Baltimore Center Stage (BCS) (Artistic Director Stevie Walker-Webb; Managing Director Adam Frank) is proud to announce the 2024/25 season, the first season programmed by Tony Award-nominee Stevie Walker-Webb in his new tenure as Artistic Director. Memberships for the 2024/25 season are now on sale, and single ticket sales will go on sale in the summer.
“In my debut season as Artistic Director, we’re raising the curtain on a spectacular celebration of new plays,” said Walker-Webb. “Baltimore has always been a nurturing haven for artists, and this year, BCS proudly hosts not one, but two world premieres—a testament to our city’s artistic vitality. With one play crafted by the talented Tony Award nominee and my cherished friend, Jordan E. Cooper, and the other by the razor-sharp writer and nine-time Emmy winner, Matthew Weiner, our stage is set for greatness.
Walker-Webb added, “This season, Baltimore Center Stage reaffirms its standing as a premier destination for cutting-edge theater. While our productions will soon grace stages worldwide, there’s something truly magical about experiencing them right here in Baltimore, where they first come to life.”
The 2024/25 season features a full slate of 6 plays, beginning this fall with a world premiere of Tony nominee Jordan E. Cooper’s new show OH HAPPY DAY!, directed by Walker-Webb and featuring original music by GRAMMY Award-winning gospel artist Donald Lawrence. Next, BCS favorite, and former Interim Artistic Director, Ken-Matt Martin returns with a production of the Jane Austen classic Pride and Prejudice, written by Kate Hamill, in association with Arkansas Repertory Theatre. The season then features a new collaboration with local mainstay ArtsCentric for the production of Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity, directed by Kevin S. McAllister (ArtsCentric Artistic Director), and featuring original music by Music Director Cedric D. Lyles, choreography by Shalyce Hemby, and costume design by Larry Boggs.
The season continues in 2025 with the East Coast premiere of Everything That Never Happened, written by Sarah Mantell and directed by Jessica Kubzansky. Next up will be Akeelah and the Bee, a stage adaptation by Cheryl L. West of the acclaimed film, followed by the 40th Anniversary of the BCS Young Playwrights Festival. The season concludes with the world premiere of nine-time Emmy winner Matthew Weiner’s JOHN WILKES BOOTH: ONE NIGHT ONLY!, directed by Walker-Webb and starring Ben Ahlers (The Gilded Age).
2024/25 SEASON
World Premiere of
OH HAPPY DAY!
Written by Jordan E. Cooper
Original Music by Donald Lawrence
Directed by Stevie Walker Webb
September 19, 2024 – October 13, 2024
Opening Night: September 27, 2024
“Cooper’s pen is fierce, skating through inside jokes, melodic monologues and gut punches.” – The Guardian
An impending flood is the least of one family’s troubles in this outrageous reimagining of Noah’s Ark. OH HAPPY DAY!, written by and starring two-time Tony Award Nominee Jordan E. Cooper, begins in Laurel, Mississippi at a Birthday BBQ for Lewis, the patriarch of a family. When his estranged son Keyshawn (Cooper) makes a surprise appearance, family secrets unravel on a day that will change the world forever.
Listed in this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30, Cooper has been hailed as one of the most illuminating and groundbreaking new voices of the American theater. His first play, the jubilantly disruptive Ain’t No Mo’, was directed by BCS Artistic Director Stevie Walker-Webb on Broadway. Their acclaimed partnership was rewarded with six Tony nominations, including Best Play and Best Director, plus winning the Obie Award for Best Play. Baltimore Center Stage proudly reunites Cooper and Walker-Webb for the world premiere of their newest collaboration.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Written by Kate Hamill
Adapted from the novel by Jane Austen
Directed by Ken-Matt Martin
In Association with Arkansas Repertory Theatre
October 17, 2024 – November 10, 2024
Opening Night: October 19, 2024
“Hamill’s Pride and Prejudice has fun and charm to spare…full of high spirits and genuine mirth.” – New York Magazine
Love is a serious game of strategy and survival—and not just for the headstrong Lizzy Bennett and her sisters in Regency England. In Kate Hamill’s bold and playful take on Jane Austen’s beloved romance, this PRIDE AND PREJUDICE brings a decidedly progressive view of the expectations of and about women, suggesting “enough unsettling similarities between the 18th century and now,” says TheaterMania.com, “to make us pause thoughtfully between laughs.”
BCS Presents
ARTSCENTRIC’S Production of
BLACK NATIVITY
Written by Langston Hughes
Original Music by Cedric D. Lyles
Directed by Kevin S. McAllister
Choreography by Shalyce Hemby
November 25 – December 22, 2024
Opening night: December 1, 2024
“There wasn’t a soul in the audience who wasn’t stomping their feet and clapping along.” – Baltimore Magazine
Fresh from its sold-out run of Cinderella, ArtsCentric returns to BCS with this warm-hearted, holiday classic! Using a heart-stopping fusion of blues, soul, jazz, spirituals, jubilant dance, and the powerful words of Langston Hughes, BLACK NATIVITY is the joyous retelling of how Jesus came into this world, seen through a unique African American kaleidoscope. This holiday season, gather your family, friends, and loved ones and experience together the show that “spreads joy!” (The New York Times).
In celebration of this production, esteemed composer and music director of the play, Cedric D. Lyles will release the BLACK NATIVITY album.
East Coast Premiere of
EVERYTHING THAT NEVER HAPPENED
Written by Sarah Mantell
Directed by Jessica Kubzansky
February 13, 2025 – March 9, 2025
Opening Night: February 21, 2025
“Audacious, imaginative and moving.” – Los Angeles Times
Whether you love Shakespeare or Shylock, this story lives between The Merchant of Venice and the realities of Jewish history. Jessica and Lorenzo are in love, but to be together they must plan an escape from her father’s house, the Venetian ghetto, and her entire culture. EVERYTHING THAT NEVER HAPPENED is about disguise, romantic intrigue, and the terrible price we must sometimes pay to be free.
AKEELAH AND THE BEE
Written by Cheryl L. West
Based on the original screenplay by Doug Atchison
Directed by Jerrica D. White
March 20, 2025 – April 13, 2025
Opening Night: March 28, 2025
“The story of Akeelah and the Bee is inspiring and heart-warming.” – Play Off the Page
Akeelah has a passion for words, the crazier the better! Under-challenged at school and overwhelmed by her daily life in a tough Chicago neighborhood, Akeelah is finding it difficult to try. But with the Scripps National Spelling Bee just around the corner, her community is ready to show her she has the courage and tenacity to make her dream come true.
Based on the acclaimed film featuring Keke Palmer, this play is sure to delight theatergoers from age 9 to 99. Akeelah and the Bee kicks off a spring celebration of BCS’s youth programs, culminating in the 40th anniversary of the historic Young Playwrights Festival.
World Premiere of
JOHN WILKES BOOTH: ONE NIGHT ONLY!
Written by Matthew Weiner
Directed by Stevie Walker-Webb
May 15, 2025 – June 15, 2025
Opening Night: May 23, 2025
From nine-time Emmy winner Matthew Weiner, creator, director, and showrunner of Mad Men and writer and executive producer on The Sopranos.
John Wilkes Booth – Maryland born, second rate actor, round-the-clock drunk, handsome womanizer, Southern sympathizer, white supremacist, and presidential assassin – is a man every American has heard of but few really know. Now Matthew Weiner, known for creating “big fun…classy entertainment with a brain” (Detroit Free Press) makes his playwriting debut with JOHN WILKES BOOTH: ONE NIGHT ONLY!, an audacious look at the notorious man buried in an unmarked grave less than a mile from Baltimore Center Stage. Ben Ahlers (The Gilded Age) stars as the titular John Wilkes Booth.
Memberships for the 2024/25 season are available now at centerstage.org. They can also be purchased by calling 410.332.0033 or visiting the BCS Box Office during business hours, 12pm-5pm, Tuesday-Friday. Single tickets will be available this summer. Performance schedules, casting, and full creative teams for productions will also be announced at a later date.
ABOUT BALTIMORE CENTER STAGE
Designated the State Theater of Maryland in 1978, Baltimore Center Stage provides the highest quality theater and programming for all members of our communities, including youth and families, under the leadership of Artistic Director Stevie Walker-Webb and Managing Director Adam Frank. Baltimore Center Stage ignites conversations and imaginations by producing an eclectic season of professional productions across two mainstages, through engaging community programs, and with inspiring education programs. Everything Baltimore Center Stage does is led by their core values—chief among them being Access For All. BCS’s mission is heavily rooted in providing active and open accessibility for everyone, regardless of any and all barriers, to its Mainstage performances, education initiatives, and community programming.
