2025 – 2026 Production Season

Special Event!

Call Me By Any Other Name... Just as Sweet Show Poster

Queer Futures: A Roundtable Conversation

Friday, September 26, 2025
3pm – 6pm, PAHB 105, light refreshments will be provided, RSVP TBA

About the Event:

What does queerness look like in the future? What are we dreaming of? What are we building — and how do we build it?

Queer Futures is a roundtable gathering of visionary queer artists, thinkers, and culture-makers to explore the evolving possibilities of queer life, art, and community. In an open and generative conversation, panelists will reflect on the current moment, imagine what’s ahead, and share how their creative and political practices are shaping the world to come.

This event, hosted in conjunction with the second week of the new play by Nigel Semaj, Assistant Professor of Theatre, Call Me By Any Other Name… Just As Sweet at The Voxel, invites students, artists, and community members into a space of radical imagination, joy, and inquiry. Join us for an evening of reflection, conversation, and celebration —and then join us for the evening’s performance at The Voxel.

This event is partially subsidized by the Arts+ Initiative and CIRCA.

Fall 2025 Productions

Show poster for U-M-B-C Theatre's production of Shakespeare in Harlem.Shakespeare in Harlem

By Langston Hughes
Adapted and Directed by Gerrad Alex Taylor

A co-production of UMBC Theatre and Chesapeake Shakespeare Company and The Black Classical Acting Ensemble.

UMBC Proscenium Theatre

October 30 – November 9, 2025

Tickets Available Here! (TBA)

Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

7 South Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
January 15 – 18, 2026

Tickets Available Here! (TBA)

About the Show:

The year 2025 marks the centennial of the Harlem Renaissance, perhaps the largest cultural and artistic American movement of the 20th century. In celebration, the Department of Theatre will amplify the work of Black and African American theatre-makers and our engagement with the Baltimore theatre community by mounting an adaptation of “Shakespeare in Harlem” by Langston Hughes.

A rare gem from Langston Hughes, this collection of monologue poems revives the rhythms of jazz, the blues, and the pulse of the Harlem Renaissance—its love, struggles, and street-corner spirit. In director Gerrad Alex Taylor’s adaptation, Hughes’ words come alive in a dynamic full-length play, blending poetry, music, and dance for an immersive journey into the world he so vividly celebrated.

The production process will include a UMBC residency of Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s Black Classical Acting Ensemble in the Fall of 2025, culminating in a two-week run of the play performed by a cast of professionals and students. In Winter 2026, the play will be remounted for a week’s run at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s downtown home on South Calvert Street.

Content Disclosure:

This play contains racially and sexually charged language, including derogatory and offensive language. Staged violence, including the use of a prop gun, and references to drinking. This play deals with themes of racism, sexism, death, poverty, and displacement.

Performances at UMBC:
Performances at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company:
  • Thursday, January 15, 2026, 7:30 PM (Black Out Performance)
  • Friday, January 16, 2026, 8:00 PM
  • Saturday, January 17, 2026, 2:00 PM
  • Sunday, January 18, 2026, 2:00 PM

This event is partially subsidized by the Arts+ Initiative.

 

Show poster for U-M-B-C Theatre's production of Street Scenes.Street Scenes

Text by Langston Hughes and his contemporaries
Music by Kurt Weill and others
Adapted and Directed by Eve Muson
Musical Direction by Andrew Hann

UMBC Black Box Theatre

December 5 – 7, 2025

Tickets Available Here! (TBA)

About the Show:

Street Scenes weaves together scenes and songs from Langston Hughes, his contemporaries, and artistic descendents —playwrights who, like Hughes, explored the promises and failures of the American Dream. Their works pulse with young characters fighting barriers of class, faith, work, and identity, all bound by a shared mission: honoring the dignity of everyday people.

A fully musical production, Muson’s adaptation includes text and songs from Kurt Weill, Arthur Miller, Lillian Helman, Clifford Odets, Lorrainne Hansberry, August Wilson, and other 20th century artists.

Content Disclosure:

This play contains small acts of aggression, brief acts of intimacy (kissing both romantic and aggressive).

Performances at UMBC:

Spring 2026 Productions

Show poster for U-M-B-C Theatre's production of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Adapted by Jacqueline E. Lawton
Directed by Joseph W. Ritsch

UMBC Proscenium Theatre

April 2 – 12, 2026

Tickets Available Here! (TBA)

About the Show:

Life in modern day Baltimore has been a bit boring for Dorothy and her little dog Toto. Until one day, a cyclone swoops in and takes them “over the rainbow” to the wonderful and magical land of Oz. With the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion, Dorothy sets off on the adventure of a lifetime down the yellow brick road to the Emerald City. These new friends brave witches, flying monkeys, and a Haunted Forest all to meet the Wizard of Oz, who promises to make their dreams come true.

Content Disclosure:

TBA

Performances at UMBC:

This event is partially subsidized by the Arts+ Initiative.

 

Show poster for U-M-B-C Department of Theatre's production of User Agreement.User Agreement

By Ben Holbrook
Directed by Sean DiGiorgio (’26)

UMBC Black Box Theatre

May 1 – 3, 2026

Tickets Available Here! (TBA)

About the Show:

Set in the near future, Sy and Theo attempt to navigate their bond in a world enhanced by the wonders of artificial intelligence and the occasional talking octopus. Their budding romance is tested by an increasingly complex society driven by technology and capital, asking us to wonder if two simple souls can truly connect.

Content Disclosure:

TBA

Performances at UMBC:

This event is partially subsidized by the Arts+ Initiative.

Please Note:

UMBC Theatre events are open for full participation by all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal law, state law, and the University’s nondiscrimination policy.

All Poster Artwork by Eric Abele.