Spotlight UBalt:
UBalt's Performing Arts Series
As part of the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, Spotlight UBalt was pleased to present readings, theatrical productions, concerts and integrated arts performances. Spotlight regularly attached programming to curriculum with learning goals of arts appreciation and increased reading comprehension.
One student, after seeing the production of Sondheim's musical, Assassins, commented in her critical response that "we took a sneak peak into America's twisted history."
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Assassins Musical
The cast of Assassins, a musical written by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman, that was co-produced with Stillpointe Theatre Initiative. (photo by Britt Olsen-Ecker)
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African-American Arts
Black Student Union partnered with local artists to present an evening of dance and slam poetry
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Purgatory
Chloe McDaniel in William Butler Yeats' mysterious last play, Purgatory.
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Something rotten workshop
Hippodrome Foundation workshop with national tour actor from Something Rotten company with Professional Development course students as part of the Performance Studies Specialization
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The Red Door is Open
Integration of visual arts and music in The Red Door is Open program with pianist Robert Hitz and faculty member and musician/painter Jeffrey Hoover.
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But I Said No
A staged reading of play, But I Said No, as part of Title IX Awareness programming.
In its eleven years of service, Spotlight UBalt has offered over 200 events with over 23,000 attendees. Not only can art allow artistic personal expression, but art can help audience process this complicated reality. The arts, combined with education and social context, promote empathy, compassion, and critical thinking. Sadly, after the final Emerging Voices Project in May 2018, Spotlight UBalt is ending due to budget restrictions.
A few favorite moments from over a decade of arts programming:
Produced plays: Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues(three times), T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land(with Lafayette Gilchrist), Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, Rain Pryor’s Outand Fried Chicken and Latkes, Moses Kaufman’s The Laramie Project, Daniel Berrigan’s The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, Jessica Blank’s The Exonerated, Lenneal Henderson in The Thurgood Marshall Experience, Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive, Sean O’Casey’s The Shadow of a Gunman, Rebecca Ranson’s Warren, Neil LaBute’s The Shape of Things, Amiri Baraka’s Slave Ship, W. B. Yeats’ Purgatory, Margaret Baldwin-Pendergrass’But I Said No, Rapid Lemon’sVariations on Blame, Stephen Sondheim’sAssassins, and Kimberley Lynne’sOne Particular Saturday.
Stage readings: Peter Toran’s The Gambitand The Wheel of Fortune, Margaret Locklear’s The Belly of a Woman, Romeo and Juliet, Kimberley Lynne’s Jury Duty, Fat Club, and The Last Battle of the American Revolution, Antonito Briggs’ Trap House, Latonia Valencia’s Bootprints, Stillettoes Across the Serengeti, A Piece of Fruit, and Impossible Love, Jonathan Shorr’s The Bind of Issacand Good God!, Austin Walls’ Satan’s Shadow, Kari Waters’ Threads, Brad Cartwright’s Skunk Ape, Christopher Shorr’s Tribute 9/11, Samantha McDermitt’s Masterson v. United States and Schenk v. United States, Stephen Matanle’s Too Bad, playwright labs featuring the short plays of students Chloe McDaniel, Chris Warman, Victoria Williams, Annie Stevenson, and Rachel Upton, Suzann Lori Parks’ Top Dog/Under Dog, Judith Krummeck’s A Chain of Voices, Hamlet, Victoria Kennedy’s Uninvited Guest, Rachel Jackson’s Emblems, Sharea Harris’Black Maggies trio of plays, and August Wilson’sJoe Turner’s Come and Gone.
Music:Ellis Marsalis, Gabriela Montero, Peter Serkin, Gary Graffman, Poulenc Trio, Lafayette Gilchrist, Baltimore Men’s Chorus, Aspen Ensemble, Kenny Werner, Robert Jordan, Adam Mahonske, Robert Hitz, The Figaro Project’s Contemporary Opera Trioand Who Killed Don Giovanni?, Heifitz Institute Stars of Tomorrow, Melisme, The Monument Trio, Queen Earth, Vivre Musicale, BSO trio Turbine, the Baltimore City College choir, Jeffrey Hoover, Red Sammy, Leon Fleisher, Visions band, Abu the Flutemaker, Danielle Buanaito, Bethany Pietroniro, Triforce Quartet, Roger Friskey, Peter Ferry, Shelby Blondell, Nikolai Kolorav, Rebecca Jeffries, Alexander Timofeev, Rimsky Korsakov String Quartet and Saxton Gagnon Duo.
Musicians have recorded in the hall: Lafayette Gilchrist, The Monument Trio, and Leon Fleischer.
Storytelling:Tony Tsendeas as Edgar Allan Poe in Poe Night(twice), Darren Goins’ Constructedand Double Tap, Anita Gillette’s After All, Christopher Justice’s Fish Tales, Janice the Griot, Soldier Stories(2013-15), Marion Winik’s Portrait of an Artist as a Sad Little Girl in New Jersey, Reflections and Echoesperformances of work developed in Ireland during Armagh Project creative writing residencies (2012-16), Spring Story Slam (Marion Winik’s class 2013 and 2015), and Ron Williams’ Dreadlocks, Rock n Roll and Human Rights.
Spoken Word:Gayle Danley, CityLit Project’s Across Words slam, Tubman Youth Poetry Team Grand Slam Finale, Voices of Thunder, Lady Brion, and the Color of Truth with Slangston Hughes and Derick Ebert.
Readings: Dave Kiefaber, Mary Banks, Nessa O’Mahony, Liz McManus, Malachi O’Doherty, Tafisha Edwards, Steamy Morrison (racy Toni Morrison work on Valentines Day), and Rion Alilcar Scott.
Comedy:Fall Laughing with Baltimore Improv Group, Temple of Improv, Meshelle the Indie Mom of Comedy, and Whole Dog troupe.
Screening: The Thin Blue Line, King Gimp, Maryland Film Festival (2008-2009), Asian Film Festival, You Be Cinema (Pink Flamingoesand Female Trouble), Bear World, and Baltimore RetroCineFest.
Interdisciplinary: The Red Door is Open(improvised piano and painting, 2012 and 2013)Hopper’s Women(Kendra Kopelke poetry with Hopper paintings), Did You Cover Up?(Tracy Dimond and Amanda McCormack poetry performance), and Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz(Langston Hughes poetry and jazz piano).
Conversations:Rep. Elijah Cummings, Writing Toward Race panel (AAAF 2015), Conversations on Charles Street, and Women’s Initiative for Leadership Development.
University of Baltimore student David Chiodaroli wrote an article for the UBalt Post concerning the diminished Spotlight UBalt budget. The UBalt Post is migrating to more online journalism.
Baltimore City Paper voting poll chose Stillpointe Theatre and Spotlight UBalt's combined production of Stephen Sondheim's musical, Assassins, as Best Musical 2016. Congratulations to the cast and crew!
More Information:
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Tickets
Tickets can be purchased:
- online via www.ubwomenspeak.eventbrite.org
Note: As with all online ticketing services, etix charges a minimal processing fee. - one hour before the show at the door.
- online via www.ubwomenspeak.eventbrite.org
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Location
Unless otherwise noted, all events are held in the Wright Theater on the fifth floor of the UBalt Student Center, 21 W. Mt. Royal Ave. (at the corner of Maryland and Mount Royal avenues).
Learn about parking for Spotlight UBalt events.
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Accessibility
If any audience members require an event to be interpreted, please email spotlightub@ubalt.edu with your request. Requests can only be honored when a request is made at least two weeks prior to performance.
For further information, please contact Kimberley Lynne, arts and theater manager, at klynne@ubalt.edu.