BALTIMORE — Award‑winning TV and film producer Lena Waithe is reintroducing herself as a playwright — and she chose Baltimore Center Stage for the premiere of "Trinity" the first play she's ever written and starred in.
Waithe and her team spent a year and a half in a writer's room developing the play, which she also stars in. When it was ready for audiences, she knew just where to bring it. In collaboration with director Stevie Walker‑Webb, Trinity has been selling out performances, earning an extended run, and drawing celebrity supporters —like Issa Rae, Debbie Allen, Megan Good, Vic Mensa and more.
Some celebs, including Baltimore native, Jada Pinkett-Smith, even contributed to the sell-out crowds by purchasing groups of tickets for fans.
“For me I just have to do what feels organic. I have to do what feels right and I have to continue to evolve as an artist, and you hope the audience evolves with you and grows with you,” Waithe said. “This has been an experience that I’ll never forget and it will leave its fingerprints… I’m really grateful for that.”
Walker‑Webb praised Baltimore’s creative energy and the relationship between city and art: “When people come to Baltimore, they fall in love with it, they feel inspired by it, and then the art all flows out of that.” He added that the momentum at Baltimore Center Stage reflects an audience hungry for the work the theater is presenting.
Trinity follows a trio of characters ("A," "B" and "C") on a raw, complicated journey toward love — a story its creative team says is universal. “What she’s written really reflects all of us,” Walker‑Webb said. “If you have a parent this play is about you. If you’ve ever been in love, this play is about you.”
Audience members and creators alike note the intimacy of the theater space, designed to make viewers lean in and engage. “With this particular theater space… that’s really how this work is meant to be experienced,” Waithe said.
After several packed performances and all the buzz from the theatre community in Charm City, the production earned extra dates and more attention — and the team is celebrating Baltimore as the city that embraced the story and gave it its first audience.
Trinity’s final run, another sold-out show, at Baltimore Center Stage will be Sunday, March 15.
