Civic Ensemble presents BALTIMORE - A Play About Race on a College Campus

Civic Ensemble, in partnership with the Cornell University Department of Performing and Media Arts, presents Kirsten Greenidge's Baltimore, a contemporary play about racism on a college campus.

Baltimore tells the story of Shelby Wilson, an African-American resident adviser for a group of freshmen at a college in New England. When a racist caricature is drawn on the dorm door of one of her black students, she is forced to reevaluate her naive belief that she lives in a post-racial society, and she must help strive for peace on campus. The play, Civic Ensemble's second annual collaboration with Cornell's Department of Performance and Media Arts, references true events, including the riots in Ferguson, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the deaths of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, FrEddie Gray, and Sandra Bland.

This co-production between the Department of Performing and Media Arts and Civic Ensemble will engage audiences from both Cornell and Ithaca in dialogue about issues around increasing national tensions about race and the palpable lack of safety students of color feel on Cornell's campus.

"Baltimore as a show is important because it doesn't let racist moments, from microaggressions to macroaggressions, pass by," according to Cornell sophomore Delmar Fears, who plays Leigh in the play. "It addresses and attends to them, which is what our University needs to do."

Baltimore marks the second annual collaboration by the Department of Performing and Media Arts and Ithaca's Civic Ensemble. The Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies program co-sponsors the performance. Sarah K. Chalmers, Civic Ensemble's Director of Civic Engagement and Co-Artistic Director, directs the cast of Cornell undergraduates. "Baltimore gives us an opportunity to unpack the complexities underlying conversations about race," says Chalmers. "The play goes beyond the binary of black and white race relations and asks us larger questions about racial identity, personal accountability, and how we address racism in our communities."

Performances of Baltimore are in the Schwartz Center's Kiplinger Theatre April 28-29, May 5-6 at 7:30 p.m., and May 6 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are available at schwartztickets.com or at the Schwartz Center box office Tuesday-Saturday, 2:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for students, seniors, and Cornell faculty, staff, and students. Free tickets are available for those who could not otherwise attend the play. Please click here or call Civic Ensemble at 607-241- 0195. Help with transportation for groups is available.

Cornell students have been working with Civic artists to develop and implement the show's community engagement plan, which includes in-class workshops and conversations, pre and post-show dialogues with the audience, and opportunities to expand the conversation beyond the rehearsal and performance space. Director Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr. notes, "You can't just do a play that pushes the buttons that Baltimore does, especially on a college campus, and not provide processing time for the audience. It's our responsibility to provide that space for the conversations that will come from watching this play."

Cornell student actors include Civic Ensemble members Delmar Fears and Irving Torres, as well as Scott Blankenbaker, Siobhan Brandman, Edem Dzodzomenyo, Marquan Jones, Sabrina Liu, Alejandra Rodriguez, and Gahvriel Short.

Civic Ensemble is a non-profit theatre company serving Ithaca and Tompkins County that produces new plays by or about women and people of color, re-imaginings of classics, and community-based plays that explore and explode the social, political, and cultural issues of our time. Through the production of plays, after-school and in-school education programs for young people, and civic engagement programs with Ithaca community members, the company works to bring audiences of different races, classes, and experiences together in a public forum on the American experiment. Civic Ensemble is committed to employing Ithaca-based theatre artists whenever possible. It is our vision that theatre be accessible to all people, onstage and off.

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