The performing arts have always faced challenges, but the pandemic has been particularly brutal to companies of every budget size, locally, nationally, and globally.
After 15 years, Single Carrot Theater (SCT) has announced its closure. Founded by students from the University of Colorado at Boulder who moved to Baltimore to start SCT, their first performances took place in the former Load of Fun arts space, where Motor House is now located. Over the years, SCT became home to an ensemble of artists, found a home, left a home, and throughout, has contributed to the cultural and social fabric of the city. GBCA salutes them for their creativity and commitment to making theater a labor of love.
In their emailed statement, the Carrots say: “Our reasons for closing are complex, multi-faceted and layered. Chief among these is the natural migration of Single Carrot Theatre leadership, in the coinciding of the planned departure of SCT’s 9 year tenured Artistic Director and the Executive Director’s move to a new sector. Furthermore, compounding post-pandemic organizational challenges have made sustaining a theater of our size ever more difficult. These include issues of staffing shortages and stretched human capacity, limited regional philanthropic resources, and the ever-increasing cost of sustaining live theatrical productions.”
Sadly, the Carrots are not alone. Rep Stage, a regional, professional theater located at Howard County Community College will soon open its final show of its final season, Falsettos by William Finn. Rep Stage has been producing theater since 1993 when it opened with Marvin’s Room directed by Everyman Theater Founder, Vincent Lancisi. Their full production history is a who’s who of regional theater talent. By all accounts, the theater is being closed as a cost savings measure by the College’s President. As Mary E. Toth wrote in her opinion piece in the Washington Post, “After 30 years, 50 Helen Hayes nominations and seven awards, the only equity theater in residence at a community college in the country is closing…We cannot lose Rep Stage.”
But what is to be done if these vital performing arts venues are not nurtured and supported? Yes, the pandemic has challenged them, but there are also systemic and historic barriers that must be addressed to ensure fragile organizations can emerge from this particularly difficult time in a sustainable way. I wish I had the answer, but now is the time to embrace the many performing arts organizations, large, medium, and small who provide audiences with a range of experiences and artists the chance to experiment, stretch, and contribute to our communities.
All my best,
Jeannie
