YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING & More Set for The Strand's 2010-2011 Season

The Strand Theater proudly presents its third season in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District, featuring a lineup of progressive female playwrights. "Strong female voices are what have set the Strand apart from other local theaters," states Artistic Director, Jayme Kilburn. "In our third season we are celebrating our mission with a slate of plays by women that are rarely produced."

The Strand's 2010-2011 four-show season opens with Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living. The Glory of Living is a disturbing glimpse at 16-year-old Lisa whose life has been filled with systematic abuse. The Glory of Living won the Joseph Jefferson Citation for Best Play in Chicago and the American Theatre Critics Association's Osborn Award for the Best New American Play.

The season also includes work by novelist Joan Didion and activist Naomi Wallace. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion is a one-woman play adaptation of the author's best-selling memoir. It follows Didion during the sudden and unexpected loss of her husband and their only daughter. One Flea Spare by Naomi Wallace is set during the plague, and introduces the audience to four survivors, confined to their homes until it is proven they are not affected by the disease. Naomi Wallace is a deeply political US playwright who unashamedly writes about ideas rather than feelings. Wallace was recently arrested for defying the US's prohibition on travel between it and Cuba.

The Strand adds some lighthearted fare with local playwright, Kate Bishop's newest offering, A Peppermint Patty Christmas. Bishop, who has been deeply involved in issues regarding equal rights and a member of the Charm City Kitty Club queer performance collective since 2007, was recently produced at the Strand during the Friends and Neighbors Festival: Works by Women. "Kate's voice is mature and unapologetic. She infuses humor into her work while still creating a piece of social commentary. She is one of the most outstanding Baltimore playwright's I have encountered," says Artistic Director, Jayme Kilburn.

The Strand also has reason to celebrate with the addition of Managing Director, Alec Lawson. Alec Lawson is an ambitious recent graduate of Loyola College and a longtime Technical Assistant at Run of the Mill Theater and Loyola College. Lawson recently directed and wrote the critically embraced play, Afterthoughts and will be next seen directing Othello at Run of the Mill Theater. Lawson has served as the Technical Director at the Strand Theater since 2009. "Alec shares the vision of the Strand and has only served to increase our visibility and technical sophistication. I am excited to have him taking a larger role in the day to day activities at the Strand."

About the Strand -In the Strand's short tenure it has seen many successes. Over the last two years the Strand has produced eight full-length season plays (all Baltimore premieres), began a 6 week festival of new works, assisted small companies with gifted space, offered 75% of all opportunities within the theater to women, served over 2500 patrons, and played an integral role in the revitalization of Station North Arts & Entertainment District.

Season tickets are available online at www.strandtheatercompany.org.

The Strand Theater is a community theater dedicated to providing opportunities for women artists, writers, designers and directors. With a focus on producing original works, the Strand hopes to foster a love of theater for a new generation of patrons.

Strand Theater 2010 - 2011 Subscription Season

The Glory of Living
By Rebecca Gilman
October 7 - 23, 2010
The Glory of Living tells the story of Lisa, a 16-year-old girl, and her marriage to Clint, an ex-con twice her age. Systematically abused by her husband, Lisa is coerced into helping him commit crimes of varying magnitude, including murder. "...intelligent and provoking...Gilman has created a couple whose degeneracy is the vehicle for a searing analysis of moral codes, sexual abuse, fear, love, poverty and the value of a life" (The Sunday Times). "...plays don't come much tougher, or more compassionate... It's a viscerally powerful piece that, not unlike Bond's Saved, makes you look closely at a violent subculture from which you would normally shrink" (The Guardian). "...psychological shrewdness and on-target language..." (New York Magazine).

A Peppermint Patty Christmas
By Kate Bishop
December 2 - 18, 2010
A Peppermint Patty Christmas is brought to you by local playwright, Charm City Kitty, and lesbian activist, Kate Bishop. Patricia dreads going home for the holidays. It seems her winter gloom descends like the dancing robot Santas and the light-up Messiahs, earlier and earlier every year. But this year, she's going to set a different dinner table. Patricia made a promise to herself, her girlfriend, and her therapist that this is the year -- no matter how much her mom tries to keep conversation meteorological in nature -- this year she's going to try something new. She will tell the truth. The whole truth. And nothing. But. The truth.

The Year of Magical Thinking
By Joan Didion
February 3 - 19, 2011
In this dramatic adaptation of her award-winning, bestselling memoir (which Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times called "an indelible portrait of loss and grief . . . a haunting portrait of a four-decade-long marriage), Joan Didion transforms the story of the sudden and unexpected loss of her husband and their only daughter into a stunning and powerful one-woman play. (Rights Pending).

One Flea Spare
By Naomi Wallace
April 21 - May 7, 2011
Hilarious and deeply moving by turns, One Flea Spare is set

in plague-ravaged 17th Century London where social roles and the boundaries that describe them have been set into chaos. The definition of morality is up for grabs. History is being tantalized. And whilst the wealthy William Snelgrave dreams of sweating, swearing tars, and of how sailors satisfy their "baser instincts" so far away from female company, his own wife, untouched for 40 years, is discovering that her dreadfully burned body may not be numb after all. The human heart craves comfort, contact, tenderness; survival may take many forms.

Strand Theater 2010-2011 Special Events:

Campfire Folklore as part of Free Fall Baltimore
October 28, 2010
The Strand Theater will once again participate in Free Fall Baltimore, a city wide event providing free entertainment in an effort to expose local residents and visitors to a variety of cultural experiences. Re-creating the outdoors inside, the Strand Theater with the Maryland Humanities Council, will combine theatrical elements and literature in a "campfire" experience, complete with audience participation, fire-eating, storytelling and take-away folklore.

Gypsy Ball
October 30, 2010
Paying homage to the former occupants of the theater space, The Strand will host its first Gypsy Ball! The Strand Theater Gypsy Ball gives patrons an opportunity to communicate with ghosts, drink with the dead, and features art installations by local Baltimore artists - some of whom are still living.

Strand Theater Fourth Annual Open House
May 21, 2011
Join the Strand for the fourth annual Open House. The Strand will open up its doors to the community for a fun-filled event for the whole family. As always, the event is free!

Friends and Neighbors Festival
June 9 - July 9, 2011
The Friends and Neighbors Festival is a six week-long festival where a new script is performed at the Strand every weekend for an admission price of $5. The Friends and Neighbors Festival was created to give local artists a chance to perform experimental pieces in front of an audience with the support of a fully functional theater. The FN Fest also creates an opportunity for audiences to affordably (and without risk) expand their theater horizons. The Strand encourages playwrights, performers, comedians, etc, to submit to the FN Fest. The FN Fest accepts performance pieces that range from traditional plays to performance art to workshops.

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