About Us

Silhouette Stages, Inc., a verified 501(c)(3) charitable organization, is an all-volunteer community theater serving Howard County and beyond. We promote a welcoming, diverse, creative environment that supports a broad range of artistic and technical experience. Our mission is to create transformative theatrical experiences that inspire, engage, and connect our community.

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Board Members

Company History

About Us: About Us

Our History

Silhouette Stages began as Shadow Block Productions in 2003, producing small-cast works that quickly built a loyal Howard County following. In 2008, the group seized a pivotal opportunity — relocating to Slayton House in the Wilde Lake Village Center, forming a new Board of Directors, incorporating as a 501(c)(3), and relaunching as Silhouette Stages with a broadened mission and expanded reach. That relaunch marked the beginning of what is now a 20-season legacy of community theater in the heart of Columbia.

Over more than two decades, Silhouette Stages has grown into Howard County's premier community theater, earning consistent recognition from the region's most respected arts adjudication programs. We have been a proud member of WATCH (Washington Area Theatre Community Honors) since 2018, earning nominations across performance, design, and production categories in every season of participation, including 22 nominations in 2023. At the 2026 WATCH Awards, our 2025 productions of Kinky Boots, Seussical the Musical, and The Crucible earned 18 nominations and 7 awards, including Outstanding Play and Outstanding Direction of a Play for The Crucible and Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical for both Kinky Boots and Seussical the Musical.

Our accolades extend beyond WATCH. Silhouette Stages has been recognized four times by the prestigious Ruby Griffith Awards, administered by The British Players, which honors outstanding achievement across the Washington-Baltimore community theater region. We received the Outstanding Achievement in a Musical award for Next to Normal (2015-16) and again for Anything Goes (2018-19), and won Best Achievement in a Play for Puffs (2023-24), our first Ruby Griffith win in the play category. Most recently, Fun Home (2025-26) received the award for All-Round Production Excellence.

Our production history reflects both artistic ambition and deep community responsiveness. Over 20 seasons we have staged more than 60 productions spanning classic musicals, contemporary works, serious drama, family fare, and community cabarets. Recent seasons have included Kinky Boots, The Crucible, Evita, The SpongeBob Musical, Sondheim on Sondheim, The Wedding Singer, Next to Normal, and RENT — programming that demonstrates a consistent willingness to tackle challenging, culturally significant work alongside beloved crowd favorites.

Beyond awards, our most meaningful growth has come in organizational strength. Since FY23 we have expanded our volunteer base to over 200 individuals annually, completed a comprehensive By-Law revision, and transitioned to a calendar-year production season. These structural changes have strengthened our planning, governance, and community responsiveness in measurable ways.

Today, Silhouette Stages draws over 3,000 audience members annually, engages 200+ volunteers across every aspect of our work, and produces a season that reflects the full diversity of Howard County. Our current Season 21 lineup — Fun Home (Howard County premiere, with live orchestra), American Idiot, and Matilda — exemplifies our approach: artistically ambitious, thematically diverse, and designed to reach the broadest possible community. We are proud of our 20-year history, and equally focused on the next chapter.