White Snake. Photo courtesy of Center Stage.
Center Stage announces a 2016/17 homecoming season featuring four mainstage shows and a return to its Baltimore building after a year-long $28 million renovation. Season highlights include a world-premiere adaptation and Center Stage commission of Toni Morrison’s Jazz directed by Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah, two Baltimore premieres and the grand opening of the new building.
“We’re welcoming audiences back to our theater with a season of transformation. We’re coming home with premieres of exciting new works and new programming as well as gorgeous interpretations of classic stories to celebrate our stunning new building,” Kwei-Armah said. “We’re building a world-class theater, and we’re taking audiences on a journey across the world.”
The season opens in 18th-century France with Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Nov. 26-Dec. 23) in the Pearlstone Theater while construction on the rest of the building is being completed. Based on the novel by Choderlos de Laclos, and set just before the French Revolution, two French aristocrats, Marquise de Merteuil and her ex-lover, the Vicomte de Valmont, challenge each other to seduce unsuspecting innocents in this story of revenge and hidden motives. Les Liaisons Dangereuses will be directed by Center Stage Associate Artistic Director Hana S. Sharif, who directed last season’s opening show, Pride and Prejudice.
The grand public opening of the building will coincide with the first show in the newly renovated Head Theater: Mary Zimmerman’s fantastical adaptation of a Chinese fable, The White Snake (Feb. 24-March 26). Telling the story of animal spirit White Snake, who transforms into a beautiful woman and falls in love with a poor fisherman, The White Snake is a magical production appropriate for all ages. DC-based director Natsu Onoda Power will direct.
Next up is Twisted Melodies (March 17-April 16), a musical homage to soul legend Donnie Hathaway written and performed by Kelvin Roston. After a critically acclaimed world premiere at Chicago’s Congo Square Theater in 2015, Roston’s immersive play about the 1970s musician’s inner struggles will be directed by Derrick Sanders.
In addition to the mainstage season, Center Stage will present a limited run in April 2017 of That Face, a darkly funny British play by Polly Stenham about a dysfunctional family. The play will be the first work to be presented in the new 99-seat theater, with all tickets $25. This season Center Stage will also introduce a new Youth & Family Series. The first program will be storytelling performance with Baltimore’s Maria Broom.
The fourth and final mainstage show of the season will be the world-premiere of Toni Morrison’s Jazz, which is also a Center Stage commission. Adapted by Nambi E. Kelley, who recently adapted Native Son, Toni Morrison’s Jazz is a portrait of characters grappling with love and unforgiveable acts during the Harlem Renaissance.
This season is also a homecoming for Michael Ross, Center Stage’s managing director from 2002 to 2008, who will return July 1 to join the theater’s leadership team after seven years as the managing director of Westport Country Playhouse.
“What a time to be returning to a theater and city that has always meant so much to me,” Ross said. “I love the Center Stage family, and the stunning new building is going to be an exciting, comfortable space to enjoy being a part of this new stage in Center Stage’s and Baltimore’s history.”
A public event to celebrate the opening of the building is being scheduled. Baltimore firm Cho Benn Holback + Associates and U.K.-based theater designers Charcoalblue are the renovation’s architects. The renovated building will feature a redesigned 400-seat Head Theater, new lobby and entrance plaza, a new 99-seat theater configuration, and a dedicated education and community programming studio.
RENOVATION HIGHTLIGHTS
- The Peter Culman Entry Plaza with a complete refurbishment of original iron doors and entry arch dedicated to long-time Center Stage Managing Director Peter Culman, recently deceased.
- First-floor lobby featuring the Marilyn Meyerhoff Box Office and the Sherman Café and Bar. The dramatically reimagined first floor lobby will hold a concierge box office counter and redesigned bars and cafes. The central two-story atrium will lead to a first-floor dining area, remodeled restrooms, reconfigured seating on the mezzanine, flexible lounge spaces, and areas outfitted with the latest technology for community talk-backs, forums, and live-streaming events.
- New Fourth-Floor Head Theater and Deering Lobby. The new Head Theater will feature a seating plan with multiple possible configurations, so theater seating can potentially be different for every show based on the demands of the productions. The lobby will feature restored windows, a full bar, seating, and projection technology.
- The Eddie and Sylvia Brown Community Programs & Education Department. For the first time, the Community Programs & Education Department will have its own dedicated space with a large studio for classes and workshops, allowing Center Stage to triple the number of students the theater serves.
- A 99-seat theater. This third space will allow Center Stage to produce and perform new work and attract top-tier playwrights and theater artists who are looking for appropriate spaces to workshop their new pieces. The theater will also serve as a venue for Community Programs & Education workshops, family productions, and presentations.
- Replacement of the building’s core systems, such as HVAC, electrical and plumbing, which are near the end of expected life span.
