sol 5: noah diaz

​In order to avoid the spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease) and prioritize the health of patrons, artists, and staff, our production of Noah Diaz's RICHARD & JANE & DICK & SALLY (in partnership with The Playwright's Realm) has been canceled.

We stand committed in supporting Noah as one of our writers and partnering with The Playwright's Realm in the future. Please check back for updates about a future production.

noah diaz
the playwright

Noah Diaz is an MFA candidate in Playwriting at the Yale School of Drama. His work has been produced and/or developed at Baltimore Center Stage, The Playwrights Realm, The Sol Project, Two River Theater, the Kennedy Center, Yale School of Drama, Yale Cabaret, Howlround Latinx Theater Commons, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, The Shelterbelt Theatre, 5th Wall Productions, Campfire Theatre Festival, and the Rose Theater, among others. Awards/Fellowships include: three Kennedy Center Playwriting Awards, the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center NPC Finalist, 50PP Best Unproduced Latin@ Plays, Blue Ink Playwriting Award Finalist, and the Woodward/Newman Playwriting Award Finalist. He is currently under commission from the La Jolla Playhouse and the Great Plains Theatre Conference.

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richard & Jane & Dick & sally
the play

Noah Diaz’s Richard & Jane & Dick & Sally sees the harsh, realistic evolution of characters who became part of America’s collective unconscious via a series of iconic 1950s children’s books by William S. Gray and Zerna Sharp. In Diaz’s theatrical universe, Dick (now Richard) and Jane are grown up; Richard is recently widowed and hasn’t spoken to Jane in ages, while his children are retreating into the realm of fantasy. Richard’s son Dick sports his mother’s clothes in hopes of conjuring her, and his daughter Sally—who is deaf and feeling the crushing weight of her father’s desire for her to fit into the hearing world—converses with the family dog, Spot. In this dramatic comedy, Diaz makes a stunningly lyrical off-Broadway debut that exposes the gap between the idealized archetypes we internalize as children and the often painful real-life experiences that drive our emotional development as adults. ​

the playwrights realm
the partner theater

The Playwrights Realm, led by Artistic Director Katherine Kovner and Producing Director Roberta Pereira, is devoted to supporting emerging playwrights throughout their careers, helping them to hone their craft, fully realize their vision, and build meaningful artistic careers. To serve this mission, The Playwrights Realm provides comprehensive support to playwrights throughout their creative processes and careers with the Page One Residency, Alumni Playwrights Program, Writing Fellowship, Scratchpad Series, and of course productions. 

Last season, The Realm presented the world premiere of Jonathan Payne’s incisive social-satire/drama/detective story The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll'd, which he had honed during his time as a 2015/2016 Writing Fellow at the Realm. (His second full production, A Human Being, of a Sort will premiere this summer at Williamstown Theatre Festival). In the fall of 2016, The Playwrights Realm produced the world premiere of Sarah DeLappe's The Wolves, which is currently hailed as one of the "25 Best American Plays Since ‘Angels in America’" by the New York Times, and was recently featured on TCG’s "Top 10 Most-Produced Plays in 2018-2019" list. Other previous productions by The Playwrights Realm Don Nguyen’s Hello, From the Children of Planet Earth  (2018), Michael Yates Crowley’s The Rape of the Sabine Women, by Grace B. Matthias (2017), Jen Silverman’s The Moors (2017), Mfoniso Udofia’s Sojourners (2016), Anna Ziegler’s A Delicate Ship (2015), Anton Dudley’s City Of (2015), Elizabeth Irwin’s My Mañana Comes (2014), Lauren Yee’s The Hatmaker’s Wife (2013), Ethan Lipton’s Red-Handed Otter (2012), Jen Silverman’s Crane Story (2011), Gonzalo Rodriguez Risco's Dramatis Personae (2010), Christopher Wall's Dreams of the Washer King (2010), Anna Ziegler's Dov and Ali (2009) and Anton Dudley's Substitution (2008).

Baltimore center stage
the partner theater

Founded in 1963 and designated the State Theater of Maryland in 1978, Baltimore Center Stage provides the highest quality theater and programming for all members of our communities, including youth and families, under the leadership of Artistic Director Stephanie Ybarra and Executive Director Michael Ross. Baltimore Center Stage ignites conversations and imaginations by producing an eclectic season of professional productions across two mainstages and an intimate 99-seat theater, through engaging community programs, and with inspiring education programs. Everything we do at Center Stage is led by our core values—chief among them being Access For All. Our mission is heavily rooted in providing active and open accessibility for everyone, regardless of any and all barriers, to our Mainstage performances, education initiatives, and community programming.

taylor reynolds
the director

Taylor Reynolds is a New York-based director and theatremaker from Chicago and one of the Producing Artistic Leaders of The Movement Theatre Company in Harlem. She has worked as a director, assistant, and collaborator with companies including Clubbed Thumb, Signature Theatre Company, Page 73, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Ars Nova, New Georges, The Japan Society, and Radical Evolution. Selected directing credits: Plano by Will Arbery (Drama Desk nomination for Best Direction), Songs About Trains (co-directed with Rebecca Martinez), ALLOND(R)A by Gina Femia, Think Before You Holla (creator/deviser), FOOD by Rhonda Marie Khan, Accidental Burlesque by Gina Femia (developed through the Audrey Residency at New Georges). She is a New Georges Affiliated Artist, member of NY Madness and the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, and 2017-2018 Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow. BFA, Carnegie Mellon University. iamtaylorreynolds.com

HIGHLIGHTS

Richard & Jane & Dick & Sally Montage
Baltimore Center Stage YouTube | February 28th, 2020

'A Quick 5' with Noah Diaz, playwright 'Richard & Jane & Dick & Sally' at Baltimore Center Stage 
MD Theatre Guide | January 25th, 2020

Baltimore Center Stage's 'Richard & Jane & Dick & Sally' tackles controversy over how to teach deaf students
The Baltimore Sun | February 7th, 2020