S T A R R busby Brings Music, Spirit and Black Femme Expansiveness to Baltimore Center Stage’s (pray)
By Harold Booker Jr.When audiences enter Baltimore Center Stage for (pray), they should not expect a traditional play, musical or church service. According to S T A R R busby, the production lives somewhere between all of those forms and beyond them.
“It is a multimedium piece,” S T A R R said. “It is a play with music. It is in the style of the choreopoem, like Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls. It is a church service that takes some turns.”
Those turns include moments that may feel familiar to anyone raised in or around the Black church, along with moments designed to surprise, challenge and expand the audience’s imagination. Baltimore Center Stage describes (pray) as a kinetic and vibrant choreopoem that channels the energy of a Sunday Baptist church service while celebrating and confronting the complexities of spiritual inheritance.
The production runs June 13 through July 5, 2026, with opening night set for June 20. Community Night will be held Friday, June 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Written, directed and choreographed by Brooklyn-based artist, educator and activist nicHi douglas, (pray) features original music by JJJJerome Ellis and S T A R R, who also serves as music director and appears as part of the cast.
For S T A R R, the project represents one of the most involved music creation experiences they have had for a theater piece. They said the work began several years ago after douglas was commissioned to create the piece and invited them and Ellis into the process.
S T A R R said the collaboration with Ellis came naturally.
“It was a fast, easy collaboration between the two of us,” they said.
Over several years of workshops, the creative team continued shaping the sound, structure and spirit of the production. S T A R R said douglas provided specific texts that became the foundation for several musical pieces. They set much of that text to music and also contributed lyrics to “A New Apostle’s Creed,” a song featured in the show.
The production premiered in New York in 2023 and now comes to Baltimore with a cast that blends returning performers with Baltimore-based and Baltimore-rooted artists. Featured performers include Tony Award winner CJay Philip, Scott Patterson, Ray Winder and Asya Melan Shaw, along with a larger ensemble of acclaimed multidisciplinary performers.
S T A R R said the Baltimore cast has brought something special into the room.
“Everyone is bringing something really unique and is being very generous with their spirits,” they said. “There’s just a beautiful sense of community being built in the room, and I’m hoping that people feel that as well.”
While everyone is welcome to experience (pray), S T A R R is clear about who the piece centers.
“Very deliberately, this piece is for Black women and femmes,” they said.
For S T A R R, “Black femme” means Black femininity beyond the gender binary. It is, as they described it, the energy of a grandmother, an auntie or a cousin whose presence carries feminine love, power and care.
Their hope is that Black women and femmes see themselves in the work and feel the most expansive versions of themselves reflected back. For other audience members, they hope the production opens a wider understanding of who Black women and Black femmes are.
“We contain multitudes,” S T A R R said.
That idea of expansiveness also shows up in their own name. Born Starr, they stylize their name as S T A R R, giving each letter space and intention.
“Give me all of my letters, give me size, and give me a little room,” they said.
For S T A R R, that spacing is more than a visual choice. It is a reminder not to rush into assumptions about who they are, what they carry or what they can offer.
“You might think you know what’s going on, but you don’t,” they said. “Take your time, engage with it, and let’s really see what’s up.”
S T A R R’s relationship to music and spirituality began early. A native Texan, they spent their first years in Beaumont before growing up primarily in Houston. Their family roots stretched across several church traditions, including COGIC, Catholic and Baptist spaces.
They credit those early church experiences with teaching them how to listen, wait and improvise.
“That’s where I learned how to be patient and wait and listen and then know when it’s time to offer up another song, know when it’s time to stay in a song for a while,” S T A R R said.
That musical foundation continued through school. Encouraged by music teachers who recognized their gifts, S T A R R attended Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts before studying classical voice at Northwestern University. While there, they fell in love with theater and began thinking about voice not only as a musical instrument, but as an instrument of expression across genres, styles and mediums.
After moving to New York, S T A R R immersed themself in experimental theater while also performing with the gospel-funk group Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens. That blend of church, classical training, experimental theater, gospel, funk and soul continues to shape their artistry.
They said (pray) has given them a chance to bring those worlds together and honor the people and places that shaped them.
“I feel like (pray) has given me the opportunity to bring all that together and say thank you for that investment in me,” S T A R R said.
S T A R R is also preparing for the release of their first full-length studio album, Working Up a Surrender, due this fall on Switch Hit Records. The first single is expected in July, with more music to follow ahead of the album’s October release. Produced by Adam Schatz, the project blends soul, gospel, funk, experimental sounds and elements of 1990s and early 2000s alternative rock.
Before that release, Baltimore audiences will have the opportunity to experience S T A R R’s artistry live through (pray), a production that uses music, movement and testimony to ask deeper questions about faith, inheritance and liberation.
S T A R R believes the piece has a long life ahead of it. They would love to see it travel to the Deep South and reach Black women and femmes across the country and beyond. But for now, they are excited for Baltimore to receive it.
“I really think it belongs wherever it is welcome,” they said.
Tickets for (pray) are available at www.centerstage.org/events/pray/, by calling the Baltimore Center Stage Box Office at 410-332-0033, or in person at 700 North Calvert Street in Baltimore.
