BALTIMORE, Maryland — September 6, 2022: Today, Iron Crow Theatre announced its first season back since Covid-19 shut down the theatre industry in the spring of 2020. Made up almost entirely of rarely-produced work by leading award-winning queer playwrights, the 22/23 Season of Defiance responds to the current societal moment unlike any other in the region.
“The Season of Defiance is one of our most contemporary, relevant, and timely seasons ever crafted,” said Artistic Director Sean Elias. “We’ve been very intentional in exploring and curating work that reflects where we find ourselves today — work that is meaningful, that has purpose, and that meets the moment. Work that is very much of the ‘now’ and can promote the theatre as a relevant and powerful tool in helping to explore and shape our existence as a collective society. And so, this season has been built in defiance of the rise in anti-trans, anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment and law (looking at you, Florida), systemic racism, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, our current climate crisis, the war in Ukraine, and the pervasive insidious lack of human empathy,” continued Mr. Elias.
The Season of Defiance opens in response to the fall of Roe v. Wade, with Robert O'Hara's timely satire Mankind, directed by Iron Crow Theatre Resident Artist Ann Turiano. Mankind is a brutal dark comedy set in an uncannily familiar future where women have gone extinct from years of mistreatment, abortion is illegal, everyone's gay, and Jason gets pregnant. Responding to Florida’s "Don’t Say Gay Law" and the significant rise in anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment across the nation, Broadway’s Head Over Heels follows with a defiant celebration of love and gender identity set to the songs of the legendary rock band, The Go-Go’s. Next, we're proud to be one of the first organizations producing Pulitzer-Prize finalist Madeleine George's Hurricane Diane, directed by Resident Artist Natka Bianchini. In this piece, The Real Housewives meets HGTV with a side of "lesbian-pulp-Greek-tragedy" in a brand-new commentary on climate change. The season closes with Baltimore's favorite live musical tradition, our annual production of Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show, this time in a brand-new raucous celebratory Pride edition!
MANKIND
Written by Robert O’Hara
Directed by Ann Turiano
Friday, October 7 - Sunday, October 23, 2022
www.ironcrowtheatre.org/mankind
STARRING
Timoth David Copney, David Forrer, Max Johnson, David Krehbel*, Nicholas Miles+, and Jake Stibbe. Understudy: Alexander Ose. Swing: Lucius Robinson.
*Member, Actors’ Equity Association, the professional union of Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
+ Iron Crow Theatre Resident Artist.
Women are extinct, everyone's gay, abortion is illegal — and Jason got pregnant. But however unplanned the pregnancy was, nothing could be less expected than the chain of events it would set in motion. Robert O’Hara’s audacious, hilarious allegory envisions an uncannily familiar future – one where abortion has been universally criminalized, and women have gone extinct from centuries of mistreatment. Even the universal homosexuality that’s resulted and man’s new procreative capacity have not stopped them from fucking everything up.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Friday, October 7, 2022, at 8:00 PM
Saturday, October 8, 2022, at 8:00 PM
Sunday, October 9, 2022, at 3:00 PM
Friday, October 14, 2022, at 8:00 PM
Saturday, October 15, 2022, at 8:00 PM
Sunday, October 16, 2022, at 3:00 PM
Friday, October 21, 2022, at 8:00 PM
Saturday, October 22, 2022, at 2:00 PM & 8:00 PM
Sunday, October 23, 2022, at 3:00 PM
All performances take place at the historic Baltimore Theatre Project located at 45 West Preston Street, Baltimore, MD 21201.
HEAD OVER HEELS
Songs by The Go-Go’s
Based on The Arcadia by Sir Philip Sydney
Conceived & Original Book by Jeff Whitty
Adapted by James Magruder
Directed by Sean Elias
Friday, December 2 - Sunday, December 18, 2022
www.ironcrowtheatre.org/headoverheels
Head Over Heels is the bold new queer musical comedy from the visionaries that rocked Broadway with Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Avenue Q, and Spring Awakening. This laugh-out-loud love story in blank verse is set to the music of the iconic 1980’s all-female rock band The Go-Go’s, including the hit songs, “We Got the Beat,” “Our Lips Are Sealed,” “Vacation,” Belinda Carlisle’s “Heaven is a Place on Earth” and “Mad About You.” Head Over Heels made Broadway musical history by featuring a trans actor in a principal role for the first time. A hilarious, exuberant celebration of love, Head Over Heels follows the escapades of a royal family trying to prevent an oracle's prophecy of extinction. In order to save their beloved kingdom, the family embarks on an extravagant journey wrought with mistaken identities, jealous lovers, sexual awakening, scandal, and self-discovery, where everything (and everyone) is not quite what it seems. In the end, they soon discover the key to their realm’s survival lies within each of their own hearts.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Friday, December 2, 2022, at 8:00 PM
Saturday, December 3, 2022, at 8:00 PM
Sunday, December 4, 2022, at 3:00 PM
Friday, December 9, 2022, at 8:00 PM
Saturday, December 10, 2022, at 8:00 PM
Sunday, December 11, 2022, at 3:00 PM
Friday, December 16, 2022, at 8:00 PM
Saturday, December 17, 2022, at 2:00 PM & 8:00 PM
Sunday, December 18, 2022, at 3:00 PM
All performances take place at the historic Baltimore Theatre Project located at 45 West Preston Street, Baltimore, MD 21201.
HURRICANE DIANE
By Madeleine George
Directed by Natka Bianchini
Friday, January 20 - Sunday, February 5, 2023
www.ironcrowtheatre.org/hurricanediane
Meet Diane, a permaculture gardener dripping with butch charm. She’s got supernatural abilities owing to her true identity — the Greek god Dionysus — and she's returned to the modern world to gather mortal followers and restore the Earth to its natural state. Where better to begin than with four housewives in a suburban New Jersey cul-de-sac? In this Obie-winning comedy with a twist, Pulitzer Prize finalist Madeleine George pens a hilarious evisceration of the blind eye we all turn to climate change and the bacchanalian catharsis that awaits us, even in our own backyards.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Friday, January 20, 2023, at 8:00 PM
Saturday, January 21, 2023, at 8:00 PM
Sunday, January 22, 2023, at 3:00 PM
Friday, January 27, 2023, at 8:00 PM
Saturday, January 28, 2023, at 8:00 PM
Sunday, January 29, 2023, at 3:00 PM
Friday, February 3, 2023, at 8:00 PM
Saturday, February 4, 2023, at 2:00 PM & 8:00 PM
Sunday, February 5, 2023, at 3:00 PM
All performances take place at the historic Baltimore Theatre Project located at 45 West Preston Street, Baltimore, MD 21201.
THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW
Music, Lyrics, and Book by Richard O’Brien
Directed by Sean Elias
Friday, June 2 - Saturday, June 17, 2023
www.ironcrowtheatre.org/rockyhorror
Iron Crow Theatre’s annual fundraiser returns just in time for pride! In this cult classic, sweethearts Brad and Janet stuck with a flat tire during a storm, discover the eerie mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter. As their innocence is lost, Brad and Janet meet a houseful of wild characters, including a rocking biker and a creepy butler. Through elaborate dances and rock songs, Frank-N-Furter unveils his latest creation: a muscular man named “Rocky.” Every ticket holder gets an audience participation script and prop bag complete with cascading toilet paper, water guns, and an array of other gadgets and goodies! This deliberately kitschy rock 'n' roll sci-fi gothic musical is Baltimore’s favorite yearly tradition, and this year it’s more fun than ever!
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
Friday, June 2, 2023, at 8:00 PM
Saturday, June 3, 2023, at 8:00 PM
Sunday, June 4, 2023, at 6:00 PM
Friday, June 9, 2023, at 8:00 PM
Saturday, June 10, 2023, at 8:00 PM & 11:30 PM
Sunday, June 11, 2023, at 6:00 PM
Friday, June 16, 2023, at 8:00 PM
Saturday, June 17, 2023, at 8:00 PM & 11:30 PM
All performances take place at the historic Baltimore Theatre Project located at 45 West Preston Street, Baltimore, MD 21201.
TICKETS
Introducing the new +Pass! With the all-new +Pass, you can join us for every event, whenever you’d like, and as often as you’d like. It’s that simple!
+Pass pricing:
Annual Subscription: $200
Annual Monthly Subscription: $20
https://www.ironcrowtheatre.org/pluspass
New this year, Iron Crow Theatre will move to a reserved seating model. All prices include ticket fees.
Individual tickets prices for Mankind, Head Over Heels, and Hurricane Diane:
Front Orchestra: $37.50
Rear Orchestra: $32.50
Left Orchestra: $25
Right Orchestra: $25
All tickets to The Rocky Horror Show include audience participation scripts and prop bags. VIP: On-Stage experiences include preshow and intermission beverages delivered to your seat by a phantom, upgraded prop bags, and special surprise gifts throughout the event. Please note only 10 VIP On Stage experience tickets are available per show. VIP: Front Orchestra experiences include premium seating and upgraded prop bags.
Individual ticket prices for The Rocky Horror Show:
VIP: On-Stage Experience: $75
VIP: Front Orchestra Experience: $55
Rear Orchestra: $45
Left Orchestra: $30
Right Orchestra: $30
Special group rates are available for all productions by visiting www.ironcrowtheatre.org/groups or by emailing [email protected]. Any individual with difficulty attending a production at the ticket prices set are encouraged to reach out to the theatre directly at [email protected] as additional discounts and sponsorship opportunities may be available.
Iron Crow Theatre is proud to be one of the first 100 theatres across the country (and one of only two theatres in Baltimore) to take part in the Playwrights Welcome program, providing free access to theatre for playwrights, composers, and lyricists from Baltimore and around the country. Developed for Dramatists Guild of America Members by Samuel French, along with Dramatists Play Service, Dramatic Publishing, Music Theatre International, Playscripts, and Rodgers and Hammerstein, Playwrights Welcome offers available, unsellable tickets to professional playwrights on the day of a performance, free of charge. To receive a ticket through Playwrights Welcome at our theater, simply present your Dramatists Guild membership card at the Box Office.
AUDITIONS
Additional auditions have been announced for the 22/23 Season of Defiance. Musical auditions will be held in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, September 17 from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM at the DC Arts Center located at 2438 18th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009, and that same evening from 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM in Baltimore, MD at Loyola University located at 4501 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21210. Callbacks will take place on Sunday, September 18, from 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM at Loyola University. Actors can find more information and sign up for an audition appointment online at www.ironcrowtheatre.org/audition. Equity Special Appearance Tier 2 contracts are available. Non-Equity performers are offered a stipend from $400 - $1000, depending on role. Walk-ins and actors without an appointment will be seen as time permits. Housing and transportation are not provided.
IRON CROW THEATRE is Baltimore’s award-winning professional queer theatre and produces queer theatre for a queer city, celebrating the renegade and the unorthodox in all of us.
PRESS/MEDIA INQUIRES: [email protected]
