HOW TO TRANSCEND A HAPPY MARRIAGE
By Sarah Ruhl
Iron Crow Theatre
April 11 – 27
Overflowing with subversive enchantment, Sarah Ruhl’s HOW TO TRANSCEND A HAPPY MARRIAGE takes you on a wild ride through the uncharted territories of love and desire, polyamory, throuples, and matrimony. This provocative play combines absurd domestic comedy with erotic magical realism, unraveling the blurred lines between strangers, friends, and lovers.
At a dinner party deep in the wilds of New Jersey, George, and her husband talk with a fellow married couple and find themselves captivated by stories of a younger polyamorous woman who hunts her own meat. Intrigued, they invite the mysterious woman and her two live-in boyfriends to a New Year’s Eve party—setting off a chain of events, including an unexpected orgy, that will forever change their lives.
Sarah Ruhl’s exploration of human connection, desire, and love challenges and delights in equal measure. Don’t miss this unforgettable voyage into the complexities of modern relationships and the magic of Ruhl’s unique storytelling.
Showtimes:
April 11 @ 8pm
April 12 @ 8pm
April 13 @ 3pm
April 18 @ 8pm
April 19 @ 8pm
April 20 @ 3pm
April 25 @ 8pm
April 26 @ 8pm
April 27 @ 3pm
Tickets:
$25.00 – $65.00
Please click on the crow below to purchase tickets.
BAKER ARTIST AWARDS: 2025 FILM FINALIST SHOWCASE
Presented by Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance
The Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance invites you to experience a taste of the incredible talent of the 2025 Baker Artist Award Finalists in Film/Video in this showcase screening. Featuring the work of:
Cathy C. Cook, Marnie Ellen Hertzler, Chung-Wei Huang, Corey Hughes, Daniela Mileykovsky, Lynn Tomlinson
The show will begin at 6pm.
Tickets are free!
In total, 36 artists (6 per artistic discipline) have been selected as 2024 Baker Artist Award Finalists, from over 800 artist portfolios on the Baker Artist Portfolios website.
To meet all of the finalists and learn about the other finalist showcases, please click here.
To learn more about all of the incredible artists with Baker Artist Portfolios, please visit www.bakerartist.org.
The Baker Artist Portfolios and awards were established by the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund and are a program of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance.
Showtime:
Monday, April 28 @ 6:00pm
Tickets:
General Admission: Free!
Please click below to reserve.
BALTIMORE STORY FEST 2025
Produced by Phill Branch
A mic, spotlight and a good story is all you need to take a room full of people on a journey. Baltimore Story Fest highlights the best and brightest storytellers in the region. Storytellers create a tapestry with their words that bring audiences into their worlds.
EACH DAY OF THE FEST IS ALL NEW!
Curated by different storytelling producers, every show will be unique. See all four shows and immerse yourself in the art of storytelling!
Thursday, May 1st
STORY COLLIDER
STORIES ABOUT SCIENCE
The STORY COLLIDER is a live storytelling event featuring stories from people of all walks of life about how science has affected their lives. We believe that everyone’s life is connected to science in some way, and that we all have a story to tell about how science has affected our lives, regardless of our background, race, gender, sexuality, or education.
Friday, May 2nd
HEADLINER ANITA WADE
Featuring Stories by Nick Baskerville and Phill Branch
Anita Wade – comedian, vocalist, actor, and educator reppin’ Baltimore with style and soul! From hosting the hit comedy showcase *Ms. Savage’s Class* to bringing laughs + vocals at *Cackle’n & Croon’n*, she’s been blessing stages across the DMV and beyond. 🎤🎭🎶 Catch her at the mic, on the stage, or in the classroom — Anita Wade stays booked, blessed, and boldly Baltimore.
Nick Baskerville – Being a husband, a dad, a military veteran, and a firefighter gives Nick plenty to talk about. Most of what he talks about is rich with experience. By experience, he means making a mistake and trying to fix it before too many people notice. His life lends itself to telling personal narrative stories and doing stand-up comedy.
Phill Branch, the curator of Baltimore Story fest is an award-winning storyteller who has told stories around the world for platforms such as The Moth, Story District and Story Collider.
Saturday, May 3rd
GOING SOLO: A Solo Show Doubleheader!
Storytelling superstars Ansa Edim and Ronald Young Jr. will grace the stage with two shows making their Baltimore debuts!
Is this Normal?
Get ready for a night of laughter, eye-covering, cringing and poignant storytelling at Is This Normal?, the debut one-woman show from award-winning storyteller Ansa Edim. Often the “only one” – the only Black person, the only fat person, the only fat Black person – Ansa navigates the dating space with humor and resilience. Determined to represent women like her as more than just the fat, funny friend (though she is that too), Ansa’s unique voice and relatable tales make this show a must-see for anyone questioning what ‘normal’ is for them.
Ansa Edim is an award-winning storyteller in Washington, D.C. She has performed her dating stories on stage in DC’s own Story District and Smut Slam competitions, with her most popular story “The Condom Story” winning the grand prize at her first event at Smut Slam. She is also a 2022 MothSLAM Champion Storyteller.
Ronald Young Jr.: Live in Baltimore
Ronald Young Jr. is the Host of Weight For It a 3X Podcast Academy Award winner and Vulture Magazine podcaster to watch 2023. The acclaimed show tells the vulnerable stories of folks who think about their weight constantly in a fatphobic world. He is an avid pop-culture enthusiast and the host of the television and film review podcast Leaving the Theater. He is a regular contributor to NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour as a guest panelist. He has hosted shows such as Pushkin’s Solvable and HBO Docs Club, from Pineapple Street Studios. Ronald has also graced stages all over the DMV as a storyteller.
Sunday, May 4th
HAPPY FEELIN’S: Stories That Bring Us Joy
Curated and Hosted by Telling Stories/Diana Veiga
Join us for an afternoon of tales about joy, in all of its forms, in the face of whatever life throws our way. Curator and host Diana Veiga is the founder of Telling Stories, a Black storytelling troupe based in Washington D.C. Diana is a gifted storyteller who brings truth, wit and insight to the stage. A true Leo, Diana has always loved the limelight, but she officially began her storytelling journey in the summer of 2018 after performing in Story District’s ‘Up Sh*t Creek’ show. Since then she has told stories with Story District, Grassroots Comedy DC, Better Said Than Done, Porchfest DC and more. Her one woman show, I’m Just Doing My Job, premiered in 2022 at the Capital Fringe Festival.
Stories by:
About the Founder/Creative Director:
Creator and Producer Phill Branch is an Emmy® Award winning producer, a writer and director. Branch’s documentary Hampton University: One of the Wonders of the World (Maryland Public Television/PBS) won the Emmy for Outstanding Education/Schools Long Form Content (Capital Emmys/2024). His film, Searching for Shaniqua (Maryland Public Television/PBS), a documentary about the impact names have on our lives, won the HBO Best Documentary award at Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival. His upcoming memoir tentatively titled “The Double Dutch Fuss” will be released by HarperCollins/Amistad in 2026. He is a 2025 recipient of the Maryland State Arts Council’s Creativity Grant and a 2019 Rubys Artist Award grantee for storytelling and performance. He was the 2018 GrandSLAM Champion of The Moth in DC. He was also a 2014 Lambda Literary Nonfiction Emerging Voices Fellow.
Currently, Branch is a Resident Artist at the Howard County Center for the Arts.
Showtimes:
May 1 @ 7pm – STORY COLLIDER
May 2 @ 8pm – HEADLINER ANITA WADE
May 3 @ 8pm – GOING SOLO
May 4 @ 4pm – HAPPY FEELIN’S
Tickets:
STORY COLLIDER: $25
HEADLINER ANITA WADE: $15
GOING SOLO: $25
HAPPY FEELIN’S: $25
Please click below to purchase tickets.
From IN Series
ETHIOPIA
living newspaper by Arthur Arent
new text by Sybil R. Williams
music by Janelle Gill
May 30 – June 1
The long-awaited world premiere of the first “living newspaper,” ETHIOPIA concludes IN Series’ 2024-25 season. The work was banned by the Roosevelt administration and never performed, until now. Written in 1937, this production fuses theater and music to tell the hot-off-the-press story of Italy’s colonialist attack on Haile Selassie’s Ethiopia while the world stayed silent.
This reconstruction, with vivid new texts, is the brainchild of DC writer Sybil R. Williams (STORMY WEATHER, ALCESTE) who has teamed up with DC composer and pianist Janelle Gill (DESDEMONA, CHUCK & EVA) to imagine a new musical realization inspired by the music of Emahoy Tsege, an Ethiopian luminary artist known as “the honky tonk nun.” Williams and Gill expand the vision of the original work to explore how America’s Black and Brown communities responded to Europe’s aggression, and particularly the story of Mayme Richardson, a leading black soprano that became an activist for the Ethiopian causes. Jazz, classical, and African music blend and soar in this history-making musical moment.
Showtimes:
May 30 @ 7:30pm
May 31 @ 7:30pm
June 1 @ 2:30pm
Tickets:
General Admission: $30
Students: $20
Please click below to purchase tickets.
THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW: PRIDE 2025
By Richard O’Brien
Iron Crow Theatre
June 13 – 29
Iron Crow Theatre’s annual fundraiser and Baltimore’s favorite LIVE tradition returns in a new raucous celebratory pride event!
In this cult classic, sweethearts Brad and Janet stuck with a flat tire during a storm, discover the eerie mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter. As their innocence is lost, Brad and Janet meet a houseful of wild characters, including a rocking biker and a creepy butler. Through elaborate dances and rock songs, Frank-N-Furter unveils his latest creation: a muscular man named “Rocky.”
Every ticket holder gets an audience participation script and prop bag complete with cascading toilet paper, water guns, and an array of other gadgets and goodies! This deliberately kitschy rock ‘n’ roll sci-fi gothic musical is Baltimore’s favorite yearly tradition, and this year it’s queerer than ever!
Showtimes:
June 13 @ 8pm
June 14 @ 8pm
June 15 @ 4pm
June 20 @ 8pm
June 21 @ 8pm
June 22@ 4pm
June 27 @ 8pm
June 28 @ 2pm
June 28 @ 8pm
June 29 @ 4pm
Tickets:
$30.00 – $75.00
Please click below to purchase tickets.
