The Baltimore Waltz

The Baltimore Waltz is a play by Paula Vogel, which had a workshop at the Perseverance Theatre in 1990 and made its Off Broadway premiere in 1992. The play is about a brother and sister who appear to be taking a European trip and is based on Vogel's and her brother Carl's real life experiences.

Essentially a series of comic vignettes underlined by tragedy, the farce traces the European odyssey of sister and brother Anna and Carl. They are in search of hedonistic pleasure and a cure for her terminal illness, the fictitious ATD (Acquired Toilet Disease) she contracted by using the bathrooms at the elementary school where she teaches. Knowing her life is nearing its end, Anna is driven by a lust that compels her to have casual sex with as many men as possible during their travels, a passion shared by her gay brother. Assisting the pair is the mysterious Third Man, a reference to the classic suspense film starring Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles, to which Vogel frequently alludes in detail.

The play actually takes place in a hospital room in Baltimore, Maryland, where Carl has a terminal illness, and Anna is imagining the trip that the two never took.

The play was Vogel's response to the 1988 death of her brother Carl, who died from complications due to AIDS before they were able to enjoy a long planned European vacation.

Vogel wrote the play during summer 1989 at the MacDowell Colony, New Hampshire. The play is dedicated To the memory of Carl - because I cannot sew. The printed script contains a letter from Carl to Paula, dated March 1987, discussing his funeral ceremony.

The Baltimore Waltz was first produced in a workshop at the Perseverance Theatre (Molly Smith, artistic director; Deborah B. Baley, producing director) in Juneau, Alaska, in October 1990.

...
Wikipedia