Dunbar Baldwin Hughes Theater Company celebrates 30 years

The cast rehearses the Dunbar Baldwin Hughes Theater Company production of 'Is God Is' - The group, which for three decades has brought expressions of Black culture and experience to the stage at Johns Hopkins, opens a three-show run of the critically acclaimed 'Is God Is' by playwright Aleshea Harris - The critically hailed 2018 play "Is God Is" ran off-Broadway, won a slew of awards and was staged at London's Royal Court Theatre last fall. Yet when playwright Aleshea Harris was releasing rights for the play's Maryland/D.C.-area debut, she gave the honor not to a professional company, but to a troupe of young thespians at Johns Hopkins University. Dunbar Baldwin Hughes Theater Company , founded in 1993 to explore expressions of Black culture through performance and to showcase the work of Black playwrights, poets, and other artists, opens its three-show run of "Is God Is" Friday, March 3, in Levering Hall's Arellano Theatre. The show marks the start of the group's 30th anniversary year. "We weren't expecting to be approved at all," said Merone Eshetu, a senior majoring in public health studies, who serves as president of DBH and co-producer of "Is God Is." Eshetu also designed the set and requested the play along with technical director Justine Prince, a senior anthropology major from Brooklyn, New York. They applied for rights early in the fall semester, enthusiastic about the darkly comic script, but skeptical Harris would award her play to an independent student organization.