FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Single Carrot Theatre Hosts Continues Conversations Surrounding Lear
Baltimore, MD – Single Carrot’s 11th Season is now open with its thought-provoking and
fast-paced regional premiere of Lear by Young Jean Lee. Like Shakespeare’s tragedy, Lee’s
text includes universal themes of family conflict, guilt, and madness; at the same time, it
takes a nuanced look race, wrestling with mortality, and the complex dynamics between
aging parents and their adult children. In the hope of continuing the conversations sparked by this vibrant production, Single Carrot will be hosting talkbacks with panelists from Morgan State University, Center Stage, the ACME Corporation, and Chesapeake
Shakespeare Company.
Race, Shakespeare, and Young Jean Lee
Sunday, October 15, following the 3pm performance
Join Gerrad Taylor of Chesapeake Shakespeare Company and Shirley Basfield-Dunlap of
Morgan State University for a discussion on the complex relationship between modern audiences and classical material. Share your thoughts on Young Jean Lee’s frenetic adaptation of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, and engage with our panelists on issues of race, identity and performance.
Pride Night at Single Carrot Theatre!
Thursday, October 19, preceding the 8pm performance
Join us for cocktails, live pre-show music from Christen B, and a fabulous evening of theatre celebrating the 9th Annual LGBT Center Awareness Day! More about the artist: Christen B seamlessly blends electronic and acoustic instruments with transcendent vocals leaving listeners in a state of euphoria! This Baltimore native is changing the way people experience music. She allows the audience to watch as she masterfully layers unique sounds while looping them on the spot and leaving the crowd wanting more!
Adapting the Classics
Friday, October 20, following the 8pm performance
Join Gavin Witt of Center Stage and Lola Pierson and Stephen Nunns of The ACME Corporation as they discuss the complicated task of adapting famous classical texts for a modern audience. Nunns and Pierson collaborated last year on an original adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire, Stranger Kindness, which was recently named “Best Play” in City Paper’s Best of Baltimore Reader’s poll. Witt, along with Center Stage’s Kwame Kwei-Armah, is part of a national project to reimagine and update Shakespeare’s plays for a modern audience. Join them in a conversation on the nuanced process of bringing a well-known, perhaps beloved, text into the present.
About the Play:
Lear
By Young Jean Lee
Directed by Andrew Peters
Shakespearean drama meets millennial self-indulgence in this outlandish and driving take on King Lear. Boring, stuffy parents have been left for dead – consigning audiences to the not-so-tender mercies of a younger generation, a mix of heroes and villains indulging their own selfish whims. Despite sharp wits and sharper teeth, these Kardashian-esque kids are comically shallow, callous, and vain: more concerned with dancing and drama than their own doomed parents. But superficial pleasures can only reign for so long before their conscience catches up with them, unearthing ugly secrets, doubts, and fears. Regional premiere.
WHEN:
Previews: Wednesday, October 4 and Thursday, October 5 at 8pm
Running: October 6 – 29
Thursday- Saturday at 8pm
Sundays at 3pm
WHERE:
Single Carrot Theatre
2600 N. Howard Street
Baltimore, MD 21218
Entrance on 26th Street.
Free parking available in adjacent lot and on the street.
TICKETS AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Tickets: $10-$29
Web: singlecarrot.com
Phone: 443-844-9253
Email: boxoffice(at)singlecarrot.com
Twitter: @singlecarrot
Instagram: @singlecarrot