This is how Dan Rodricks writes a play.
He approaches a script much like his newspaper columns. After a half-century at the ‘Baltimore Sun,’
@djrodricks knows the basic routine: how much reporting a story needs, how long it will take to write. “The tough part is getting started—that first paragraph,” says the veteran journalist, even after all these years. But once it’s finally on the page, he’ll read his work over and over, until he finally gets it right.
That dedication? “It’s baked in his DNA,” says his wife, Lillian. He’s always worked, all the time. “And not like sitting at a typewriter working. Every experience [is] grist for the mill, so to speak. If we go for a walk in the country, he has to take pictures, or if we meet somebody interesting, he’ll write down their name, because it might be something to come back to. ... Every day is a possible story.”
It’s no surprise then that his theatrical productions also pull from real life. Truth is stranger than fiction, after all, and “that’s especially true in Baltimore,” says Rodricks. His first two plays were dramatizations of his most memorable encounters as a journalist at the ‘Sun.’ Now, ‘No Mean City,’ which premieres tonight at the Baltimore Museum of Art, is an even more ambitious project—an original work, inspired by local history, a story he’s pretty sure has yet to be told.
And like the rest of Rodricks’ oeuvre, it’s a love letter to this town.
![This is how Dan Rodricks writes a play.He approaches a script much like his newspaper columns. After a half-century at the ‘Baltimore Sun,’ @djrodricks knows the basic routine: how much reporting a story needs, how long it will take to write. “The tough part is getting started—that first paragraph,” says the veteran journalist, even after all these years. But once it’s finally on the page, he’ll read his work over and over, until he finally gets it right.That dedication? “It’s baked in his DNA,” says his wife, Lillian. He’s always worked, all the time. “And not like sitting at a typewriter working. Every experience [is] grist for the mill, so to speak. If we go for a walk in the country, he has to take pictures, or if we meet somebody interesting, he’ll write down their name, because it might be something to come back to. ... Every day is a possible story.”It’s no surprise then that his theatrical productions also pull from real life. Truth is stranger than fiction, after all, and “that’s especially true in Baltimore,” says Rodricks. His first two plays were dramatizations of his most memorable encounters as a journalist at the ‘Sun.’ Now, ‘No Mean City,’ which premieres tonight at the Baltimore Museum of Art, is an even more ambitious project—an original work, inspired by local history, a story he’s pretty sure has yet to be told.And like the rest of Rodricks’ oeuvre, it’s a love letter to this town.](https://sp1.picnob.com/p/pt_6742133417592068503527_0_690be0f4ff6741316338060e61953949.jpg?o=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&h=f88bc40dd9b210053334249a9fc55c73)
