Maybe you don't like Broadway musicals. Maybe you don't want to break the bank to see a live show. Or perhaps you just want to get a real taste of Baltimore. The numerous smaller theaters dispersed around the area will give you just that. Not only do the smaller theaters of Baltimore offer something different, they offer a closeness and sense of community that you just can't find at Broadway shows.
One option is the Theatre Project, located on 45 W. Preston St., which offers up some "edgy" theater as a break from the norm.
"The Theatre Project presents work that is new, innovate or avant garde in some way," explains Production Coordinator Ryan Mahon. "Within that framework, it also presents anything from musicals to dance to performing art, as well as some international work."
The theater, which has been around for over 30 seasons, is located in a renovated 19th century building that was originally a dance hall. Despite its age, it offers stadium style seating in its small, 150 patron setting.
From April 24 until May 4, the theater will be opening a Cirque du Soleil-style aerial dance show called Airdance Bernasconi. The show will be the last big show of the year, as the theater usually offers smaller, non-subscription shows in the late spring and early summer.
Mahon believe that the types of shows the theater presents, combined with the atmosphere, present a unique experience. "There's an audience-artist interaction that you may not be able to get somewhere else," said Mahon. "We're about doing things you wouldn't see anywhere else."
With a strong local volunteer base to work with the artists, the theater certainly is unique.
In addition to presenting professional work, part of the mission of the theater is to present local artists. The theater sometimes co-produces with local theater companies and also showcases plays written and produced by area college students. Not only can college students put on the show, but a ticket with a college ID is only $10.
The Fell's Point Corner Theatre, a smaller theater located at 251 S. Anne St., puts on both classic plays and smaller shows. The theater, located in a renovated 19th century firehouse, presents another option from the numerous bars at Fells. It just finished up showing "Vast Difference," a comedy written by actor Jeff Daniels, and will be showing "WIT," by Margaret Edson, from May 2 until June 1. Call 410-276-7837 for more info.
Another very community-based theater is the Arena Players, located on 801 McCulloh St. In its 50th year, it is the oldest surviving African American theater group in the country.
The theater presents shows on Friday, Saturday and Sundays only, and its 300-seat capacity theater is slightly larger than some others.
On May 2 to June 6, the theater will present If My Heart Could Sing: the Billie Holliday Story, to close its season.
Tickets for the Arena Players theater run at $10 for college students.
Another major concentration of the theater is to encourage youth participation. The "Little Peoples' Theatre" includes four different groups of children, according to age (from 5 years to over 13), that each puts on a show during Christmas, Black History Month, and the spring and summer. The program, started in 1973, attracts about 150 local children to participate in the program and learn how to put on a show.
"[Little Peoples' Theatre] is extremely important," says Youth Theatre Director Catherine Orange. "The young people that come here are young people that are not on the street. Through theater you can teach a lot of social skills that can last a lifetime."
A much smaller, but bolder theater is the Axis Theater, at 3600 Clipper Mill Rd. in Hampden. With an extremely small 68-seat capacity theater, it's one of the smallest theaters in the area. Yet, Axis is well known for its ambitious performances, often with politically challenging themes. Like many of the other smaller theaters, it also presents plays written by local playwrights.
Although you won't see huge billboards advertising the plays of the smaller theaters of Baltimore, what you will see is a closeness with the community that is unparalleled by many larger theaters. Most shows that are put on at these small theaters offer something fresh and different that you wouldn't see on Broadway.
"It would be great if we could get more people to come [to see the Arena Players]," said Orange. "We're just as good as any of the rest."
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