(AP) — Most theater professionals like to say that whatever they're working on is very relevant to what's going on in the real world. That was not possibly more true than in Baltimore this spring.
The city's flagship theater, Center Stage, debuted a musical about reggae icon and civil rights activist Bob Marley during the city's spasm of violence and peaceful protests following the death of Freddie Gray in police custody.
Several preview performances for the musical "Marley" were lost amid protests marching near the theater and the actors had to rush to finish rehearsals early on several evenings to accommodate a city-wide curfew.
There were soldiers, horses and armored vehicles in the streets and helicopters in the air as the cast and crew tried to finish a work that highlighted the life of a singer who demanded social justice and freedom for black people.
A new framing scene was added to the play in which two black men watch footage of the Baltimore protests on a smartphone, making the connection between the two movements clear. On May 2, the cast went out into the streets to give a free concert, including singing "One Love" to try to heal the city.
"When real life is happening around you and you're trying to produce art, you have to submit to real life and have faith," said Kwame Kwei-Armah, Center Stage's artistic director who also wrote and directed the Marley musical.
"I'm not sure in my life that I'll ever feel that connected or ever feel that blessed or ever feel that visceral call that theater is about the here and now."
The musical focuses on the years 1975 to 1978, when Marley survived an attempted assassination in Jamaica and went into exile in London. It's the first time a stage musical has used both Marley's songs and his life story.
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