Caroline & The Ravens

In the two weeks before the closing curtain of Caroline, or Change, I found myself chatting with Eddie, our tailor, in the third floor break room as I dried my feet of the rain and satisfied my craving for Indian food with vegetables and Naan. As our conversation progressed, it somehow evolved from the Akbar’s wonderful buffet menu, to ticket sales for Fabulation and Caroline, and then to the Ravens upcoming game against the Titans. I’m not even a real fan of football; however, it is a topic one can not readily avoid, especially in this town.

Football season is like a pandemic of purple for Baltimore and every year, without fail, the city finds itself draped in the color. Those last two weeks before Caroline, or Change closed its curtains at CENTERSTAGE, there were only two topics of conversation: Caroline and The Ravens.

As a fan of the arts and friend to many a Ravens fan, I wanted to be able to relate to both sides of the spectrum. But where should I even begin? Yes, I can discuss Caroline, or Change with a passion all my own, but the Ravens? I feel almost entirely dislocated from the matter. So, with a desperate urge to understand this obsession that had practically consumed nearly all of my closest associates, family and friends, I read. I read, not just about the Ravens, but of the Colts, their history with Baltimore, Johnny Unitas, Robert Irsay, and those infamous Mayflower buses.

As I researched, I became engrossed in the history of football in this town. Although I cannot say that I fully understand, at the very least I have begun to empathize with the Ravens cult. I mean, the Colts just left us, and in the middle of the night, nonetheless. I get now, just a little bit, this sense of Ravens pride and the excitement that filled the hearts of all fans at the thought that we were so close to reaching our second Super Bowl!

In the end, I somehow became invested in our final game against the Steelers and was bitterly disappointed at our loss. Despite the upset, it was still exhilarating to witness that same enthusiasm and fervor burst through the doorways of CENTERSTAGE and fill our hallways with the same Ravens fanfare that was thrown all over the city. We had Ravens promotions on ticket sales and drink specials offered to all who walk into our theater wearing any type of Ravens attire—plus a specialty drink so lovingly named “The Interceptor” after Ravens jersey number 20, Mr. Ed Reed, and yes, it was purple!

What was most fascinating to me, however, was not all of the purple, nor was it all of the media, nor our attempts to keep our patrons coming back to see Caroline one last time. But what surprised me the most was the fact that our city’s love for football never wiped out its love for the theater.

The weekend the Ravens played the Titans, our house was consistently full despite the game. In fact, not only did we offer drink specials that day, CENTERSTAGE went the extra mile for our patrons and played the actual game in both of our cafes prior to the show. As the game ended just twenty minutes before curtain, a new energy filled the lobbies. It was the kind of energy that could only come with a three point and one field kick victory over the opponent and to watch it enter the Pearlstone that night really was a unique experience.

The next day, our house was booked solid for our Sunday post-Ravens-game matinee, and patrons waited outside our box office for any canceled tickets to the show that had earned rave reviews from The Sun, BroadwayWorld.com, and our audiences.

It humbles me to know that, not only do our patrons love us as passionately as their favorite team, but that there were those who saw our show three, four, even five times and always with a new person. One of our patrons came to see Caroline a record of six times during its run. And our seats never stopped selling, which is a testament that the most powerful advertisement was not any sort of public media; it was word of mouth. It gives everyone involved here at CENTERSTAGE the genuine feeling that we are doing something extremely right.

I am so overjoyed to see such a response. It encourages and fills me with hope that in spite of our troubled economic times, there are still some things in our immediate universe that manage to bring us happiness and cause for celebration—and even those that help us laugh through our troubles, such as our new show, Fabulation.

Sure, we have may not have made it to the Super Bowl this season, but we will still cheer for the Ravens, for Caroline and, most importantly, for Change.

~Cori

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Photos- Aaron Bell, Bradley Bowers, Kelly McCreary, Roland Haywood, and Renn Woods in Caroline, or Change (top); The Interceptor (middle); Robert Montano and Natalie Venetia Belcon in Fabulation (bottom). Show photos by Richard Anderson.