Corner Theatre ETC

Corner Theatre ETC

"The Old" Corner Theatre
Address	891 North Howard Street Baltimore, Maryland  United States
Type	Experimental Theatre Club
Capacity	100
Current use	Antique Store
Opened	1968
Years active	1968 - 1987

Corner Theatre E.T.C. (Corner Theatre) was an American experimental theater in operation from 1968–1987, a not-for-profit cultural organization located in Baltimore, Maryland, which provided resources for new playwrights, designers, directors, actors, dancers, and other artists seeking alternative means and avenues for self-expression, and social and political commentary. Throughout most of its nineteen-year existence, Corner Theatre ETC remained dedicated to the presentation of original plays, while encouraging a confrontational approach to production.

The Corner Theatre Experimental Theatre Club (Corner Theatre E.T.C.) was created in the immediate aftermath of a Monday night lecture given by New York's La MaMa founder/artistic director Ellen Stewart at Center Stage, Baltimore's resident Equity theatre.

The major thrust of Ms. Stewart's discussion was a challenge, directed at those in attendance, to create a Baltimore version of her own New York-based experimental theatrical facility. Local producer/director Leslie Irons subsequently met with Ms. Stewart and was granted Cafe LaMaMa's repertoire of original plays. This accomplished, Irons next assembled a group of artists who shared his interest in the creation of a new and radical performing arts center: Cliff Pottberg, Mac Lang, Marie Stewart, Daniel Inglett and Joe Harris. Funds were quickly raised and Corner Theatre ETC opened its doors at 853 North Howard Street with their inaugural production, an evening of two one-act plays: Birdbath by New York playwright Leonard Melfi and Baltimore playwright C. Richard Gillespie's The Burial. For the duration of the theatre's existence, Corner Theatre saw its mission as threefold: 1. The production of original, hitherto unseen plays, 2. affording local directors and other theatre artists a "laboratory" environment in which to experiment with unconventional theatrical techniques, and 3. to occasionally abandon the idea of presentational theatre altogether in exchange for quasi-theatrical "happenings." At one such event, Changes, audiences were led - one at a time - through a twenty-minute sojourn into the black light world of super-sensory awareness, a sort of late 60s hall of mirrors and confrontation. In order to avoid legal problems which might potentially arise due to the presence of nudity and profanity in many of their productions, Corner Theatre's charter listed the organization as a club and not a theatre company per se.