Event

Stage Fright

1989, Dir. Brad Mays
With Rick Hammontree, Susan Rome and Greg McClure
71 min, digital projection

A fictionalized account of the trials and tribulations of a Baltimore-based experimental theater company called Storefront Theatre, loosely fashioned after the now-defunct Corner Theatre ETC, the dark comedy Stage Fright captures the struggles of the Baltimore theater community in the late 1980s.

When notorious playwright Grayson Osterman (Rick Hammontree) returns after a long hiatus with a shocking new play, Malaise, based somewhat on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, he is shocked to discover that one of his leads has had a mental breakdown just three days before opening. Together the theater group must recast the role and work around the clock to get the play ready for a much-heralded premiere. A tongue-in-cheek satire, Stage Fright captures a moment of flux in the arts scene of Baltimore as the hopes of the 1960s counterculture movement give way to the pessimism of the 1990s.