Living the Theater
The Red Hill Theatre Group performing “Fat Unicorn Cake,” a frantic and surreal look at social media.
Artistic productions by a group of Boonsboro High School graduates Keeps local theater alive in Washington County
By Crystal Schelle
People who have performed in theatrical productions get it. There’s a bonding experience when you work together on and off stage, and it often continues years after the curtain falls on the last performance.
That’s exactly what led a group of Boonsboro High School graduates to form the Red Hill Theatre Group, which is wrapping up its first official season.
Boonsboro High 2011 graduate Cody James, 31, of Sharpsburg, is the artistic director of the group. Boonsboro 2019 graduate Amanda Thomas, 22, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, is the associate artistic director. They, along with Jacob Reese, Sarah Usary, and Kenzal Jones, helped form the group.
“We all did theater, and we all loved it,” James says. “We always talked about starting our theater company, because that’s just who we were.”
After graduation, James worked as technical director for Boonboro High School.
James eventually went to Ireland for his master’s degree, graduating in 2019. Upon returning home, James took a playwriting class.
“Playwriting was something I’ve always been interested in and kind of work on in my little corner,” James says. “But I developed a pretty solid show idea I was happy about. I just contacted some Boonsboro people and asked, ‘Hey do you want to put this show on?’ I just wanted to see it get off the page, and from there we were like, ‘That was really fun.’”
From there, James says the actors who were part of the original show decided they wanted to continue, and Red Hill Theatre Group was officially founded in 2019. The ensemble was able to stage its first production on January 3, 2020, mere months before everything shut down due to the pandemic and unable to proceed with a first season.
Cody James’ play “I was Made for Less” is Red Hill Theatre Group’s look at gender expression.
Thomas originally thought they would major in computer science in college, but quickly realized college wasn’t something to pursue and they wanted to be part of theater again. Today, Thomas, who has a background in dancing, has been a working actor for eight years in addition to the duties at Red Hill.
The name Red Hill, James says, comes from an area near Keedysville, and the group’s logo represents the geography of the area.
“We wanted something that looked local and referenced local geography but still felt ubiquitous, you know, it was a local thing. But it still could sound like it didn’t mean anything,” James says.
Thomas says the area is more or less the middle point from where most of the core people grew up. James agrees, saying Red Hill is a recognizable landmark and they had “all sorts of memories around that part of the county.”
As for being a “group” instead of a theater company, James says, “We want to make clear that we have what’s known as an ensemble structure. We wanted to be clear that this is a group of people making theater, not a company that is directing what theater is made and what art is made. We’re a group of people who are coming together to create what we want.”
The group previously staged its work at the nearby Black Box Arts Theater in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. When the theater changed ownership, James says the group decided to find somewhere Maryland-based, as that is the group’s mission in general. “It’s our home. It’s where we all grew up. It’s where we want to make theater.”
Now, the group stages its productions at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre in downtown Frederick, where James and Thomas are full-time company members. James is also the technical director. The next show scheduled for February will be staged at New Spire Arts, also in downtown Frederick and run by the Weinberg Center for the Arts.
Thomas says Red Hill aims to stage four productions each season. “We just wrapped up our first season,” James says. “We’re very lucky to be in a place right now where we’re able to have a week or two or even a month between shows as a little bit of an ‘OK, let’s get our heads back on and let’s go at the next one with a fresh start,’ instead of jumping from show to show to show to show.”
As for the show selection, Thomas says Red Hill tries to stage at least one original production each season. “We try to aim for an original piece from a local playwright, something from New Play Exchange; so smaller shows that are unpublished works.”
In addition to James’ original play, “I Was Made for Less,” which was staged in January 2024, Red Hill is staging Ryan Stevens’ “I Build Giant” in November 2024, making it the second production of the play.
The first production of 2025 will be another original play by James, “Mythos of a Lost Nightmare.” It is a fantastical exploration of history, environmentalism, and being non-binary in moder Appalachia.
All of the Boonsboro drama graduates involved in Red Hill were students of Michael J. Bair, the theater and digital photography teacher.
They both credit Bair for nurturing their love of drama.
“I started theater in high school in that class, purely because I was switching schools, and I didn’t have any friends,” Thomas says. “And my guidance counselor was like, ‘Well, I’ve seen a lot of lifelong friendships come from drama. So why don’t you try drama?’”
Thomas did and found instant friendships that have survived past high school. The background of Bair’s classes made students learn all aspects of theater, not just being actors, which Thomas credits for having such a strong team because of what the students were taught at Boonsboro.
James credits Bair for giving “me the opportunity as a young adult learning the trade of theater, to learn how to be a technical director, but also to learn how to produce theater, as I got so many opportunities to direct, to define, to work in the ways that lead to me having the skill set to be artistic director.”
The Red Hill Theatre Group presented Diana Son’s modern queer classic “Stop Kiss.”
Bair says James and Thomas were part of the “Golden Era of Drama” at Boonsboro.
“That era was filled with kids like them who loved what we were doing, and as a result, produced amazing and life-changing performances,” says Bair, who has been teaching for 33 years. “I’m proud to say that I am still in contact and maintain such meaningful relationships with so many of them. We were a family then, and we are still family now.”
Bair says he is proud of what his former students have accomplished.
“When you look back at the 33 years of doing this, you often wonder how much of a difference you make,” he says. “There are some simple benchmarks that remind me that just by creating opportunities, we have created life-altering circumstances. We have drama marriages, we have drama lifelong friendships, and we have students who, despite the difficulties of finding a career in professional theater, have done so. We have students in Hollywood, students in professional lighting and sound, and we have students like the Red Hill Group who just want to keep acting because they cannot imagine life without that.
“While most people think theater is my life or my love, the reality is that every person who has come through the program has become part of what makes life lovely. What better tribute could they offer than continuing to grow something that we planted here? It’s beyond touching.”
As for the future of Red Hill Theatre Group, James says the group wants to be able to expose theater to people from more rural settings who might not be able to attend shows.
Thomas says, “In our early days our big goal was to show people that it doesn’t matter that you don’t live in New York City or East Annapolis or whatever, you can make theater in your hometown.”
Red Hill Theatre Group 2025 Season
February 2025: “Mythos of a Lost Nightmare,” by Cody James
A fresh and fantastical exploration of history, environmentalism, and being non-binary in modern Appalachia.
June 2025: “Monster Girls at Sunshine Donuts,” by Dani Herd
A vampire, a werewolf, and a Frankenstein’s monster walk into a doughnut shop…A look at the stresses of growing into new lives, outgrowing the past and learning all the while. Doughnuts abound.
August 2025: “A Calvalcade of Cryptids,” a new anthology play by Red Hill Theatre Group
A series of stories about family, love, life, and Cryptids. Monsters of the Middle Appalachian region are explored through the lens of a broader story told by a suspicious narrator.
www.redhilltheatregroup.org