Baltimore Center Stage History
Inspired by our home city, Baltimore Center Stage acts as a cultural catalyst for our communities using theater in all its forms to engage in the compelling conversations of our time. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Stevie Walker-Webb, Baltimore Center Stage is rooted in providing active and open accessibility to our programming, including mainstage series productions, civic programming, learning and social accountability programs, and special engagements and projects.
Launched in 1963 by an ambitious community drama group, Baltimore Center Stage soon became a leader in the regional theater movement. In the years since its founding, the theater has not only survived its growing pains—including a disastrous arson fire in 1974—it has become Baltimore’s leading professional producing theater, now welcoming nearly 100,000 people each season to its award-winning facility in Baltimore’s historic Mount Vernon Cultural District, the home of Center Stage since 1975. Baltimore Center Stage was named The State Theater of Maryland in 1978.
The guiding force behind Baltimore Center Stage’s growth and development in its early years came from the inspirational spirit of Managing Director Peter Culman. In his 33 seasons at Center Stage, his creative integrity and devotion to the arts fostered an environment of diversity and high production quality that set Center Stage apart. In 1975, Stan Wojewodski, Jr. began his 16-year tenure as Artistic Director, a period of significant expansion for the theater. The theater produced the first Young Playwrights Festival in 1985, featuring the work of school age writers and establishing an in-school residency program that still flourishes today. On the stage, contemporary writers like Eric Overmyer, Sybille Pearson, August Wilson, George C. Wolfe, Jon Robin Baitz, and David Feldshuh joined the likes of Ibsen, Chekhov, Shakespeare, and Shaw in a challenging, ever-expanding repertory. The 1990s brought the leadership of Artistic Director Irene Lewis, who remained at the helm for 20 years (1991–2011). To accommodate the theater’s growing audience, a second stage, The Head Theater, was completed in 1991. Baltimore Center Stage also continued its dedication to developing new works, from staged readings and workshops to commissions of new playwrights and world premiere productions, producing such works as Paula Vogel’s The Baltimore Waltz, David Feldshuh’s Miss Evers’ Boys, Elizabeth Egloff’s The Lover, as well as plays by Eric Bogosian, Tony Kushner, and Heather MacDonald.
The 2000s continued to feature bold new works from leading contemporary minds, including the world premiere of Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel, directed by Kate Whoriskey, as well as the original production of August Wilson’s Radio Golf directed by Kenny Leon. Managing Director Michael Ross first joined Baltimore Center Stage in 2002 and would serve for a total of eleven seasons, retiring in 2021. Kwame Kwei-Armah began his relationship with Baltimore with his play Elmina’s Kitchen in 2004. Kwame then joined Baltimore Center Stage as Artistic Director for seven seasons, 2011 to 2018. The world premiere production of Kwame’s Marley (2015) was the highest grossing production in Center Stage history—until the 2018 world premiere of SOUL The Stax Musical. In 2017, the theater completed a $28 million building renovation that created more opportunities for art making and community building, with new public spaces to gather before and after shows and state-of-the-art performance spaces with the best in theater design and technology.
Stephanie Ybarra came to Baltimore Center Stage in 2018 after serving as Director of Special Artistic Programs at The Public Theater, where she led the Mobile Unit and Public Forum programs. Under her leadership, Ybarra expanded the scope of programming at BCS to create new ways for the theater to contribute to social dialogue locally and nationally, including launching the Baltimore Butterfly Sessions, a civic dialogue series, leading Play at Home, a national pandemic-era grassroots commissioning project that is now housed at the Library of Congress, and hosting President Biden for a nationally-televised Town Hall in Baltimore. Under Ybarra’s ethically-driven decision making, BCS has become known for its strong commitment to anti-racism in the workplace, which was highlighted nationally in stories by NPR and The New York Times. BCS also maintained sustainable practices during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the organization would be able to serve future generations of theatergoers. She left the company in a strong and stable financial position. During her tenure, the company’s liabilities dropped by more than 89%. She shepherded over $34 million in revenue, increasing the net assets of the company by more than $1 million. Additionally, the implementation of robust civic programming and artistic partnerships led to the expansion and diversification of the BCS audience, including 48% of audience members coming to the theater for the very first time in the last year alone. Other major artistic accomplishments under Ybarra’s tenure include the production of 10 world premiere works, including The Swindlers; The Folks at Home; Dream Hou$e; Glorious World; Extinction; The Garden; Thoughts of a Colored Man; Richard & Jane & Dick & Sally; Where We Stand; and How to Catch Creation. Additionally, BCS saw an expansion of the theater’s commissioning program, including 14 new commissions and a range of new commissioning tools designed to offer flexibility to better meet artists where they are in their creative process.
Current Artistic Director Stevie Walker-Webb, came to Baltimore Center Stage in October 2023. “When I think of the future of BCS, I envision a theater where we develop new works that are commercially successful in Baltimore, but also springboard to Broadway,” said Walker-Webb. “I envision a theater for all ages and cultures, where our programs and productions are filled to bursting. I envision a theater so successful that we become the leading regional theater in the nation. I feel a deep calling to this city and Baltimore Center Stage, and I am deeply proud to now call both home. I cannot wait for what’s next.”
A complete list of past productions is available at the following web address: https://www.centerstage.org/plays-and-events/production-history/full-list