Home/About
A presenting venue · since 1971
A 150-seat
black box that
made Baltimore
weirder.
Six lives, one building, half a century of letting artists do the thing nobody else would let them do.
The 90-second version
Founded
Philip Arnoult opens the doors. Admission was whatever you put in the hat at the end.
The presenting model
Becomes a venue for traveling and emerging companies — not a producer, an incubator.
Resident artists
Anchors a roster of resident companies alongside national and international guests.
Still What's Next
Twelve-plus genres a season, Baker-funded, 60% of every dollar to the artists.
We're not the place where Broadway tours stop. We're the place where the next Broadway-tour-stop's writer cut their teeth in front of fifty people on a Tuesday.
Go deeper
Eight ways into the story.
Pick whichever angle matters to you — the mission, the artists, the building, the people running it, or how to support the work.
Mission
Connecting Baltimore with a diverse community of emerging and established artists who create original work.
Resident Artists
The companies and creators with a long-running home at the venue — Iron Crow, Alex & Olmsted, and more.
Theatre Project's History
From a 1971 Free Theater experiment to a fixture of Baltimore's contemporary performance scene.
Staff & Board
The small team and volunteer board that keep the building open year-round — and the artists they answer to.
The IOH Building
1896 fraternal lodge, 1920s dance academy, Greek community center — the building had a life before us.
Our Supporters
The Baker Fund, MSAC, BOPA, county arts councils, foundations, and individual donors making this possible.
Donate
Sixty cents of every dollar goes directly to the artists. The other forty keeps the lights on. Both halves matter.
Contact
Box office for tickets and pass questions, office for everything else — including artist inquiries and press.
The building has had more lives than most people
45 W. Preston has been many things. This is the latest.
Built in 1896 as a fraternal lodge for the Order of Happiness. It has been a dance academy, a Greek community center, a renegade Free Theater. We are stewards of the latest chapter, not the first.
Full building history →- 1896Order of Happiness lodgeBuilt as a fraternal hall for the Seven Wise Men.
- 1920sDance academyHosting Baltimore's Roaring-Twenties social scene.
- Mid-centuryGreek community centerA neighborhood gathering place for decades.
- 1971The Free TheaterPass-the-hat performance becomes Theatre Project.
- Today150-seat black box + 20' acoustic domeADA-accessible, year-round, still presenting What's Next.
Visit
45 W. Preston St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
Box Office
ALTERNATIVE STYLE BELOW
Home/About
A presenting venue · since 1971
A 150-seat
black box that
made Baltimore
weirder.
Six lives, one building, half a century of letting artists do the thing nobody else would let them do.
The 90-second version
Founded
Philip Arnoult opens the doors. Admission was whatever you put in the hat at the end.
The presenting model
Becomes a venue for traveling and emerging companies — not a producer, an incubator.
Resident artists
Anchors a roster of resident companies alongside national and international guests.
Still What's Next
Twelve-plus genres a season, Baker-funded, 60% of every dollar to the artists.
We're not the place where Broadway tours stop. We're the place where the next Broadway-tour-stop's writer cut their teeth in front of fifty people on a Tuesday.
Go deeper
Eight ways into the story.
Pick whichever angle matters to you — the mission, the artists, the building, the people running it, or how to support the work.
Mission
Connecting Baltimore with a diverse community of emerging and established artists who create original work — and what that looks like in practice.
Resident Artists
The companies and creators with a long-running home at the venue — Iron Crow, Alex & Olmsted, and the others shaping each season's identity.
Theatre Project's History
From a 1971 Free Theater experiment to a fixture of Baltimore's contemporary performance scene — the long version of how we got here.
Staff & Board
The small team and volunteer board that keep the building open year-round — and the artists they answer to.
The IOH Building
1896 fraternal lodge, 1920s dance academy, Greek community center, and Free Theater — the building had a life before us, and we kept the dome.
Our Supporters
The Baker Fund, MSAC, BOPA, county arts councils, foundations, and individual donors who make a presenting venue possible at this scale.
Donate
Sixty cents of every dollar goes directly to the artists. The other forty keeps the lights on and the chairlift running. Both halves matter.
Contact
Box office for tickets and pass questions, office for everything else — including artist inquiries, rental questions, and press.
The building has had more lives than most people
45 W. Preston has been many things. This is the latest.
Built in 1896 as a fraternal lodge for the Order of Happiness — literally, "the seven wise men." It has been a dance academy, a Greek community center, a renegade Free Theater. We are stewards of the latest chapter, not the first.
Full building history- 1896 Order of Happiness lodgeBuilt as a fraternal hall for the Seven Wise Men.
- 1920s Dance academyHosting Baltimore's Roaring-Twenties social scene.
- Mid-century Greek community centerA neighborhood gathering place for decades.
- 1971 The Free TheaterPass-the-hat performance becomes Theatre Project.
- Today 150-seat black box + 20' acoustic domeAda-accessible, year-round, still presenting What's Next.
Visit
45 W. Preston St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
Box Office
Office