Baltimore Center Stage
present the inaugural
410Fest: A Celebration of Baltimore’s New Works!
Baltimore Center Stage is proud to present the inaugural 410Fest! An all-day celebration of THREE NEW PLAYS written here, in our city! Our festival of new works will present three readings of plays written by the Inaugural BCS Lab410 playwrights-in-residence. Join us for a day filled with food, fun, and storytelling as we celebrate our playwrights and the new plays they’ve developed with us this season!
Saturday, April 5, 2025
Andrus Rehearsal Studio, 5th Floor
Baltimore Center Stage
11:30-7:30pm
FREE
WE RECOMMEND STAYING FOR THE FULL EVENT TO EXPERIENCE THE FESTIVAL AS INTENDED
SCHEDULE:
11:30AM – 410Brunch coffee, mimosas, and bites by Ched Mo of Cre8tive Mindz Cafe
12:15pm – The Slam by Kenneth Something & Unique Robinson
1:45pm – 410Artist Market local vendors and vision boarding
3:30pm – Canton Waterfront by Karen Li
5:00pm – 410Kickbak sounds by DJ Afr0delic, food by Hungry Hearts, mural making
5:45pm – The Last of Powder Creek by Hess Love
7:00pm – Closing Remarks
Inaugural 24/25 Lab410 Playwrights:
UNIQUE MICAL ROBINSON (she/her) is a poet/MC, professor, community educator, host, public speaker, and proud Baltimore City native. She received her MFA in English/Creative Writing from Mills College, and a BA in Creative Writing/Black Studies from Hampshire College. Creatively, her work engages the power of language to transmute systemic harm. Professionally, Unique has a background in Community Organizing and national Reproductive Justice work, and is a lifelong artivist, with 20+ years of performance experience throughout the US and Havana, Cuba. She was the cover feature for Baltimore Magazine’s GameChangers issue in 2022. Unique is currently the Director of MICA’s MFA Community Arts Program, and a writing workshop facilitator with intergenerational communities, promoting healing through creativity.Unique has released three poetry collections: the chapbook, flicked/forgotten/FREED (2014), a full length book, Four Wings & A Prayer: A Charm City Churn (2019), and her most recent work, (not) in service, published with homie house press (2024). Unique has also released musical projects under the moniker klefta*maniak, including vesica piscis EP (2019), Tha 27th Letter, Vol. I (2019), Tha 27th Letter, Vol. II & Vol. II: Tha Remix (2020), GETCHA LIFE! EP (2021), Cosmic Drama (2022), and Elevator Excursions (2023).
KAREN LI (she/her) is a Baltimore-based performer with a Theatre and Dance double degree from UC San Diego. She appeared onstage at Baltimore Center Stage in the ensemble of the Young Playwrights Festival ’24. Recent DMV-area work includes Exclusion (Arena Stage), Babel (Contemporary American Theater Festival), AAPI Voices (Kennedy Center), Boundary (Submersive Productions), Black Super Hero Magic Mama (Strand Theater), and alight, sweet hearted (Strand Theater). Other favorite credits include The Great Leap (Perseverance Theatre), The Rice Eaters (KaniniFest), Sunset Park (Theaterlab), Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (La Jolla Playhouse), and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (Chinese Pirate Productions). TV credits include Dancing with the Stars (Season 10). Karen is a collective member of Submersive Productions, and was a playwright in the Horticulture Playwrights Workshop ’23-’24 cohort with Sisters Freehold.
HESS LOVE (they/them) is a poet, playwright, ethnographer, Hoodoo historian, naturalist, and environmental educator focused on Maryland’s African American folk traditions and the Chesapeake Bay. Founder of the Chesapeake Conjure Society and an MFA candidate in Creative Writing, they study under Arthur Flowers in Literary Hoodoo. Hess’s work documents Hoodoo as a living practice rooted in Black geographies, ritual performance, descendant stories, and AfroChesapeake memoryscapes. A Sundress Best of the Net nominee, Hess has received support from Roots Wounds Words, Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, Tin House, Bread Loaf Environmental Writers Conference, Voices of Our Nation (VONA), Scribente Maternum, American Folklore Society, Sundress Academy for the Arts, Lucille Clifton House, Maryland State Arts Council, and the Obsidian Foundation. They serve as Curator of Black American Religion and Spirituality for The African American Folklorist Magazine. In Maryland, Hess also works with descendant communities at archaeological and heritage sites, advocating for cultural care and responsible repatriation to honor AfroChesapeake heritage. Learn more about their work at HessLove.com