Student Matinee Library

A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction
By Miranda Rose Hall
Directed by Taibi Magar

Baltimore’s own Miranda Rose Hall returns to BCS with this darkly comic world premiere play. The Zero Omissions Theater Company desperately wants the audiences of their climate change play to WAKE UP! But when things don’t go as planned, it’s up to their stage manager/light board operator/dramaturg Naomi to find a new way of telling their story. In this communal experience like no other, the play becomes an awakening about how to be human in an era of man-made extinction.

RUN TIME: 78 minutes

The Garden
By Charlayne Woodard
Directed by Patricia McGregor

Written by and starring the Tony Award® nominated artist Charlayne Woodard, this moving world premiere play explores the complex relationship between two “alpha” women: Claire Rose, an elderly Black woman and her middle-aged daughter, Cassandra. After not speaking to each other for the past three years, Cassandra shows up unexpectedly at her mother’s garden gate, attempting to reconcile old wounds. Both women give as good as they get, taking us on a rollercoaster ride unearthing conflicts and secrets of the past, and creating magic in the process.

RUN TIME: 90 minutes
CONTENT ADVISORY: Please be advised that this production contains themes and references that may be triggering to some viewers. For a full content warning, including spoilers, please read the synopsis.

The Glorious World of Crowns, Kinks and Curls
By Keli Goff
Directed by Bianca LaVerne Jones
Journalist, screenwriter, Emmy nominated producer, and playwright Keli Goff brings this timely world premiere to Baltimore Center Stage. In the tradition of The Vagina Monologues and For Colored Girls…, The Glorious World of Crowns, Kinks and Curls is a collection of monologues and scenes exploring the complex relationship women have with their hair. From afros to braids, weddings and funerals, falling in love, to grieving a loss, these stories serve as a powerful reminder that for Black women in particular, hair is both deeply personal and political. Perfect for the virtual stage, these intimate stories will take audiences on an unparalleled journey into the world of Black womanhood.
RUN TIME: 90 minutes
​CONTENT ADVISORY: Please be advised that this program contains references to racism, sexual assault, and instances of racially-motivated violence. There are no depictions of any of the above.

Where We Stand
By Donnetta Lavinia Grays
Directed by Tamilla Woodard
WHAT WILL YOU STAND FOR?
This brand-new fable of penance is filled with humor, heart, and music. When a town is running low on compassion and a man is stripped of companionship, just one kind stranger can tip the scales. Join in community as one passionate storyteller spins a supernatural tale of loneliness seduced by kindness and asks us “what do we owe each other?”
RUN TIME: 70 minutes
​CONTENT ADVISORY: This play contains consumption of alcoholic beverages.

The 19th: Whose Vote Is It Anyway?
On August 18th, 1920, the U.S. ratified the 19th amendment, granting women the right to vote. Well… supposedly, anyway. In reality, It took many years before women of all races were able to exercise this right. Join us on the eve of the 100th anniversary for a virtual event featuring musical performances, poetry, theater, and more. We will both celebrate and interrogate the history of the 19th amendment and what it means for human rights and women nationwide.

The 19th: Whose Vote Is It Anyway? is curated by a trio of multidisciplinary artists, Paige Hernandez (Associate Artistic Director of Everyman Theatre), Madeline Sayet (Executive Director, Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program) and Nicole A. Watson (Associate Artistic Director of Round House Theatre)
RUN TIME: 60 minutes

The Baltimore Butterfly Sessions: Who Tells Baltimore’s Story?
What are the first thoughts that come to mind when you think of Baltimore? Where did those perceptions come from? Media representation is a powerful and persuasive tool used to showcase either the highlights or downfalls of prominent figures, events, and places. Baltimore is no exception in the ways the media can seriously impact a city and create stereotypes that can harm and separate communities. Baltimoreans have the power to change the dominant narrative, debunk the stereotypes, and grow together.
RUN TIME: 30 minutes

The Baltimore Butterfly Sessions: The Future is Bright
Featuring poetry and speaking by the youth of DewMore Baltimore and music by Baltimore local musician Melissa Li. Gen Z has been on the frontlines of today’s movements for social change — even transforming TikTok into a tool for the revolution — and it is no different in Baltimore. Even as they’re growing up through a pandemic and intense civil unrest, the youth of today are leading the way, and we must listen to their voices as we build a way forward. For this Baltimore Butterfly Session, we are excited to partner with DewMore Baltimore, one of the city’s coolest youth-driven civic engagement and arts organizations, to hear directly from young people about what is giving them hope as they imagine a more just future.
RUN TIME: 55 minutes

The Baltimore Butterfly Sessions: It Was Always Possible
“It was always possible” for individual artists to lead the movement we are living in now. For this first Baltimore Butterfly Session of 2021, hear from Obie award-winning actress and Pulitzer Prize nominated playwright Eisa Davis in conversation with her father, a leader in the Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition; the music of multitalented musician Darius Christian; and poetry by international spoken word activist and poet Lady Brion. Last year, we questioned everything: our country’s history of racialized violence, the very underpinnings of democracy, and the complex legacy of the White American Theatre. BIPOC artists began organizing with renewed energy and vital shifts began to take shape. But much of the field’s focus has been on providing correctives for institutions, when it’s the artists themselves who have been mobilizing together to start the revolution of equitable theatre practices.
RUN TIME: 60 minutes

The Baltimore Butterfly Sessions: To Change Everything, We Need Everyone
Mass power outages. Dangerous weather conditions. Pollution from an incinerator. What do all of these things have in common? They are all climate crisis impacts that disproportionately affect BIPOC communities. For our final Butterfly Session of the season, hear from community artist Ashley Minner (Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina), songs by the electric Eze Jackson, and watch a show-stopping dance performance by TSU Terry to remind us that ‘in order to change everything, we need everyone’. Here in Baltimore, the fight for environmental and climate justice has been going on for hundreds of years. From Indigenous activism to city council, from environmental policy to Black-led urban farms, Baltimore’s past, present, and future are all connected by Baltimoreans’ desire to make the city a better place for everyone.
RUN TIME: 50 minutes

The Baltimore Butterfly Sessions: Anatomy of an Uprising
From Minneapolis to Havana to right here in Baltimore, political uprisings and social movements are reshaping our world. This season’s first Baltimore Butterfly Session features Dr. Jordie Davies, an Agora Institute postdoc in political science who focuses on the process of social movement mobilization. Dr. Davies’ keynote will help us understand the conditions necessary to ignite political participation in the movements of our time. Featuring music, poetry, readings and civic dialogue, we’ll leave inspired to make change and mobilize our communities.
RUN TIME: 45 minutes

My America Too
In early 2015, Baltimore Center Stage’s CS Digital program commissioned 10 American writers to create plays inspired by recent events in communities like Ferguson, Baltimore, and Charleston. Six of the plays were filmed as pieces of street theater, guerrilla-style, at pivotal locations across the country. This series features plays by Lydia R. Diamond, Larissa FastHorse, Neil LaBute, Kenneth Lin, Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder, and Kwame Kwei-Armah in collaboration with Hana Sharif.