Baltimore Community Theatre Project: Activating neighborhoods through exposure to process of production

Abstract

Mount Vernon neighborhood in Baltimore, MD is well known for its housing of schools and businesses for the arts. On the western edge of this vibrant neighborhood lies a social and cultural barrier that breaks up the tightly knit fabric of the city. There exists a node along this edge where six neighborhoods as well as the city's road grid come to a physical and socioeconomic confluence.

This thesis contends that by involving a surrounding community in the process of theatrical production, there can be a nurturing of interest and exposure to the diverse skills and practices that go into process of performance. Exposing the process makes the final production more interesting in that this new model for theatrical performance challenges the performers by leaving them more exposed to the surrounding community while at the same time building a reciprocal bond of learning and cultural understanding.