'Strand Theater' is Baltimore's newest troupe
Baltimore has a new community theater troupe, and it will emphasize new work by, for and about women.
The Strand Theater will have an open house April 20 at its new, 65-seat space on North Charles Street. This summer, the company headed by local director Jayme Kilburn will stage its first production, Tim Paggi's "Nonstop Realism." The show will be performed July 10-27 as part of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival.
Kilburn says a local businesswoman who interested in revitalizing the Station North District is donating the space and the cost of the renovation. (The troupe's benefactor wishes to remain anonymous.) The theater at 1823 N. Charles St. -- one block north of Everyman Theatre and the Charles -- also will provide a performing home for other small, cash-strapped arts groups.
"We're trying to keep this as affordable as possible for other arts groups," Kilburn says. "Sometimes you don't have $500 for a deposit on a hall."
The April 20 event, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., will include performances by Single Carrot Theatre, BIG Improv, and Love the Poet, music by Baby Aspirin and King Cloud, and a playwright and acting workshop.
The theater came by its mission because of the dearth of good roles for women. It came by its venue because Kilburn tends bar at a local Charles Street club owned by her patron. And it came by its name because the patron, who also is an antiques dealer, happened to have a vintage sign with the elegant moniker, "The Strand."
Sounds like serependity on all accounts.
Above: Photo of the theater's construction from http://strandtheatercompany.org/
