Center Stage is the state theater of
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
, and
Baltimore
Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
's largest professional producing theater.
Center Stage began in a converted gymnasium in 1963 as a full arena theatre that seated 240 people. The Center Stage currently houses two performing spaces, the 541-seat Pearlstone and the smaller Head Theater, both in its home in the Mount Vernon Cultural District of Baltimore.
History
Launched in 1963 by Marilyn Meyerhoff, Stamy Simopoulos and a group of local theater supporters, Center Stage soon became a leader in America's regional theater movement, with the goal of producing first-rate professional theater for local audiences, along with theaters such as
The Guthrie Theater
The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The concept of the theater was born in 1959 in a series of discussions among Sir Tyrone Gut ...
in
Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
,
Arena Stage in
Washington, DC
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
, and
Alley Theatre
Alley Theatre is a Tony Award-winning theatre company in Houston, Texas. It is the oldest professional theatre company in Texas and the third oldest resident theatre in the United States. Alley Theatre productions have played on Broadway at Lin ...
in
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
. In 1931 the North Avenue building was previously occupied by a theatre called The Peabody that opened in the early 1900s; in 1931 Orioles Cafeteria a local food chain restaurant moved into the space at 11 East North Avenue and moved out in August 1965 to make space for the Center Stage theater.
On January 10, 1974, the theater's North Avenue home was burned to the ground in an arson fire. After the 1974 fire, many decided that since the outer shell was not severely damaged, some hope remained for salvage use, but the interior was completely destroyed and unstable, was considered unsafe by city inspectors and construction crews and was later demolished. Although the majority of the building was demolished, both sides of the facade columns remain. Additional stage hands quickly rebuilt the set for
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), ''The Sandbox (play), The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), ''A Delicat ...
's ''
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' is a play by Edward Albee first staged in October 1962. It examines the complexities of the marriage of middle-aged couple Martha and George. Late one evening, after a university faculty party, they rece ...
'' for its performance the next night at the
Baltimore Museum of Art
The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) in Baltimore, Maryland, is an art museum that was founded in 1914. The BMA's collection of 95,000 objects encompasses more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse anchored by the Cone Collection of modern art, ...
and with help from local civic leaders the theater continued its season at the local
College of Notre Dame and used the disaster to launch a major public relations and capital campaign to keep the organization alive.
The theater ultimately moved into a new space carved out of an abandoned Jesuit college. The Center Stage has since become Baltimore's leading professional theater, hosting more than 100,000 people each season to its home in
Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon is the former residence and plantation of George Washington, a Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States, and his wife, Martha. An American landmar ...
.
In 2011, British playwright
Kwame Kwei-Armah
Kwame Kwei-Armah (born Ian Roberts; 24 March 1967 in Hillingdon, London) is a British actor, playwright, director and broadcaster. In 2005, Kwei-Armah became the second black Briton to have a play staged in London's West End when his award-w ...
succeeded Irene Lewis as artistic director of Center Stage. Previously, Center Stage had produced the American premiere of Kwei-Armah's most recognized work ''
Elmina's Kitchen
''Elmina's Kitchen'', first performed in May 2003, is the fifth play from the British actor, playwright and broadcaster, Kwame Kwei-Armah. Set in a West Indian restaurant in London, ''Elmina's Kitchen'' tells a tale of family, drugs and crime o ...
''.
The 2018/19 Season welcomed Artistic Director
Stephanie Ybarra
Stephanie Ybarra is the former artistic director of Baltimore Center Stage. and a co-founder of the Artists' Anti-Racism Coalition, a grassroots effort to help the Off-Broadway community dismantle systems of exclusion and oppression. Originally f ...
, an artistic producer most recently at
The Public Theater
The Public Theater is an arts organization in New York City. Founded by Joseph Papp, The Public Theater was originally the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954; its mission was to support emerging playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: ...
. Center Stage transitioned from a six-play to a seven-play season that included a mix of comedy, drama, and musicals. After the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, the theater scaled back their season to include fewer shows. In 2024, the theater announced a 2024-2025 season consisting of six shows.
Main stage performances occur in either the 541-seat Pearlstone Theater or the smaller, flexible-layout Head Theater. The Play Lab series features new work from emerging and established artists. Third Spaces brings theater to unexpected stages, such as the 2013 production of ''The Container'', which placed a small audience inside a shipping container,
and Fourth Spaces explores the relationship between technology and artistry, using the Center Stage interactive media wall to connect audiences and theater artists.
See also
*
Theater in Maryland
This page is about theater in Maryland.
List of theatrers in Maryland.
Professional Theatres
Adventure Theatre
* Baltimore Theatre Project
* Centerstage
* Chesapeake Shakespeare Company
* Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts
* Cumberland Th ...
References
External links
Center Stagewebsite
{{DEFAULTSORT:Center Stage (theater)
League of Resident Theatres
Midtown, Baltimore
Theatres in Baltimore
Tourist attractions in Baltimore
1963 establishments in Maryland
Mount Vernon, Baltimore
Arts organizations established in 1963