Fact sheet
Baltimore Docket
What to know
Baltimore Docket
A play written by Dan Rodricks
Show running time
90-100 minutes, with no intermission
Performances
February 2024
About the play
Baltimore Docket
Written by Dan Rodricks
Directed by Dan Rodricks, Vanessa Eskridge and Thomas “Toby” Hessenauer
Original music by Mat Lane
Baltimore Docket is an original play written by longtime journalist Dan Rodricks that premiered in February 2024 in the Meyerhoff Theater at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The show features stories from his more than four decades as an award-winning columnist for The Baltimore Sun and as a local radio and television host.
As a veteran observer of hundreds of trials and other legal proceedings, Rodricks spotlights seven stories in Baltimore Docket. On the stage, Rodricks narrates and interacts with a cast of 16 local paid actors portraying the real-life people in his stories.
“While many people know Baltimore’s criminal justice system all too well, there’s another side that not everyone sees. I’ve watched a lot of courthouse scenes where the people and circumstances unfolded into compelling, unusual or just plain funny stories,” says Rodricks.
Like his first play, every performance of Baltimore Docket sold out.
About Dan Rodricks
Dan Rodricks is a Baltimore journalist who wrote of one of the longest-running newspaper columns in the country for The Baltimore Sun from January 1979 to January 2025.
He also worked additional local stints as a broadcast radio host, public radio interviewer, morning television personality, podcaster and author of three books.
Most recently, Rodricks has written, produced and performed in his own original plays. Based on stories from his newspaper column, Baltimore, You Have No Idea (December 2022, 2023 and 2024) and Baltimore Docket (February 2024) document a city seemingly in perpetual recovery. Both plays sold out every performance and were enthusiastically received by audiences. No Mean City: Baltimore 1966 (March 2026) is a historic drama of the year when the Orioles make a historic run to their first-ever World Series championship against a backdrop of political maneuvering and the fight for civil rights.
Currently he writes for Baltimore Fishbowl and provides commentary on American life on Substack, a reader-supported content platform featuring strong independent journalism.
Follow Dan’s blog and musings at DanRodricks.com and on social media: Facebook and Instagram.
2024 Best of Baltimore: Best Playwright
In August 2024, Dan was named by Baltimore Magazine as best playwright in its annual “Best of Baltimore” issue. As for writing a play (and acting in it), the magazine declared, “Well, turns out The Baltimore Sun’s longtime columnist Dan Rodricks can do it all” with the playwright presiding over it all, “like some larger-than-life Jimmy Breslin.”
Photo gallery for Baltimore Docket
Story ledes
Media ledes
When Dan Rodricks writes and acts in plays based on stories from his newspaper column, a loyal audience of readers comes out to watch
As a Baltimore Sun columnist for over 45 years, Dan Rodricks has also done radio, television, books and a podcast—his latest act is writing plays
By repurposing content from his newspaper columns into plays for the stage, Dan Rodricks brings printed stories to life in full theatrical productions
Theater ledes
While theater attendance drops, local newspaper columnist Dan Rodricks draws audiences back with stories that leap from page to stage
Dan Rodricks shuns the traditional theater model by producing his own plays while the audience directly pays him (and his actors)
Dan Rodricks performs his one-man play… with a company of paid actors, original music, projected images and multimedia backdrops.
For more information
Website
YouHaveNoIdea.org
Contacts
Frank Slade, info@youhavenoidea.org
Dan Rodricks, rodricksplay@gmail.com