The BAltimore Waltz

Show Description:

Written in 1989 by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel, "The Baltimore Waltz" is the irreverent, passionate, and flamboyant expression of a sister’s grief. Two years before Vogel’s brother Carl passed away from AIDS-related complications, he asked her on a tour of Europe. They never got the chance to take that trip. The play confronts what could have been in the form of an imaginative one-act that is equal parts melodrama and satire.

Anna, an elementary school teacher, contracts an unexplored illness known as Acquired Toilet Disease, or ATD. To cope, Anna and her brother Carl travel around Europe in search of both a cure and the trip of their lives. And Anna must contend with the sheer absurdity of her situation all the while. Through this impactful role reversal, "The Baltimore Waltz" explores the pains of loss and the harsh realities of the AIDS epidemic.