Howard Community College to shut Rep Stage after final two shows

Rep Stage, the professional regional theater at Howard Community College, in Columbia, Maryland, will present its final season with a world premiere by local playwright Dane Figueroa Edidi, Ghost/Writer. It will close with the timeless Tony Award-winning musical Falsettos, music and lyrics by William Finn and book by William Finn and James Lapine.

Rep Stage has a rich history at Howard Community College. For nearly 30 years, it has brought engaging, professional theater to audiences from Howard County and beyond. After much deliberation, Howard Community College will close Rep Stage at the conclusion of this season. It will allow the college to refocus funding to programs and services that directly serve students.

The quality offerings that Rep Stage is known for providing to the Baltimore/Washington region will continue with two final shows: Ghost/Writer, a world-premiere production, will run February 9 to 26, 2023, and Falsettos, the very first musical produced by Rep Stage, will return April 27 to May 14, 2023.

Ghost/Writer
Written by Dane Figueroa Edidi
Directed by Danielle A. Drakes
WORLD PREMIERE
February 9–26, 2023

Family secrets spanning decades unravel as history and fiction collide. In 1920 just outside of Tulsa, Patrick, an Irish immigrant, seeks out the services of Ms. Ruby, a mysterious Black woman from Baltimore, known to help exorcise ghosts from her clients, but the price she is asking may be too high. Meanwhile, in 2019, Charles Ross hires infamous ghostwriter Rebecca Warren to help him through his writer’s block, but what she invokes could be his salvation or undoing. Edidi’s new play examines the intersections of race and gender inviting us to explore the role of love, justice, and joy in a world where the ghosts of the past have yet to be laid to rest.

“Ghost/Writer is filled with passages that stir an explosion of recognition instilled by a writer who can pack volumes of truth into a single line.” —John Stoltenberg in DC Theater Arts

Falsettos
Music & Lyrics by William Finn
Book by William Finn & James Lapine
Directed & Choreographed by Joseph w. Ritsch
Musical Direction by Tiffany Underwood Holmes
April 27–May 14, 2023

William Finn and James Lapine’s groundbreaking, Tony Award-winning musical Falsettos revolves around the life of a charming, intelligent, neurotic gay man named Marvin, his wife, his lover, his about-to-be-Bar-Mitzvahed son, their psychiatrist, and the lesbians next door. It’s a hilarious, achingly poignant, and utterly unique look at the infinite possibilities that make up a modern family… and a beautiful reminder that love can tell a million stories, and how we all learn to grow up and face the future with love and dignity.

“A Perfect Musical, an Imperfect Family…there’s hardly a moment in the exhilarating, devastating revival of ‘Falsettos’ that doesn’t approach, or even achieve, perfection.” — The New York Times

Tickets are $40 for general admission; $35 for seniors and military; $20 for preview performances; $15 for students; Howard Community College students are free. Two-show packages are available at $60. The productions are in The Rouse Company Foundation Studio Theatre at the Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center on HCC’s campus, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, Maryland.

Purchase tickets online or call or visit the Horowitz Center Box Office at 443-518-1500 ext. 0. The box office is open Wednesdays through Fridays, 12 – 4 p.m. and 90 minutes prior to performance times.

ABOUT REP STAGE
Rep Stage, the professional regional theater in residence at Howard Community College, produces engaging and evocative contemporary American classics and new works. Led by Producing Artistic Director Joseph W. Ritsch, Rep Stage is dedicated to collaborating with regional artists in its commitment to bringing richly diverse work to audiences. Recognized as a professional Washington, DC, metropolitan area theater company by Theatre Washington, Rep Stage has a proud history of Helen Hayes Award-winning productions and nominations over its 29 years. The theater is a member of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance and Theatre Communications Group. Performances are made possible by Howard Arts Council, Maryland State Arts Council, Howard County and Maryland state governments, and generous individual donors.

SEE ALSO: DC Theater Arts coverage of Rep Stage