Wishes for Baltimore Theater

Things I'd like to see happen in the Baltimore theater community.

I hope to use this site to spread the word about what's going on in the Baltimore theater community.

But, I'd like to start with some wishes I have been thinking about a long time.

There's so much good theater here in Baltimore but a visitor to this town, staying at a downtown hotel may have no idea.

I would love to have something similar to a TKTS booth at Harborplace, preferably at the new beautiful Visitor Information
Center. First it would list all current productions for theater, music, and dance and hopefully be able to sell half-price tickets to shows at the Hippodrome, Center Stage, Everyman Theater, Baltimore Symphony, etc.

It would also be nice if these venues could have rush tickets if availble for last minute ticket buyers and most importantly have student tickets at a reduced rate. Kudos to Center Stage for already doing this.

I also would suggest to the Baltimore television outlets to review productions. We really don't need five minutes to tell us what the weather will be tomorrow, do we? Theaters would greatly appreciate the coverage which is totally lacking at the moment.

Thank goodnesss for MPT's Artworks This Week which occasionally highlights local productions. But I would love to see a show like "Critic's Place" return to MPT where each week, critics would discuss art, theater, music, film, and dance in the community. If WETA in Washington can successfully continue to have a program like this, Baltimore can as well.

Finally, I would like to see the establishment of a theatrical awards program for local theaters. The Washington, DC area has the Helen Hayes awards and many other large urban areas do so as well. We could honor the memory of the Mechanic Theater's Hope Quackenbush, the work of Peter Culman, the former Managing Director at Center Stage, and the gread Dame of Baltimore theater, Vivien Shub. There would be awards for equity houses and local community theater as well.

If there are any of you that would like to add to these ideas or have any information you would like to share about Baltimore theater, don't hesitate to write me at cgshubow@broadwayworld.com.

Finally, I highly recommend the wonderful Center Stage production of the musical, "Once On This Island". This a certainly a Broadway caliber musical with a wonderful cast. This is NOT to be missed. Call 410-332-0033 for tickets.

I was informed the sold-out audience on Friday night was surprised to see the show halted due to a medical emergency of a cast member. I'll report more details on this when available.

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