Baltimore Center Stage Announces New Commissioning Models and Recipients

Baltimore Center Stage has announced this year's slate of commissioned artists, continuing the organization's long standing support for developing new projects by some of today's most exciting theater makers. These commissioned artists are Will Davis, Marisa Carr, Miranda Rose Hall, Otis Ramsey-Zoe, Storm Thomas, Ronee Penoi, Michelle J. Rodriguez, and John Tyler­­-- Full bios are listed herein.

Including several innovative new models, this year's commissions consist of a Director Commission, Seed Commissions, Keep Going Commissions, and an Arts Entrepreneur in Residence-- each of which makes a critical intervention in standard industry practice. The constellation of commissions extends support for artists across wide-ranging disciplines including a director, a devising dramaturg, musicians, and of course playwrights. These new models also expand the kinds of support that an institution can offer to the developmental process, from the seed of an idea all the way to the final touches of a project.

BCS's commissioning program is led by Director of Artistic Partnerships & Innovation, Annalisa Dias. "When Stephanie hired me, some of our first conversations were about ways to disrupt standard industry practice around new project development. The field often speaks of 'pipelines,' 'development hell', and projects being 'workshopped to death.' The language we use as a field about how new plays get made feels oddly violent, and that's telling," says Dias. "With these new commissioning models, we're prioritizing investing in artists, listening to what they tell us they need, and creating multiple pathways for new work to have a life at BCS and beyond. We believe the range of these artists' aesthetics, subject matter, disciplines, and identities is very important to the developments of the field, and BCS is thrilled to support them."

Director Commission: Baltimore Center Stage is committed to supporting directors as lead generative artists. We recognize the lack of field-wide infrastructure for directors to develop their craft and authorial voice, and this commission seeks to disrupt that.

·Will Davis for an UNTITLED PROJECT

Seed Commissions: In this new commissioning model for BCS, we direct a small seed fee to artists to compensate for the labor of writing an outline or treatment of a new idea for a project. So often, in institutional commissioning programs and even in grant applications for artists, artists are expected to provide outlines, synopses, and other written descriptions of their ideas in order to secure funding for their work. This labor often goes unpaid. BCS Seed Commissions seeks to disrupt that industry norm by compensating artists simply for writing their ideas down. We hope that the projects we seed at BCS will go on to flourish, whether at BCS or other organizations.

·Marissa Carr (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe) for a project called POW WOW SUMMER

·Miranda Rose Hall for a project called BOSTON

·Otis Ramsey-Zoe for an UNTITLED PROJECT

Keep Going Commissions: In this new commissioning model for BCS, we provide financial support for artists to continue developing a project that already exists but which is not yet complete. Artists are free to use the funding however they see fit. Some are using the funding to record demos, some are paying themselves for their writing time, some are using it to pay rent! With each "Keep Going Commission," we work with the artists to attach another BCS opportunity, like a BCS Sound Check event or a writing residency at BCS, to support the developmental life of the project.

·Storm Thomas for their project BE LIKE BONE

BE LIKE BONE will be featured at an upcoming BCS Sound Check event, where Storm will showcase brand new material from the piece.

·Ronee Penoi (Laguna Pueblo/Cherokee) for her project THE CARLISLE PROJECT

Penoi will participate in a writing residency at BCS in spring 2022 and songs from THE CARLISLE PROJECT will be featured in an upcoming Baltimore Butterfly Session.

·Michelle J. Rodriguez for her project PRESENCIA

PRESENCIA will be featured in an upcoming BCS Sound Check event in fall 2022, where Michelle will showcase new material from the project.

Arts Entrepreneur in Residence: This year, we are piloting a residency for an Arts Entrepreneur as part of BCS's new Shared Space Initiative. Our Arts Entrepreneur in Residence is John Tyler, founder of the Love Groove Music Festival. As the Arts Entrepreneur in Residence, John produced the annual Love Groove Music Festival at Baltimore Center Stage in August 2021 and will be gearing up to host it at BCS again in 2022. As Arts Entrepreneur in Residence, John also receives access to use BCS for meeting space throughout the year.

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