The upcoming tenth season of Baltimore’s Rapid Lemon Productions features a trio of world premiere presentations, with performance schedules expanded to three weeks. In keeping with the company’s longstanding mission, the season’s plays were chosen to amplify local work while also introducing new voices to the audience and artist communities it serves.
2021 marks RLP’s second year as the resident theater company of Motor House Baltimore, a crucial arts hub in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District.
Workshopped in 2018 at the National Black Theatre, “Serious Adverse Effects” receives its world premiere with Rapid Lemon Productions, appearing May 7-23.
An unconventional scientist is on the cusp of a cure for a mysterious disease. But to complete her research she must find forgiveness from a family with no reason to trust her and embrace the transformative potential of her own healing. From the marvels of the modern laboratory to the inner depths of the human psyche, “Serious Adverse Effects” is an imaginative contemporary drama unfolding at a collision of medical ethics, blood memory, and forgiveness.
Directed by Noah Silas (“Give Me Moonlight”, 2020).
One of the forebears of the Harlem Renaissance, Angelina Weld Grimké wrote “Rachel” in 1916 as a defiant reply to the recent release of DW Griffith’s film “Birth of a Nation”. Originally titled “Blessed are the Barren”, the play centers on a Black woman who rejects marriage and motherhood after learning a horrible family secret. It was first produced in Washington, DC by the NAACP, and published in 1920.
Baltimore playwright Aladrian C. Wetzel’s new adaptation is her second commissioned play for Rapid Lemon Productions, after 2019’s acclaimed “Thank You, Dad”.
Originally planned as part of RLP’s 2020 season, “Rachel” will be presented September 10-26, 2021.
“Rachel” is a scalding view of racism, personal loss, and the high price of truth.
For its 17th annual production, the region’s original ten-minute play festival has chosen the winter holidays as its theme! December 3-19, audiences will see a select group of world premiere short plays by local authors, and vote to pick the theme for Variations 2022.
Plays will be developed following the annual Variations Party, tentatively planned for May 15. Prior experience is not required to participate, and like all of the company’s artists, playwrights whose works are chosen for production will receive a small stipend. Information is available at rapidlemon.com.
Through its ticketing partner Brown Paper Tickets, RLP is offering a 2021 Season Pass, which provides priority reservations to all three productions for the price of two. Information on Season Passes as well as individual tickets is available at brownpapertickets.com.
