As the theater industry recovers from COVID-19 and considers a social justice reckoning, the 2020 presidential election is high stakes, resulting in “Act Out: Vote 2020,” an online performance livestreamed on Oct. 29 at 9 p.m. According to Chiara Klein (she), the director of artistic producing at Baltimore Center Stage (BCS) who invited theaters to […]
Baltimore Center Stage’s season starts Jan 2021 with new plays and remodeled Head Theatre
Will the disruptions we are experiencing in this annus horribilis catapult us into a new world next year? If so, Baltimore Center Stage will be ready for it, with three world premieres and a new take on the play most associated with traditional Americana slated for the first half of calendar year 2021. Baltimore Center […]
Jayne Blanchard: Confessions of a theatre critic
Every day, I navigate to DC Theatre Scene’s guide, the New York Times and the Washington Post websites and read up on all the creative and upbeat ways people are feeding their theater jones. I am not one of them. By and large, I am a dismal failure at watching theater on a screen—be it […]
Review: Where We Stand, Baltimore Center Stage’s virtual production
Viewing a live performance of a play on an iPad is a new experience for me in these pandemic times and, unlike working from home, is something I hope I never have to get used to. As a lifelong theatergoer, I miss the assembly, the community, the coming together of live theater. Watching Donnetta Lavinia […]
Review: Richard & Jane & Dick & Sally at Baltimore Center Stage
Boy, things have certainly changed since the days of “See Spot Run.” Dick is sick and goes by the grown-up name Richard (Neimah Djourabchi, a textbook 50s Dad with existential longing). His wife (Vanessa Kai, impeccably maternal like a vintage sitcom Mom) has died and children Dick (Jay Cobián, poignant and fierce as a mama’s […]
Our 22 most memorable performances of 2019
One last standing ovation for these performers whose work quite simply blew us away this year. Ian Merill Peakes, Amadeus, Folger Theatre In Amadeus, Ian Merill Peakes brought Peter Shaffer’s Salieri to brilliant, anguished life. He was a childishly sweet-scarfing confidant explaining to future generations the way his young court-rival genius, Mozart, curdled Salieri’s heart and activated […]
Review: Men on Boats at Baltimore Center Stage
No men. No boats. No man-splaining. That’s part of the concept of the high-energy and low testosterone of Jaclyn Backhaus’ adventure saga, Men on Boats. All the roles in John Wesley Powell’s expedition through the Grand Canyon by way of the Colorado River (celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2019) are played by women and non-binary […]
Review: Thoughts of a Colored Man at Baltimore Center Stage
I admired many things about my late father, among them that he never stopped learning or being curious about people and life, even at the age of 92 and grappling with major health issues. I took the spirit of my father into Baltimore Center Stage’s luminous production of Thoughts of a Colored Man and learned […]
My thoughts on seeing Thoughts of a Colored Man
Thoughts of a Colored Man by young poet/playwright Keenan Scott II masterfully tells nearly every part of the experience of being a Black Male in America today. The tagline “One Theme: Seven Variations” is quite accurate as this body of work depicts the emotions not often articulated in public: Wisdom, Passion, Depression, Lust, Happiness, Love […]
Review: Miss You Like Hell musical at Baltimore Center Stage
Baltimore Center Stage’s new artistic director Stephanie Ybarra gets off to a dynamic start with the winning, women-centered musical, Miss You Like Hell, which celebrates the passion and pain of Latinx women but generously embraces all people in search of a community where they belong and are lifted up. This storytelling musical by Quiara Alegría […]
Review: How to Catch Creation at Baltimore Center Stage
An imaginative drama by Kansas City playwright Christina Anderson, Catch a Creation is an edgy drama, which rotates in time between the mid-1960’s, the late 1980’s and 2014. Anderson creates of story filled with surprise and intrigue. It’s a dreamscape of a play which follows six people whose lives are touched by the strong presence, […]
Baltimore Center Stage’s 2019-2020 season under Stephanie Ybarra’s leadership
Stephanie Ybarra’s first season as Artistic Director of Baltimore Center Stage will be full of new stories from fresh artists but will also include one of the oldest stories in all of theater — will run, in short, from Backhaus to the Bacchae. Center Stage’s 2019-2020 season will start out with a musical it is […]