News & Politics The Surprising Story of Bonnie Fogel, Who Turned Imagination Stage into the East Coast’s Best Children’s Theater Many know her as the dynamic young mother who founded a tiny Bethesda afterschool arts program in 1979, then spent the next three decades transforming it into Imagination Stage, the premier children’s theater on the East Coast. But few of Fogel’s wonder-struck patrons have heard the remarkable life story behind her remarkable success. Theater, Maryland, Bethesda, Imagination Stage | Jun 14, 2016