Dear Baltimore,

Welcome to my first season as Artistic Director of CENTERSTAGE Baltimore.

Let me begin by saying how pleased and excited I am to not only lead this wonderful theater, but to now be a resident of this great city. The welcome my family and I have received has been extraordinary, and it is into the realms of the extraordinary that I have boldly set my sights for our theater. Big words I know but to extend the steeples of this great palace of entertainment has always been the mission of all here at CENTERSTAGE.

For me, theater works at its best when it succeeds at being a catalyst for debate. A conversation starter, not just within the four walls of the playhouse, but in the car home, the morning after at work. And if it’s really good, the weeks and months to follow. My aim is to be that conversation starter: whether you like the play or not, I want you our audience to partake in the debate that the great theatrical minds of the past and the future from right across the globe will throw at you from our stages.

So come join our conversation; with you, with ourselves, and with the strange and wonderful world that we live in.

—Kwame Kwei-Armah