Baltimore Playwrights Festival
- new works readings
by local Baltimore playwrights!
More info on Baltimore Playwrights Festival
Readings are Free Events and Open to the Public.
There will be a discussion after each reading for feedback for the playwright.
Masks are NO LONGER required for patrons in the theatre & lobby, but are available to those who request them.
Baltimore Playwrights Festival
- New Works Readings at Spotlighters!
3/11 @ 1 pm (Saturday)
Go Like Saints by Skye Robinson Hillis - directed by Leslie Byrne
In 1951 Hollywood, at the height of the second Red Scare, a group of friends grapple with the fear and anxiety that sets in when your entire livelihood could be snatched away at any moment. When noted screenwriter Eliza Everett is called before the House on Un-American Committee to testify, her response to questioning sends shockwaves through the industry, including the people closest to her. As she negotiates how to move forward, she must decide what’s most important – her career or her family.
3/18 @ 10.30 am (Saturday)
People Should Talk About What’s Real by Alli Hartley-Kong - directed by Darren McGregor
“Fetus is the real F word, isn’t it?” In People Should Talk About What’s Real, a brash livestreaming comedian and her long-suffering husband struggle to conceive in covid-era New York City, while across the city another couple deals with the emotional fallout of a miscarriage. This is a dark but funny play that celebrates reproductive choice and intergenerational, female connection, in all its forms.
3/18 @ 1 pm (Saturday)
Fag-Gods by John Bavoso - directed by Timoth Copney
After being ousted from Mt. Olympus by his children/fellow deities for being a PR nightmare, a modern-day Zeus finds a kindred spirit in Sissy Fuss, the burnt-out proprietress of a Greek mythology-obsessed drag club in Athens, GA. While they're hiding away from the world, Zeus’s children begin inserting themselves in the affairs of the kings and queens floundering in the wake of their fearless leader’s departure.
3/29 @ 7 pm (Saturday)
Sanctity by Kerr Lockhart – directed by Andre Tittle
*** This work will be performed at Arena Players
Lawyer Eileen Kinsella is well-known for her protection of privileged communications in a notorious serial murder case, a decision which cost her professionally and financially. In her address refusing a proposed award from a law school, sliding freely through time and circumstances, Eileen relives the misunderstandings and pain engendered by the conflict between her ethical duty to protect the sanctity of the attorney-client privilege and the sanctity of her religious convictions, put to the test by the concealed aspects of both the case and Eileen's secret personal history.
POSTPONED --- New Date & Time to be determined .....4/15 @ 10 am (Saturday)
Around the Snake Turn by Patricia Connelly - directed by Doug Krehbel
When Baaba’s son is accused of a crime, the local priest curses the family. Baaba knows that to appease the gods and remove the curse, the family must offer a virgin girl to serve the priest as “wife to the gods” or trokosi sex slave. But Baaba's refusal to consider sacrificing her young daughter pits her against husband, family, religion, and tradition. Ultimately, Baaba must decide how far she will go to protect her daughter.
4/15 @ 1 pm (Saturday)
Hellbent by Jeff Dunne - directed by Mike Zellhofer
Ophistopheles (the demon responsible for photocopiers jamming at the worst possible moment and other office-related suffering), Incubeth (the demoness who oversees bad dating decisions), and Ahmenahmenon (who torments dieters by making them hungry in the middle of the night) have set about to capture an angel. Alas, due to a last minute modification to the ritual they end up summoning a trio of humans down into Hell: the incredibly observant Angelina, her lifelong friend Devlin, and his newly-found, demon-worshipping girlfriend Lacey. Soon everyone is embroiled in the chaos of determining who killed Devlin, what forces are at play trying to bring Hell itself to a screeching halt, and whether Brimstone and Vinegar is going to be the next fad in specialty potato chips.
4/16 @ 6:30 pm (Sunday)
Herding Cats by Neil Martin – directed by Makeima Freelan
Stella, a plucky housecat, is willing to do anything to save the career of her beloved but struggling human owner - including deploying the fabled and dreaded "nuclear option." But she will have to convince her fellow cats to go along with her radical plan. And matters get complicated when Stella's worst fear - a dog - is introduced into the household.
4/29 @ 11 am (Saturday)
Privileges by Kevin Schaeffer – directed by Henry Cyr
A divorce mediation session between a high-powered husband and his captivating but entitled wife devolves into a series of unsettling revelations of secret lives, concealed tragedies, and grave crimes as the husband-wife mediator team learns the things that drove the divorcing couple apart but may ultimately keep them together. By the end, the confidential privilege against disclosure enjoyed by the mediating parties has turned from a shield into a sword, leaving the mediators with an unthinkable ethical dilemma while questioning their own flawed relationship.
4/29 @ 1 pm (Saturday)
What Was Done by Jack Gohn - directed by Barry Feinstein
In 1977, Deirdre, a White historian researching Maryland lynchings, visits the farm where the last one occurred, in 1933, and stops by her Uncle Selby’s home. An anomaly in the farm’s tax records sets her on the trail of what really happened in the lynching, a story that reaches back to the 1840s and forward to 1977, turning out to involve Deirdre’s whole biracial family. Characters are forced to make momentous decisions regarding allegiances and attitudes that foreshadow the politics of this present day.
4/30 @ 6pm (Sunday)
Living Waters by Robyn Shrater Seeman – directed by Miriam Bazensky
*** This work will be performed at Vagabond Players
- New Works Readings at Spotlighters!
3/11 @ 1 pm (Saturday)
Go Like Saints by Skye Robinson Hillis - directed by Leslie Byrne
In 1951 Hollywood, at the height of the second Red Scare, a group of friends grapple with the fear and anxiety that sets in when your entire livelihood could be snatched away at any moment. When noted screenwriter Eliza Everett is called before the House on Un-American Committee to testify, her response to questioning sends shockwaves through the industry, including the people closest to her. As she negotiates how to move forward, she must decide what’s most important – her career or her family.
3/18 @ 10.30 am (Saturday)
People Should Talk About What’s Real by Alli Hartley-Kong - directed by Darren McGregor
“Fetus is the real F word, isn’t it?” In People Should Talk About What’s Real, a brash livestreaming comedian and her long-suffering husband struggle to conceive in covid-era New York City, while across the city another couple deals with the emotional fallout of a miscarriage. This is a dark but funny play that celebrates reproductive choice and intergenerational, female connection, in all its forms.
3/18 @ 1 pm (Saturday)
Fag-Gods by John Bavoso - directed by Timoth Copney
After being ousted from Mt. Olympus by his children/fellow deities for being a PR nightmare, a modern-day Zeus finds a kindred spirit in Sissy Fuss, the burnt-out proprietress of a Greek mythology-obsessed drag club in Athens, GA. While they're hiding away from the world, Zeus’s children begin inserting themselves in the affairs of the kings and queens floundering in the wake of their fearless leader’s departure.
3/29 @ 7 pm (Saturday)
Sanctity by Kerr Lockhart – directed by Andre Tittle
*** This work will be performed at Arena Players
Lawyer Eileen Kinsella is well-known for her protection of privileged communications in a notorious serial murder case, a decision which cost her professionally and financially. In her address refusing a proposed award from a law school, sliding freely through time and circumstances, Eileen relives the misunderstandings and pain engendered by the conflict between her ethical duty to protect the sanctity of the attorney-client privilege and the sanctity of her religious convictions, put to the test by the concealed aspects of both the case and Eileen's secret personal history.
POSTPONED --- New Date & Time to be determined .....4/15 @ 10 am (Saturday)
Around the Snake Turn by Patricia Connelly - directed by Doug Krehbel
When Baaba’s son is accused of a crime, the local priest curses the family. Baaba knows that to appease the gods and remove the curse, the family must offer a virgin girl to serve the priest as “wife to the gods” or trokosi sex slave. But Baaba's refusal to consider sacrificing her young daughter pits her against husband, family, religion, and tradition. Ultimately, Baaba must decide how far she will go to protect her daughter.
4/15 @ 1 pm (Saturday)
Hellbent by Jeff Dunne - directed by Mike Zellhofer
Ophistopheles (the demon responsible for photocopiers jamming at the worst possible moment and other office-related suffering), Incubeth (the demoness who oversees bad dating decisions), and Ahmenahmenon (who torments dieters by making them hungry in the middle of the night) have set about to capture an angel. Alas, due to a last minute modification to the ritual they end up summoning a trio of humans down into Hell: the incredibly observant Angelina, her lifelong friend Devlin, and his newly-found, demon-worshipping girlfriend Lacey. Soon everyone is embroiled in the chaos of determining who killed Devlin, what forces are at play trying to bring Hell itself to a screeching halt, and whether Brimstone and Vinegar is going to be the next fad in specialty potato chips.
4/16 @ 6:30 pm (Sunday)
Herding Cats by Neil Martin – directed by Makeima Freelan
Stella, a plucky housecat, is willing to do anything to save the career of her beloved but struggling human owner - including deploying the fabled and dreaded "nuclear option." But she will have to convince her fellow cats to go along with her radical plan. And matters get complicated when Stella's worst fear - a dog - is introduced into the household.
4/29 @ 11 am (Saturday)
Privileges by Kevin Schaeffer – directed by Henry Cyr
A divorce mediation session between a high-powered husband and his captivating but entitled wife devolves into a series of unsettling revelations of secret lives, concealed tragedies, and grave crimes as the husband-wife mediator team learns the things that drove the divorcing couple apart but may ultimately keep them together. By the end, the confidential privilege against disclosure enjoyed by the mediating parties has turned from a shield into a sword, leaving the mediators with an unthinkable ethical dilemma while questioning their own flawed relationship.
4/29 @ 1 pm (Saturday)
What Was Done by Jack Gohn - directed by Barry Feinstein
In 1977, Deirdre, a White historian researching Maryland lynchings, visits the farm where the last one occurred, in 1933, and stops by her Uncle Selby’s home. An anomaly in the farm’s tax records sets her on the trail of what really happened in the lynching, a story that reaches back to the 1840s and forward to 1977, turning out to involve Deirdre’s whole biracial family. Characters are forced to make momentous decisions regarding allegiances and attitudes that foreshadow the politics of this present day.
4/30 @ 6pm (Sunday)
Living Waters by Robyn Shrater Seeman – directed by Miriam Bazensky
*** This work will be performed at Vagabond Players
