SAFE SPACE By R. Eric Thomas Begins January 31 At Single Carrot

For the second production of its site-specific Season 12, Single Carrot Theatre is producing Safe Space, by Baltimore playwright R. Eric Thomas. The production will be staged in the basement of historic Clifton Mansion in Clifton Park on St. Lo Drive, and runs January 31 - February 23.

Baltimore-based writer R. Eric Thomas is an award-winning playwright, host of "The Moth" StorySlams in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., and Senior Staff Writer at Elle.com, where he writes the daily current events and culture column "Eric Reads the News." Thomas recently completed a memoir-in-essays, Here For It, or How to Save Your Soul in America, due out from Ballantine Books in February 2020. The development of Safe Space has been a multi-year project between Thomas and Single Carrot, particularly with Ensemble Member Ben Kleymeyer (Pink Milk), who will direct the piece.

"Eric wanted to write a play about why white people have panic rooms and guns, and we were discussing the movie Clue when he was first developing ideas for Safe Space," says Kleymeyer, who has worked closely with Thomas on the development of the piece over the last two years. The two initially were connected when Kleymeyer was invited to direct for a playwrighting fewllowhip with Cohesion Theatre Company. Since beginning their collaboration, they have hosted both public readings and private workshops with Single Carrot ensemble members and local actors.

"Throughout the process Eric wanted to keep the integrity of the tone like the movie Clue--very campy and fun, but very dangerous at the same time. It walks the tightrope of the ideas being serious, but the tone starts out lighter and the comedy is very inviting, bringing the in audience to interact with these bigger questions," continues Kleymeyer. "It has developed to a place of implicating everyone in the perpetuation of systemic racism."

Safe Space tells the story of Helen, a white non-profit executive who inherits an historic house in rural Maryland. She hires black locksmith Courtney to unlock a mysterious door in the home's basement, but opening it sets of a string of uncomfortable confrontations on race, history, and politics, bringing Helen and Courtney face to face with each other, as well as Charlotte, the ghost of a formerly enslaved person trapped in the house for over 150 years.

Safe Space will feature Ensemble members Alix Fenhagen and Matt Shea; returning actors TIna Canady (Wendy/Peter) and Dominic Gladden (Wendy/Peter, Promenade); and two actors making their SCT debuts, Aaron Hancock and Daniela Hernandez. The design team includes lighting designer Avi Sheehan, costume designer Sharlene Clinton, sound designer Meghan Stanton, and scenic props by Sam Martin.

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