People to Know in the Arts: Sean Elias, Iron Crow Theatre
What does Iron Crow Theatre do? Our mission is to produce queer theatre for a what we believe to be a queer city. Anyone who chooses to utilize this term has a place and a home here at Iron Crow Theatre. We don’t seek to define queer but rather broaden the definition beyond sexuality to anyone who has ever felt or been made to feel like “the other.”
What’s your origin story? Iron Crow Theatre started in 2009 as simply a fundraiser to support Baltimore’s Moveable Feast [an organization providing nutritional counseling and meals to those with terminal illnesses]. The group of artists who came together to produce the fundraiser continued their work out of enjoyment with each other and an understanding that theatre that featured LGBTQ stories and/or characters was severely under represented across the city.
Iron Crow recently took a year off to rebrand. How did that change the organization? Our growth, programming, funding and recognition have all double or tripled their previous records.
What are some of the problems facing Baltimore’s arts community? Baltimore is the only city without that mid market theatre which is truly important to the overall economy of a city. I think this is because we have so many DIY theatres that continue to pop up and operate that we don’t have enough resources behind any one of them to propel them forward toward this need. While I’m all for the self-creation of work and self-promotion, I do think Baltimore has incubated a new challenge with its support of so many self creating/producing entities and DIY theatres.
Does the organization have any goals for 2017 We want to solidify a performance home for Iron Crow Theatre both short term and long term and bring on two new full-time administrators. Most importantly, we want to increase our artist stipends in time for the 2018-2019 season.
Read more at Baltimore Business Journal
