Whimsical · Puppetry
Alex & Olmsted
Internationally acclaimed puppet theatre.
In residence since2018
Alex Vernon and Sarah Olmsted Thomas — husband-and-wife puppeteers and filmmakers, four-time Jim Henson Foundation grantees, and recipients of the Maryland State Arts Council's 2020 Independent Artist Award (the highest honor for performing artists in the state, given once in a lifetime). They've toured Denmark, South Korea, Germany, France, Italy, and Canada. When they premiere a new work at Theatre Project, you're seeing it before New York does.
Provocative · Theatre
Iron Crow Theatre
Baltimore's queer theatre.
Founded2009
"Queer theatre for a queer city; celebrating the renegade and the unorthodox in all of us." Award-winning, professional, on a path to becoming Baltimore's next Equity theatre. Their Hedwig revival featured the company's first all-Equity cast. Productions don't seek to define queer for others — they hold space for those who identify themselves or their work that way, through aesthetic, theme, or theatrical approach.
Physical · Devised Theatre
Happenstance Theater
"DC's leading peddler of whimsy." — Washington Post
Company founded2006
Five Helen Hayes Awards. A devised, performer-created ensemble under the artistic co-direction of Mark Jaster (who studied with Étienne Decroux and assisted Marcel Marceau) and Sabrina Mandell. They harvest imagery from the past — Edward Gorey, Hieronymus Bosch, golden-age circus, Edwardian clowns — and re-contextualize it. Movement, silence, theatrical clown, music, physical comedy, beauty.
Experimental · Contemporary Dance
Deep Vision Dance Company
Choreography that immerses, questions, transforms.
In residence since2013
Founded in 2011 by choreographer Nicole A. Martinell — recipient of a Baker Artist Award and Maryland Dance Educator of the Year. Her work collaborates with movers, visual artists, musicians, religious scholars, and scientists, ranging from intimate stage pieces to grand site works. "Absolutely breathtaking to behold" — DC Metro Theatre Arts. The company has earned 22 grants since founding.
Intense · Contemporary Dance
VTDance / Vincent E. Thomas
"A sanctuary, celebration, invitation, and hope." — Dancer-Citizen
In residence since2013
Vincent E. Thomas — Towson University Professor of Dance, 2021 Baker Awardee, 2017 Pola Nirenska Award winner, Urban Bush Women BOLD Facilitator. VTDance has performed at Theatre Project for nearly 15 years, building work from contemporary movement, improvisation, text, and collaboration. Internationally toured (Edinburgh Fringe, Avignon, Athens, Taipei). At BTP since 2002, residency since 2013.
Experimental · Free Improvisation
High Zero
"Cataclysmic, creative music, improvised on the spot." — Cadence
At BTP since2001
The premier festival of improvised, experimental music on the East Coast — running every September since 1999. Hosted by the Red Room Collective, High Zero brings 22 core musicians from Baltimore and around the world together for new collaborations between players who often have never met. Featured by NPR, the Washington Post, The Wire. Half the players are Baltimore-based — the festival is proof of the city's experimental subculture.
Classical · Innovative Opera
IN Series
"The standard-bearer for innovative opera theater."
DC + BaltimoreResident
DC-based, Baltimore-touring. Under Artistic Director Timothy Nelson, IN Series stages opera that disrupts expectations — banned 17th-century works finally premiering, blues operas about Robert Johnson, Monteverdi via South Indian classical dance, Verdi reimagined under a circus tent. Their Baltimore home is BTP. Co-productions with Catapult Opera. Each season lands a "way you've never seen this before" production at our space.
Classical · Chamber Opera
Peabody Chamber Opera
America's first conservatory. Intimate productions.
Conservatory founded1857
The opera program of the Johns Hopkins Peabody Conservatory — America's first music conservatory, founded 1857. Their chamber productions favor smaller casts and orchestras than mainstage opera, making the form more intimate and immediate. Recent BTP premiere: "Hello, Star!" — a family-friendly opera based on Mae Jemison's life, the first African-American woman in space. Co-commissioned with Opera Parallèle.
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