Baltimore Footlights: 2016 Readings
Paul by Anthony E. Gallo
Thursday, January 21 @ 8 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
Paul examines the complex and contradictory life of Christianity’s second-leading theological architect. The play follows Paul from being a deeply religious Jewish leader, successful businessman, civic leader, and persecutor of fringe cults to becoming an apostle of the Nazarean following his epiphany on the road to Damascus. The narrative traces his conflicts with members of the new cult, then with his fellow disciples, the Romans, Greeks, Jewish leaders, his own family and friends, and the people he tries to convince. It asks if Paul’s spiritual conversion also resulted in personal character conversion.
Frank Talk by Sharon Goldner
Thursday, March 31 @ 7:30 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
Toying with the notion that Anne Frank is indeed alive and well (or seemingly so), Frank Talk delves into what happens after this discovery is made and the world-wide frenzy that occurs thereafter. From Hollywood cashing in on the phenomenon by turning Anne Frank into a zombie-killing superhero, to a precocious child told by her school that she cannot dress up as Anne Frank hiding from the Nazis for Halloween, to Anne Frank herself appearing on a TV talk show to clear up the rumors about her so-called death, Frank Talk takes a brazen look at society and its treatment of its icons.
King of the Seventh Grade by Rich Espey
Thursday, May 5 @ 7:30 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
Jay Wagstaff is an aging seventh-grade math teacher determined to teach a perfect final class to any of his 4,000-plus former students before being forcibly retired. When former student Kenya shows up on a snowy June evening, she exposes Mr. Wagstaff's shocking metamorphosis. Secrets, stuffed animals, accusations, and apologies intersect in a fable of sin and redemption.
Feebleminded White Trash by Susan Middaugh
Thursday, May 26 @ 7:30 PM @ Single Carrot Theatre
During the 1920s, Hattie Clawson, an illiterate laundress with two illegitimate children, hadn’t heard of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. But she will feel the impact of his majority opinion in Buck vs. Bell, which upheld a Virginia law authorizing involuntary sterilization of the unfit—and it will be painful for her and her family for decades to come.
Still Point by Mark Scharf
Thursday, June 16 @ 7:30 PM @ University of Baltimore
What is the price of realizing a dream? And what would make you walk away from it? Rising Country Music stars JR Mosby and Ruby Carter write and perform songs fueled by a potent mix of ambition, luck, success, passion, and talent. They are the critic’s current darlings; their CD is selling and being downloaded widely and getting great radio play rotation. They’re also enjoying a successful tour until the morning when, without explanation or goodbye, JR walks away and heads home to his family, leaving Ruby to pick up the pieces. Pursued by David, a journalist-blogger in search of answers, both JR and Ruby must face who they were and what they were becoming.
The Consul, the Tramp, and America's Sweetheart by John Morogiello
Thursday, September 22 @ 7:30 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
On the eve of World War II, the German consul to Hollywood tries to stop production on Charlie Chaplin's first talkie, The Great Dictator. The result is a comedy based on a true story about the powers of art, politics, commerce, and what it means to be American.
The Stranded Hours by Mark Scharf
Thursday, November 3 @ 7:30 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
Drew has built a successful career as a songwriter on the foundation of one of his best friend Robert’s songs. Although Robert says the song would have only been lost without Drew, Drew has sought to maintain an uneasy peace between them by sending Robert royalty checks without giving him credit. Robert has saved, but never cashed any of these checks; a situation that galls Robert’s wife, Trish, who knows the truth but who’s been powerless to change anything. But now, a heart attack has stranded Robert in the here and now forever, while pressing both Trish and Drew to claim the past as they each know it in an effort to control the present. The Stranded Hours examines owning the art we create, drawing lines between creation and appropriation and the personal and professional and the price of ambition.
Thursday, January 21 @ 8 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
Paul examines the complex and contradictory life of Christianity’s second-leading theological architect. The play follows Paul from being a deeply religious Jewish leader, successful businessman, civic leader, and persecutor of fringe cults to becoming an apostle of the Nazarean following his epiphany on the road to Damascus. The narrative traces his conflicts with members of the new cult, then with his fellow disciples, the Romans, Greeks, Jewish leaders, his own family and friends, and the people he tries to convince. It asks if Paul’s spiritual conversion also resulted in personal character conversion.
Frank Talk by Sharon Goldner
Thursday, March 31 @ 7:30 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
Toying with the notion that Anne Frank is indeed alive and well (or seemingly so), Frank Talk delves into what happens after this discovery is made and the world-wide frenzy that occurs thereafter. From Hollywood cashing in on the phenomenon by turning Anne Frank into a zombie-killing superhero, to a precocious child told by her school that she cannot dress up as Anne Frank hiding from the Nazis for Halloween, to Anne Frank herself appearing on a TV talk show to clear up the rumors about her so-called death, Frank Talk takes a brazen look at society and its treatment of its icons.
King of the Seventh Grade by Rich Espey
Thursday, May 5 @ 7:30 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
Jay Wagstaff is an aging seventh-grade math teacher determined to teach a perfect final class to any of his 4,000-plus former students before being forcibly retired. When former student Kenya shows up on a snowy June evening, she exposes Mr. Wagstaff's shocking metamorphosis. Secrets, stuffed animals, accusations, and apologies intersect in a fable of sin and redemption.
Feebleminded White Trash by Susan Middaugh
Thursday, May 26 @ 7:30 PM @ Single Carrot Theatre
During the 1920s, Hattie Clawson, an illiterate laundress with two illegitimate children, hadn’t heard of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. But she will feel the impact of his majority opinion in Buck vs. Bell, which upheld a Virginia law authorizing involuntary sterilization of the unfit—and it will be painful for her and her family for decades to come.
Still Point by Mark Scharf
Thursday, June 16 @ 7:30 PM @ University of Baltimore
What is the price of realizing a dream? And what would make you walk away from it? Rising Country Music stars JR Mosby and Ruby Carter write and perform songs fueled by a potent mix of ambition, luck, success, passion, and talent. They are the critic’s current darlings; their CD is selling and being downloaded widely and getting great radio play rotation. They’re also enjoying a successful tour until the morning when, without explanation or goodbye, JR walks away and heads home to his family, leaving Ruby to pick up the pieces. Pursued by David, a journalist-blogger in search of answers, both JR and Ruby must face who they were and what they were becoming.
The Consul, the Tramp, and America's Sweetheart by John Morogiello
Thursday, September 22 @ 7:30 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
On the eve of World War II, the German consul to Hollywood tries to stop production on Charlie Chaplin's first talkie, The Great Dictator. The result is a comedy based on a true story about the powers of art, politics, commerce, and what it means to be American.
The Stranded Hours by Mark Scharf
Thursday, November 3 @ 7:30 PM @ Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre
Drew has built a successful career as a songwriter on the foundation of one of his best friend Robert’s songs. Although Robert says the song would have only been lost without Drew, Drew has sought to maintain an uneasy peace between them by sending Robert royalty checks without giving him credit. Robert has saved, but never cashed any of these checks; a situation that galls Robert’s wife, Trish, who knows the truth but who’s been powerless to change anything. But now, a heart attack has stranded Robert in the here and now forever, while pressing both Trish and Drew to claim the past as they each know it in an effort to control the present. The Stranded Hours examines owning the art we create, drawing lines between creation and appropriation and the personal and professional and the price of ambition.