Baltimore Center Stage Announces Slate Of Commissions

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.

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."