Returning to the M&T Bank Exchange with another production and this time for an extended run, is a monumental homecoming and a bold next step for Iron Crow Theatre! What began as a partnership has become a proving ground for what ambitious, professional queer-centered theatre in Baltimore can look like at scale.

What feels different this time is how rapidly the world has shifted around us. We have experienced profound collective trauma and grief in recent years — from the creeping threat of authoritarianism at home to the rollback of rights and protections for our most vulnerable communities. The ground has felt unsteady. The world frequently feels disorienting. All of us are finding our way in a reality that, more often than not, feels very, very not normal.

Next to Normal asks questions about grief, memory, and survival through the lens of a family in crisis. What does it mean to remember the past, while remaining alive in the present, or hopeful for the future? How do we wrestle the demons of mental illness and stay whole? Where do we turn for light in moments of darkness?

At Iron Crow Theatre, we celebrate the renegade and the unorthodox in all of us. Next to Normal is a story for anyone who has ever experienced what it feels like to fall outside the boundaries of what is considered ‘normal’, which is to say, this is a story for everyone. And while this musical is a story of grief, it’s also a story of resilience and the power to heal and endure.

Live theatre is an audacious act of collective witnessing, hope, and community. Thank you, dear audiences, for joining us at the start of our Season of Survival, to share this life-affirming story about the will to survive.

After all we’ve been through over the past few years, it feels like the right moment to gather and remind ourselves that there is always a light in the dark.

Warmly,