Britton Co-Stars in #1 Movie on Netflix, Luckiest Girl Alive

By MCS Staff

Published October 12, 2022 at 11:24AM

Connie Britton was born Constance Elaine Womack in Boston, Massachusetts, but moved to Rockville as a baby and spent the first seven years of her life there. Britton lived off of Norbeck Rd. and Bel Pre Rd. You might recognize her from one of her many popular roles in Friday Night Lights, American Horror Story, Nashville, 9-1-1, Dirty John, and a lot more. She is currently co-starring in the number 1 movie on Netflix, Luckiest Girl Alive.

Luckiest Girl Alive is a 2015 New York Times Bestselling mystery novel written by the American author Jessica Knoll. The novel follows a young woman, Ani Fanelli, who has sought to reinvent herself in her adult life, following a series of horrifying events during her teenage years. The star of the movie is played by Mila Kunis, who works as an editor at a glamorous New York City women’s magazine and has a loving fiancé from a good family. Yet Ani also hides a secret – as a teenager,she underwent a series of horrifying and emotionally crippling events, including a school shooting, that have continued to impact her well into her adult years.

MCPS 2022-2023 Fall Productions

By MCS Staff

Published October 10, 2022 at 7:28AM

Per MCPS: The curtain is rising on fall theater productions throughout the school system, at middle and high schools. Plan now to see these great performances, which run into early 2023. From “Once Upon a Mattress” and “The Hallelujah Girls to “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Marie Antoinette,” there’s something for everyone. See the schedule below:

Winston Churchill, “Matilda” Nov. 4, 5, 11 and 12, 7 p.m. Nov. 6, 2 p.m.

MoCo Connection in Hocus Pocus; Sequel Set to Release on September 30

By MCS Staff

Published September 29, 2022 at 9:40AM

With Hocus Pocus 2 being released on Disney’s streaming service, Disney+, we wanted to revisit the [not so strong] MoCo connection from the popular original 1993 film– Bethesda native Sean Murray in his role as Thackery Binx.

Hocus Pocus follows teenager Max Dennison (Omri Katz), who after moving to Salem, Massachusetts, explores an abandoned house with his sister Dani (Thora Birch) and their new friend, Allison (Vinessa Shaw). After dismissing a story Allison tells as superstitious, Max accidentally frees a coven of evil witches (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy) who used to live in the house. Now, with the help of a magical cat (Binx) the kids must steal the witches’ book of spells to stop them from becoming immortal.

Multimedia, Interactive Spy Adventure to Debut at Imagination Stage

By Patrick Herron

Published September 29, 2022 at 9:27AM

S.P.I.E.S. 2: Flight of the Hawk is the follow-up to S.P.I.E.S. & The Lost Treasure of Atlantis, which was an online hit for Imagination Stage in the winter of 2021. DC Theatre Arts praised it as “a fantastically entertaining conglomerate of action, adventure, suspense, and pure silliness.”

The new adventure (which doesn’t require any knowledge of the first one) is now in-person, with the live audience of children ages 5+ taking on the role of spy cadets being taught by the hilariously bungling live facilitator, Pat. During the cadet training, Pat is contacted and told that an award ceremony for Spy Team 7 has gone awry with the villainous Winnifred Veil putting in motion her plan to dominate the world. It’s Pat and the cadets to the rescue, providing key information and making crucial decisions to assist the spies, who are beaming in on the big screen.

Local Middle School Teacher Has Spread Message of Love and Healing Through Thousands of ‘Meeps’ She Has Made Over the Last Four Years

By MCS Staff

Published September 26, 2022 at 3:09PM

Every week, Takoma Park Middle School teacher, Maura Moore, highlights one student in each of her classes that has done something noteworthy (kind to a classmate, shown perseverance with an academic struggle, exemplary work, etc.) by giving them a raffle ticket that could win the a students a “meep” to keep. A meep (photos below) is a crocheted emotional support orb. Moore started making the meeps in March of 2018 when she was going through a difficult time in her life and wanted to show that you could turn a tough time into something beautiful.

She made over 1,000 maps in a little over 6 months (approximately 250 of them were for staff and students). In the last 4 years she had made several thousand meeps, spending her own time and money, so that she can brighten other’s day. When she made her first meep, before it had a name, it was just a gesture to say to someone “I see you struggling, and I want you know I am here and I care.” Just this summer she made 600 of them and recently she has made meeps available for purchase through her website, AllYouMeepIsLove.com

Sixth Annual Wheaton Arts Parade & Festival Returns on Sunday, Sept. 25, with Events on Marian Fryer Town Plaza

By Patrick Herron

Published September 14, 2022 at 4:13PM

The Arts Parade starts at 10 a.m. at the intersection of Grandview and Ennalls avenues. It will move down Georgia Avenue, around the Wheaton Triangle Business District and will end at the festival site adjacent to the entrance of the Wheaton Metrorail Station.

Marian Fryer Town Plaza is located at 2424 Reedie Dr. in Wheaton.

New Season of CBS’s Survivor to Feature Contestant From MoCo

By Patrick Herron

Published September 14, 2022 at 10:10AM

Owen Knight, originally from Bethesda (now residing in New Orleans), will be a cast member on the upcoming 43rd season of Survivor, which premieres next Wednesday, September 21 at 8pm on CBS. Owen was born in Korea and adopted when he was four months old. He grew up in Bethesda and graduated from Walt Whitman High School in 2010, where he was on both the football and rowing teams. During this time Owen also swam for the Montgomery County Swim League and worked at Bethesda Row’s Georgetown Cupcake. After high school Owen went on to study business administration at Tulane University, where he now works as the Director of Admission Engagement.

Owen tells us, “I am very privileged to have grown up in Montgomery County! My parents moved away when I was in college, but I still get to visit multiple times a year for work. I still go out of my way to eat at Ledo’s and Bethesda Bagels, and ironically, one of my family’s favorites growing up was Louisiana Express.”