After breaking through on our screens in both film and television, Lena Waithe is preparing to step into a new arena, the stage.
“trinty,” a brand-new play written by and starring the 41-year-old film and television producer, debuts next month at Baltimore’s Center Stage and will transport audiences to outer space.
“Come see us in Baltimore,” “The Chi” creator wrote in the caption of a recent Instagram post celebrating the show’s upcoming opening.
She added, “Some narratives belong on a screen; this one asks to be felt in the room. Join us for the world premiere. An offering. A pause. A becoming.”
Opening February 12 and running through March 8, the show follows three characters — A (Waithe), B (Courtney Sauls), and C (Megalyn Echikunwoke) — who are confined to a single room during what Waithe has described as playful role-playing that turns into a deeper exploration of how the three most influential relationship types (between parents, friends, and romantic partners) shape our sense of self.
Even though the play is opening at Center Stage with three Black women playing the roles, she intentionally leaves out the characters’ genders and racial descriptions in the book so it can be played by anyone.
“It’s about humanity. It’s about matters of the heart,” she told the Baltimore Banner in a recent interview. “It’s about questions of existence.”
The Emmy winner was especially excited to open the production at Center Stage because of the theater’s current creative director, Stevie Walker-Webb, and the city’s spirit. It’s not her first time working in Baltimore or with Center Stage. She previously had a hand in “The Peculiar Patriot” by Liza Jessie Peterson, about mass incarceration in America, which debuted there last fall.
“It feels like another home, as opposed to far from it,” she said.
Speaking to WBALTV, she added, “I’ve already seen plays here, workshopped this play here, and it’s on hallowed ground, it’s really sacred, these walls, these theaters, these spaces, they feel like home.”
As for why theater, and why now, the “Master of None” producer shared that at a time when Hollywood can feel restrictive for a Black woman creating, theater offers the opposite.
“There’s no rules. There’s no ceiling,” she said. “There’s nothing you cannot do, because in theater you have to use your imagination.”
For tickets to “trinity” and more information, head to Baltimore’s Center Stage website.
