When Anna, an unmarried schoolteacher, is diagnosed with ATD, Acquired Toilet Disease, a fatal new malady with a high risk factor for elementary school teachers, she and her brother Carl take flight to Europe. Anna decides she wants to drown herself in the sensuality of food and sex, while Carl becomes involved in a wild Third Mannish espionage scheme to find a cure for his sister on the Continent. But something is not quite right with the scenario, and the largest hint is dropped when Anna shows slides of their trip to Europe where each frame looks exactly like Baltimore…
Written in 1988 after her brother Carl died of AIDS-related complications at Johns Hopkins Hospital, THE BALTIMORE WALTZ is Paula Vogel’s fantastical and funny love letter to her brother.
The Washington Post Review
“Where Susan Marie Rhea’s production works is in the acting. There’s a game afoot, and Letourneau and Innocenti are quite good at a double consciousness that alerts you to their puzzle without tipping their hands.”
DC Metro Theater Arts Review
“The Baltimore Waltz is an ambitious piece of theater, fusing melodrama with farce and wish fulfillment with stark reality, in an impressively short length (the play runs 90 minutes)….Director Susan Maria Rhea’s production is certainly attuned to what makes Vogel’s play stand out from other politically-minded postmodern works of the era.”
Broadway World Review
“The Keegan Theatre’s The Baltimore Waltz is a confrontation of mortality, a hilarious farce, an exposé of the limits of the medical system, a noir thriller, and crucially, a flawlessly staged and acted production.”
* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States, appearing under a Special Appearance Contract.
