HOLES, TRINITY, and More Set For Baltimore Center Stage's 2025-26 Season

Following a 2024/25 season that has seen a more than 40% increase in annual attendance and refocused the national spotlight on the community, Baltimore Center Stage has announced its 2025/26 season.

The second season curated by Artistic Director Stevie Walker-Webb, this slate of five new-to-Baltimore productions solidifies BCS as one of the most daring and dynamic theater companies in the nation.

“This season is a love letter to Baltimore and a call to audiences everywhere who believe theater should move the soul, stir the conscience, and lift the spirit,” says Artistic Director Stevie Walker-Webb. 

“Every production deepens our commitment to joyful storytelling, radical hospitality, and community-rooted artmaking. And trust—there’s truly something for everyone: two plays with music and dance, a beloved blockbuster for families and kids of all ages, and a high-octane world premiere that’s two parts romance, one part sci-fi, and all heart.”

The Peculiar Patriot

October 5 – November 9, 2025

Inspired by her decades-long work with prison populations, including on the notorious Rikers Island, Liza Jessie Peterson’s timely and urgent one-person show unpacks the human impact of mass incarceration in America. Fearlessly funny, smart and provocative, The Peculiar Patriot traces the migration of systemic injustice from the plantation to the prison yard.

Betsy LaQuanda Ross is a self-proclaimed “peculiar patriot,” who makes regular visits to penitentiaries to boost the morale of her incarcerated friends and family. Betsy is both victim and victor of this country’s prison system and her story turns statistics into achingly relatable stories, drawn from the experience of more than 2.5 million people behind bars. 

The play was developed beginning in 2003 with performances in more than 35 penitentiaries across the U.S. and incubation at Hi-ARTS in 2016. Hi-ARTS and National Black Theatre joined forces to produce the acclaimed world premiere in September 2017, working with more than 10 grass-roots organizations in criminal justice to help empower and inform the community. As BCS expands its own work making theater with incarcerated youth, the theater is proud to bring this important work to Baltimore.

• Outstanding Solo Performance Nominee–Drama Desk Award

• Outstanding Set Design Nominee–Drama Desk Award

• Outstanding Solo Performance Nominee–Elliot Norton Award

Santa Claus Is Comin’: A Motown Christmas Revue

November 26, 2025 – January 4, 2026

Deck the halls and jingle all the bells! This holiday season, join us for an upbeat, heartwarming evening of Motown magic!

Santa Claus Is Comin’ is a dazzling, family-friendly musical concert celebration by Nygel D. Robinson, the powerhouse performer and co-creator of last season’s breakout hit Mexodus.  Packed with heart and groove, this spirited show features classic holiday favorites, reimagined with the unmistakable sound of Motown legends—from Smokey Robinson to The Supremes.

Whether you’re bringing kids, coworkers, grandparents, or that one cousin who lives for a dance break—this is the holiday party you don’t want to miss.

Trinity

February 12 – March 8, 2026

Emmy Award–winning writer and producer Lena Waithe (Master of None, The Chi) makes her playwriting debut with Trinity—a bold, intimate, and genre-defying exploration of love, identity, and the power of imagination.

In a single room, three women slip between fantasy and reality, acting out the moments they’re too afraid to live in real life. What begins as playful role-play becomes a raw excavation of longing, connection, and the emotional legacies passed between mothers, sisters, and lovers.

Blending the sharp wit of a romantic comedy with the searching depth of an existential drama, Trinity is a lyrical, layered portrait of womanhood that’s as funny as it is fearless.  Directed by BCS Artistic Director Stevie Walker-Webb, you’ll want to see it more than once to catch every subtle shift, every emotional turn, and every truth just beneath the surface.

Holes

April 16 – May 10, 2026

Based on the beloved Newbery Medal- and National Book Award-winning novel—and the hit 2003 film starring Shia LaBeouf, Sigourney Weaver, and Jon Voight—this theatrical adaptation is a thrilling ride for audiences of all ages. When teenager Stanley Yelnats is hit by a pair of falling sneakers, his unlucky family curse strikes again. Wrongly convicted of stealing the sneakers and sent to the mysterious Camp Green Lake, Stanley joins a ragtag group of boys digging endless holes under the blistering sun—all in the name of building character. But as the layers of dirt pile up, so do the secrets buried beneath them. Part mystery, part adventure, and packed with heart, Holes is a wildly imaginative tale about friendship, fate, and the courage it takes to rewrite your story. 

• 1999 Newbery Medal
• 1998 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature
• 1999 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction

(pray)

June 13 – July 5, 2026