Theatre Arts Program

2023/2024 Theatre Season

Ghosts

April 25-28, 2024

Written by Henrik Ibsen, Adapted by Richard Eyre

Directed by Willie O. Jordan

Though written in 1881, Henrik Ibsen’s domestic tragedy is still urgent, timely and relevant today. The play asks each of us to confront some very poignant questions: How does the past influence the present? How does society invade our personal lives? What do we do with the lies, deceit, and hypocrisy? Can we free ourselves from dead ideas, dead customs, and dead morals as we face our Ghosts?

Chicken & Biscuits

February 29 - March 10, 2024

Written by Douglas Lyons

Directed by Daniel Carter

Chicken & Biscuits is a raucous family comedy so full of laughter and love, it’ll leave you begging for seconds. The Jenkins family is coming together to celebrate the life of the family patriarch—hopefully without killing each other! But any hopes for a peaceful reunion unravel when a shocking family secret shows up at the funeral. A feel-good comedy that will feed your soul.

Pipeline

November 10-12, 2023

Written by Dominique Morisseau

Directed by Willie O. Jordan

A mother’s choices. A son’s rage. A rigged education system. In PIPELINE’s opening scene we meet Nya, a dedicated teacher in an inner-city public high school, who has just discovered that her son’s in trouble. After one impulsive act, Omari is in danger of being expelled from his upstate private school, and Nya’s hopes for his bright future are threatened. With language lyrical and potent, Morisseau’s deeply compassionate and dynamic award-winning play dives into the painful truth of “the school-to-prison pipeline.”

Shakin' The Mess Outta Misery

September 28 - October 1, 2023

Written by Shay Youngblood

Directed by Rashida Forman-Bey

Adapted from the Shay Youngblood's book, THE BIG MAMA STORIES, SHAKIN' THE MESS OUTTA MISERY is the inspirational, semi-autobiographical story of a young black girl's coming of age in the 1960s South. "Daughter," the main character and 25-year-old narrator, lost her mother when she was very young and a community of women raised her, some blood related, some not. As she remembers how her 'Big Mamas' prepared her for womanhood, the women enter to tell their stories and "Daughter" becomes a child again, reliving her vivid memories of growing up--recalling the rituals, the faith healings, and the stories she was told and the lessons she learned about survival, healing, sisterhood, family, and faith. Youngblood's play confirms the African proverb—"It takes a village to raise a child."

2022-2023 Theatre Season

Pipeline

March 2-5, 2023

Written by Dominique Morisseau

Directed by Willie O. Jordan

A mother’s choices. A son’s rage. A rigged education system. In PIPELINE’s opening scene we meet Nya, a dedicated teacher in an inner-city public high school, who has just discovered that her son’s in trouble. After one impulsive act, Omari is in danger of being expelled from his upstate private school, and Nya’s hopes for his bright future are threatened. With language lyrical and potent, Morisseau’s deeply compassionate and dynamic award-winning play dives into the painful truth of “the school-to-prison pipeline.”

Shakin' The Mess Outta Misery

April 27 - May 7, 2023

Written by Shay Youngblood

Directed by Rashida Forman-Bey

Adapted from the Shay Youngblood's book, THE BIG MAMA STORIES, SHAKIN' THE MESS OUTTA MISERY is the inspirational, semi-autobiographical story of a young black girl's coming of age in the 1960s South. "Daughter," the main character and 25-year-old narrator, lost her mother when she was very young and a community of women raised her, some blood related, some not. As she remembers how her 'Big Mamas' prepared her for womanhood, the women enter to tell their stories and "Daughter" becomes a child again, reliving her vivid memories of growing up--recalling the rituals, the faith healings, and the stories she was told and the lessons she learned about survival, healing, sisterhood, family, and faith. Youngblood's play confirms the African proverb—"It takes a village to raise a child."

Broke-ology

November 10-13, 2022

Written by Nathan Louis Jackson

In Broke-ology, despite economic and emotional hardships, the King family has survived thanks to their love for and dedication to one another. William, the father afflicted with MS, still lives in the house in which his sons grew up, continuously grasping at the memories of his late wife, Sonia, and the dreams they shared of a better future for their children. Ennis, his elder son, takes care of William despite the pressure that comes with having a baby of his own on the way. Malcolm, the younger son, is a college graduate recently returned home after a taste of life outside the asphyxiating cycle of poverty and struggle in which he was raised. When the offer of a job in Connecticut tempts Malcolm into leaving for good, he is forced to decide between his duty to his family and his refusal to further defer the dreams of his father.

The Overcomers Theatre Season 2021-2022

Colorblind: The Katrina Monologues

May 1-31, 2021

By Tom Flannery

Directed by Azya Maxton

On the morning of August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit southeast Louisiana. Today, it is still remembered as the most apocalyptic storm to hit the US, causing severe damage along the Gulf Coast. In the aftermath of the storm, the federal flood protection system in New Orleans failed in more than fifty places, causing nearly every levee to break. Thousands of families were uprooted. More than 1800 persons lost their lives. Flannery's Katrina Monologues tells the stories of nine people affected by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

Blues For an Alabama Sky

October 29-31, 2021

By Pearl Cleage

It's the summer of 1930 and the promises of the Harlem Renaissance are giving way to the dashed dreams of the Great Depression. Playwright Pearl Cleage tells a strikingly modern story about four friends whose lives and passions collide when an innocent newcomer from Alabama arrives in New York.

Private Wars

November 4-5, 2021
The Theatre Lab, Grace Jacobs Building, Lower Level

• Thursday November 4th at 10:30 a.m.
• Friday, November 5th at 10:30 a.m.
• Friday, November 5th at 7:30 p.m.

By James McClure

Popular anti-war comedy about the humorous and intense recovery of three Viet Nam Vets from physical wounds and PTSD.

Admission: $10 General, $5 Coppin Student with ID

Fully masked audience, proof of vaccination or negative test result within 72 hours

The Colored Museum

April 21-24, 2022

• April 21 & 22 at 7:30 p.m.
• April 23 & 24 at 3:00 p.m.

By George C. Wolfe

A poignant, socially-conscious, satirical comedy, The Colored Museum is a depiction of black culture in America, especially relevant in today’s world of “Black Lives Matter”. Tony Award-winning playwright, George C. Wolfe, takes us on a journey of Black culture with an “in-your-face,” non-apologetic, “take no prisoners” satire that electrifies, unsettles, and delights audiences of all colors.

84th Annual Conference of the National Association of Dramatic and Speech Arts (NADSA)

April 6-9, 2022

Coppin State University
2500 W. North Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21216

The Glass Menagerie

May 6-8, 2022

By Tennessee Williams

An American classic of great tenderness, charm, and beauty, The Glass Menagerie is an icon of the American theater. Known as Tennessee Williams's autobiographical “memory play,” we meet the Wingfield family—frustrated writer Tom, his nagging mother, Amanda, who is often lost in memories of her Southern-belle past, and his painfully shy sister, Laura—and the effect a visit from a “gentleman caller” for Laura has on all their lives.

2019-2020 The Season of Change

2018-2019 The Commemorative Theatre Season

Theatre Trip to New York City to see The Lion King on Broadway

For Colored Girls… by Ntozake Shange (October 2018)

Harlem Renaissance Program (original world premiere of student-written production, Harlem Song) (November 2018)

A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller (December 2018)

KCACTF Region II Festival 2019 at Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey (January 2019)

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (March 2019)

NADSA Conference 2019—Coppin State University is host (April 2019)

2017-2018 The Social Justice Theatre Season

Suspects in America by Willie Holmes

Tell Pharaoh by Loften Mitchell

KCACTF Region II Festival 2018 at Indiana University, Pennsylvania

For Colored Girls… by Ntozake Shange

2016-2017 The Awakening Theatre Season

You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown

Homeplace by Claudette Alexander-Thomason

Suspects in America (A Staged Reading) by Willie Holmes

2015-2016 The Community Theatre Season

Zooman and the Sign by Charles Fuller

Under the Skin by Michael Hollinger

Homeplace (A Staged Reading) by Claudette Alexander-Thomason

2014-2015 The Nobility Theatre Season

A Lesson Before Dying by Romulus Linney

Jar the Floor by Cheryl L. West

2013-2014 The Revelation Season

Truth Stands, a world premiere by Cynthia Hardeman (October 2013)

To Be Young, Gifted and Black by Lorraine Hansberry (November 2013) Adapted by Robert Nemiroff

The Waiting Room By Samm-Art Williams (March 2014)

2012-2013 Season

From the Mississippi Delta by Endesha Ida Mae Holland (October 2012)

Harriet Jacobs by Lydia Diamond (November 2012 & February 2013)

One Night Only- A Christmas Show by James Macon Grant (December 2012)

2011-2012 Season

Every Tongue Confess by Marcus Gardley (October 2011)

From the Mississippi Delta by Endesha Ida Mae Holland (December 2011)

God’s Trombones: From Test to Testimony by James Weldon Johnson; Adapted by D. Wambui Richardson (April 2012)

2010-2011 Season

In the Blood by Suzan-Lori Parks (October 2010)

Antigone by Sophocles (November 2010)

God’s Trombones by James Weldon Johnson (April 2011)

2009-2010 Season

The Colored Museum by George C. Wolfe (November 2009)

Constant Star by Tazewell Thompson (March 2010)

Pill Hill by Samuel Kelley (April 2010)