Maryland State Summer Theater - Olney Theatre
![[photo, Olney Theatre, Olney, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/01glance/symbols/images/i002125a.jpg)
Olney Theatre Center for the Arts
Olney-Sandy Spring Road (Route 108)
Olney, MD 20832
(301) 924-2739
tdd: (301) 924-3400
web: www.olneytheatre.org/
Olney Theatre, Olney, Maryland. Photo by Eric Stocklin,
courtesy of Olney Theatre Center for the Arts.
The Olney Theatre became the State Summer Theater of Maryland in 1978 (Chapter 1003, Acts of 1978; Code State Government Article, sec. 13-309). Located in Montgomery County (12 miles from Washington, DC; 35 miles from Baltimore), the Olney Theatre is a nonprofit professional theater producing a seven-show season. Renovated in 1993, Olney Theatre then extended its season to year-round. Performances in the 2003 season include Dames at Sea, Moliere's The Miser, Noel Coward's Private Lives, Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, as well as Charley's Aunt, and The Gift. In the summer, the Olney Theater also hosts the Potomac Theatre Festival, an annual festival of political theater. Some 118,000 patrons attend the theater annually.
Opened in 1941, the 450-seat Olney Theatre hosts several community projects. These include the free Summer Shakespeare Festival; the National Players Touring Company, a classical touring group of young actors; and the National Players School Project, an education program performing for Maryland public schools. Also at Olney is the Potomac Theatre Project of experimental and provocative plays.
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