Fact Sheet
Baltimore, You Have No Idea
What to Know
Baltimore, You Have No Idea
A play written by Dan Rodricks
Show Running Time
About 90 minutes, with no intermission
Performances
December 2022
December 2023
December 2024
About the Play
Baltimore, You Have No Idea
Written by Dan Rodricks
Directed by Will Schwarz
Original music by Mat Lane
“Baltimore, You Have No Idea” is an original play written by longtime journalist Dan Rodricks. 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.
Rodricks’ one-of-a-kind Baltimore stories and characters come to life on stage with a blend of emotion, insight, respect and humor. Stories like his very first column interviewing the ex-wife of a local burglary fence and her bemusing legal predicament. Or Dan’s award-winning “Dear Drug Dealers” columns as a desperate gambit to reduce criminal violence. And his many funny observations and touching interactions with people around Baltimore every day.
This multimedia play seamlessly weaves the action on stage with live music and audio clips, as well as projected images and video. “Baltimore, You Have No Idea” was initially produced in December 2022 at the Meyerhoff Auditorium at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The play was so well received that it returned in December 2023 and 2024. In all three runs, every performance sold out.
About Dan Rodricks
Dan Rodricks has been a columnist with the Baltimore Sun for nearly 46 consecutive years, one of the longest-running newspaper columns in the U.S.
At the same time, he 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 two 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.
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.”
Audience Praise for “Baltimore, You Have No Idea”
“The show is a gift.”
— Don Mohler, former Baltimore County executive
“What a wonderful tribute to Baltimore, the city of perpetual recovery. I laughed and even felt a tear towards the end. Great show!”
— Howard Maleson, producer
“We loved ‘Baltimore, You Have No Idea!’”
— Nancy Forster, former Maryland Public Defender
“It was vintage Dan Rodricks — funny, poignant, important.”
— Mike Ricigliano, Ricig the cartoonist
Photo Gallery for “Baltimore, You Have No Idea”
Production Notes
As a columnist with the Baltimore Sun for nearly 46 consecutive years, Dan Rodricks has plenty of stories to tell about his adopted hometown. But what do you do with over 6,500 newspaper columns covering everything from politicians and pastors to developers and defendants?
For Rodricks, he brings them to life on the stage. “Baltimore, You Have No Idea” is his first play and presented as a dramatized memoir. The stories, people and situations will ring true to anyone and bring vigorous nods of the head from any Baltimorean.
This first play was quickly followed up by a second one, “Baltimore Docket” that premiered in February 2024 at the Meyerhoff Auditorium at the Baltimore Museum of Art. As a veteran observer of hundreds of trials and other legal proceedings for the Baltimore Sun, Rodricks culled seven stories from his columns to spotlight in “Baltimore Docket.”
“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.
Performed in December 2022, 2023 and 2024 every performance of “Baltimore, You Have No Idea” sold out.
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