America's most uncoordinated childhood ballet and tap student before discovering that her talents were music and writing, Marakay Rogers finally traded in her violin for law school when she realized that she might make more money in law than she did performing with the Potomac Symphony and in orchestra pits around the mid-Atlantic. Unfortunately, she forgot to factor in the student loan repayments! She has never recovered from being chewed out by Terrence Mann in public for hanging up her bow.
A graduate of Wilson College (PA), Marakay is also a writer, film reviewer and interviewer. Additionally, as of 2014, she serves as vice-chair of the Advisory Board of the Beaux Arts Society, Inc. and is a member of GALECA.
She's also taught college-level communications, writing, theatre criticism and English literature classes, has received multiple writing awards for several small-press novels, and is listed in Marquis' "Who's Who in America". She has done additional post-collegiate English and drama studies coursework with Open University (UK) in drama and literature.
Her junior high English teacher was Broadway star Katrina Yaukey's mother, Kay Yaukey. (Her high school math teacher was Ordean Yaukey, Katrina Yaukey's father, but between Marakay's mother, an editor, and Katrina's mother, English won out.) Marakay is senior theatre critic for Central Pennsylvania and a senior editor for BWWBooksWorld as well as a classical music reviewer. In her free time, Marakay practices law and often gets it right.
BWW Review: PORTRAIT of the Cabaret Series at The Trust, Lancaster
August 13, 2017
August 13, 2017
Reji Woods Productions offers its annual PORTRAIT OF A LADY series. The divas are back and they're bigger than ever.
BWW Review: Good Evening, Ephrata - HAIRSPRAY at EPAC
July 29, 2017
July 29, 2017
It's bigger than a beehive, it's louder than a transistor radio - it's HAIRSPRAY at Ephrata Performing Arts Center. Welcome to the Sixties!
BWW Review: Singer Songwriter Naomi Wachira in Concert
July 28, 2017
July 28, 2017
The Kenyan - by way of Seattle - singer-songwriter kicked off her 2017 tour in grand style in a small courtyard garden.
BWW Review: MOTOWN Rocks Hershey (But Not Enough)
July 23, 2017
July 23, 2017
Berry Gordy's tribute to Berry Gordy manages to squeeze in the music the show should be about.
BWW Review: HOLLYWOOD ARMS at Oyster Mill Playhouse
July 21, 2017
July 21, 2017
Carol Burnett's turn as playwright is on the Oyster Mill stage, and Aliza Bardfeld is dying to make you laugh about it.
BWW Review: SHREK Welcomes Audiences Back to Allenberry
July 20, 2017
July 20, 2017
Keystone Theatrics and Artistic Director Dustin LeBlanc have revived theatre at Allenberry after an absence from the scene. Things are looking up and not just in Duloc.
BWW Review: PETER PAN Soars High at Dutch Apple
July 15, 2017
July 15, 2017
The classic musical has rarely looked or sounded better. Believe.
BWW Review: Extra! NEWSIES Scoops Up Applause at the Fulton
June 27, 2017
June 27, 2017
The Disney classic soars on the Fulton stage with fabulous choreography by director Marc Robin
BWW Review: SISTER ACT Sings Out at The Belmont
June 23, 2017
June 23, 2017
Can a disco diva save a convent choir from the pits? Put on your dancing shoes and boogie like you've never boogied in church at The Belmont's SISTER ACT.
BWW Review: AH, WILDERNESS! Sparks At Open Stage
June 23, 2017
June 23, 2017
The Fourth of July has never been quite like it was at the Miller house. Donald Alsedek retires from directing on a high with this production of the O'Neill classic.
BWW Review: EPAC Strikes Gold with CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN
June 16, 2017
June 16, 2017
Martin McDonough's modern classic tragicomedy about life in the Arans is staged remarkably by EPAC.
BWW Review: MACBETH at HSC and Central PA's Shakespeare Season
June 16, 2017
June 16, 2017
In a busy year for Shakespeare in Central Pennsylvania, Harrisburg Shakespeare Company gives the Scottish Play some twists and turns for the summer's biggest production.
Afraid of VIRGINIA WOOLF? Not at the Belmont, but Maybe Elsewhere?
June 9, 2017
June 9, 2017
A recent successful local production of WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF is almost overshadowed by the discovery that Edward Albee's greatest play is racially restricted.
BWW Review: SECOND CHANCES Takes A Chance at Dutch Apple
June 2, 2017
June 2, 2017
Behind the scenes at a Florida thrift shop lurks a new beginning for more than merchandise. Dutch Apple's own Tom Prather bases a musical on his own experience with thrift shops and with life.
BWW Review: 4000 Days Loses Track of Time at the Fulton
June 2, 2017
June 2, 2017
Peter Quilter's drama of memory loss and relationship loss is almost too amusing and insufficiently dramatic. Good thing the acting is spectacular.
BWW Review: HAIR Lets the Sun Shine in at Ephrata
May 12, 2017
May 12, 2017
It's the Age of Aquarius, peace, love, and draft cards at EPAC.
BWW Review: 'Come On In' to ALWAYS... PATSY CLINE at the Fulton
May 5, 2017
May 5, 2017
The perennial Patsy Cline jukenox musical gets a solid production at the Fulton in Lancaster. It's not high art, but it's a good time.
BWW Review: Open Stage's Canny UNCANNY VALLEY
April 28, 2017
April 28, 2017
The Thomas Gibbons play of the meaning of life -- as opposed to artificial intelligence -- is a winner in the hands of Anne Alsedek and Jeff Luttermoser as researcher and creation... or mother and son.
Reflections on JEKYLL AND HYDE at the Belmont
April 11, 2017
April 11, 2017
The Belmont Theatre, formerly York Little Theatre, has come a long way in six years, as proven by its most recent works.
BWW Reviews: Fun With Neil Simon's FOOLS at Cavod
April 7, 2017
April 7, 2017
Artistic Director Reji Woods breathes some new life into Neil Simon's deliberate clunker comedy
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