IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT COVID:
All performances will be live, and available both online and in person at Motor House, 120 W. North Avenue Baltimore. In-person attendance will follow strict COVID safety protocols, including the August 9th reinstatement of Baltimore City’s indoor mask mandate. Cast, crew, staff, and all audience members will be masked at all times, with the exception that performers will remove their masks while on stage.
For the safety of our artists and audiences, additional measures have been taken:
* The number of in-person attendees will be limited so as not to exceed 25% of venue occupancy (including cast, crew, and staff).
* Temperature checks will be conducted, and audience members’ information logged for contact tracing purposes.
* All performers have been fully vaccinated prior to the start of rehearsals.
Serious Adverse Effects
by Derek Lee McPhatter
May 7–23, 2021
An unconventional scientist is on the cusp of a cure for a mysterious disease. But to complete her research she must find forgiveness from a family with no reason to trust her and embrace the transformative potential of her own healing. From the marvels of the modern laboratory to the inner depths of the human psyche, “Serious Adverse Effects” is an imaginative contemporary drama unfolding at a collision of medical ethics, blood memory, and forgiveness.
Workshopped in 2018 at the National Black Theatre, “Serious Adverse Effects” receives its world premiere with Rapid Lemon Productions.
Directed by Noah Silas (“Give Me Moonlight”, 2020).
May 1-18, 2021
Rachel
September 10–26, 2021
One of the forebears of the Harlem Renaissance, Angelina Weld Grimké wrote “Rachel” in 1916 as a defiant reply to the recent release of DW Griffith’s film “Birth of a Nation”. Originally titled “Blessed are the Barren”, the play centers on a Black woman who rejects marriage and motherhood after learning a horrible family secret. It was first produced in Washington, DC by the NAACP, and published in 1920.
Baltimore playwright Aladrian C. Wetzel’s new adaptation is her second commissioned play for Rapid Lemon Productions, after 2019’s acclaimed “Thank You, Dad”.
“Rachel” is a scalding view of racism, personal loss, and the high price of truth.
May 1-18, 2021
James Baldwin: a witness
September 23, 2021
By Reggie Phoenix — a fully staged reading. This new play set in Harlem in 1968 uses original writing as well as snippets of sayings, lectures and speeches made by James Baldwin, presented as an imaginary interview that he grants to a Columbia University journalism student. Playwright Reggie Phoenix performs, directed by Dwight R.B. Cook. Talkback to follow.
Variations on Holidays
December 3–19, 2021
For its 17th annual production, the region’s original ten-minute play festival has chosen the winter holidays as its theme! Audiences will see a select group of world premiere short plays by local authors, and vote to pick the theme for Variations 2022.
Plays will be developed following the annual Variations Party, planned for May 15. Prior experience is not required to participate, and like all of the company’s artists, playwrights whose works are chosen for production will receive a small stipend. More information is available here.
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Nightbird
December 7, 2021
A reading of a play by R. Eric Thomas, directed by Noah Silas
What goes in the place of a Confederate monument in a Black Baltimore neighborhood? This is a play about liminal spaces, about the in-between, the tenuous, the fragile and the things on the cusp of exploding.
The reading will be followed by a brief talk back with the playwright and director. In-person attendance; no streaming will be available. Attendees must be masked while inside the theater.