Community Calendar

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “Japanese Ghost Stories,” with Brittany Warman, former instructor at Ohio State University and co-founder of the Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic.

Spend a winter night feeling chills down your spin. Join folklorist Brittany Warman, a favorite of Profs and Pints audiences, for a look at the eerie ghost stories of Japan.

You’ll get acquainted with several spirits and creatures that populate traditional Japanese folklore, among them: The Yuki-Onna, the sinister snow woman who dances on a knife-edge between murder and mercy. A fabulously beautiful samurai daughter who demands bravery and intellect from her future husband—but actually just might be a goblin. The spirit that haunts the cherry blossom tree, whose irresistible melancholy is “the phantom light of long-expired suns.”

You’ll also learn about the incredible life of Koizumi Yakumo, the storyteller who first made these traditional tales available to western audiences and helped popularize them around the world. Born in 1850 under the name of Lafcadio Hearn to an Irish officer-surgeon and a Greek woman, he led a wildly unconventional life. He travelled from Greece to the slums of Dublin to the newspaper offices of Cincinnati to the kitchens of New Orleans before settling in Japan, where he adopted Japanese citizenship and changed his name.

His life as a permanent outsider—and the hatred of prejudice instilled in him by it—shaped him as a storyteller. He became both a conduit of Japanese culture and a champion of the chilling and uncanny.

This deep dive in his life and the ghost stories he gathered and retold will be by turns frightening, hilarious, baffling, and poignant, and will make you understand why his tales remain beloved in Japan and the world over. It’s a great opportunity to become familiar with the ghosts of a nation and the man who told them to the world. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Bar doors open at 5 pm. The talk starts at 6:30.)

Image: A Japanese Yuki-Onna, or snow spirit, as depicted in the 1737 Hyakkai-Zukan, or book of demons, by Sawaki Suushi.

Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA) is a free Twelve Step recovery program for anyone suffering from food obsession, overeating, under-eating, bulimia or other food-related issues. Weekly meetings every Monday from 7:00-8:30 pm at Christ Episcopal Church, 6800 Oakland Mills Road, Columbia. All are welcome.

For more information, see www.foodaddicts.org.

Vagabond Players presents THE SHARK IS BROKEN
Jan. 9 – Feb. 1, 2026

Vagabond Players continues their historic 110th Season— and celebrates the 50th anniversary of the iconic film JAWS—with the Baltimore premiere of THE SHARK IS BROKEN, written by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon and directed by Vagabond veteran Stephen Deininger.

Fresh off acclaimed runs in London’s West End and on Broadway, this behind-the-scenes look at one of the most iconic films ever made is as hilarious as it is heartfelt. Return to the waters where it all began: three actors, two fragile egos, and one very uncooperative shark. This could be the biggest disaster in recent Hollywood history, helmed by a director that no one thinks can
pull it off. In between swilling Tab and tanning on deck, Roy Scheider runs interference between neurotic Richard Dreyfus and the acid drunk wit of Robert Shaw as they navigate endless filming delays and screwups on a rickety lobster boat.

Starring returning Vagabond Players actors, Doug Krehbel, Andy Belt and Matthew Lindsay Payne, THE SHARK IS BROKEN offers a delicious insider’s look at the bickering, brawling and back stabbing among a trio of soon-to-be legendary actors who just happen to be making a monster movie that will change the course of cinema history. Frustrations, petty rivalries and no-so-secret vices all come to the surface in a comedy that also contains a deeper story of fathers and sons, their mortality, and the legacy they leave.

THE SHARK IS BROKEN runs January 9 – February 1, 2026, with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. And check out a special “Thursdays on Broadway” performance January 29 at 8 p.m. when all tickets are just $12.

For tickets, cast and show info visit www.vagabondplayers.org. Special discounts and group rates are available online.

Big Bang Baby transforms ancestral divinity, folklore, and science into a radiant universe of light, color, and controlled chaos. At its center are fantastical feminine figures creating universes and experiencing their own divinity. Inspired by Afro-Dominican spiritual traditions of “carrying a mystery,” as well as Native Taíno Zemi goddesses, LUSMERLIN celebrates the gift of spiritual presence and creation in women. Across pastel, acrylic and LED-lit sculptural forms, the exhibition asks: What does it mean to be stardust, to be a source of divinity?

Teapots XI
January 10, 2026 @ 10:00 am – March 7, 2026 @ 5:00 pm

Juried by Pete Pinnell
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 10, 2026, 4:00 – 6:00 pm

Baltimore Clayworks proudly presents our 11th biannual juried exhibition, Teapots XI. The juror, Pete Pinnell, selected the functional and sculptural teapots created by emerging and established artists.

At VLP, we honor lifelong learning and understand the importance of starting early and making it fun. We hope you join us for our return to in-person Tots Tuesday Storytime for toddlers & preschoolers!

Vagabond Players presents THE SHARK IS BROKEN
Jan. 9 – Feb. 1, 2026

Vagabond Players continues their historic 110th Season— and celebrates the 50th anniversary of the iconic film JAWS—with the Baltimore premiere of THE SHARK IS BROKEN, written by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon and directed by Vagabond veteran Stephen Deininger.

Fresh off acclaimed runs in London’s West End and on Broadway, this behind-the-scenes look at one of the most iconic films ever made is as hilarious as it is heartfelt. Return to the waters where it all began: three actors, two fragile egos, and one very uncooperative shark. This could be the biggest disaster in recent Hollywood history, helmed by a director that no one thinks can
pull it off. In between swilling Tab and tanning on deck, Roy Scheider runs interference between neurotic Richard Dreyfus and the acid drunk wit of Robert Shaw as they navigate endless filming delays and screwups on a rickety lobster boat.

Starring returning Vagabond Players actors, Doug Krehbel, Andy Belt and Matthew Lindsay Payne, THE SHARK IS BROKEN offers a delicious insider’s look at the bickering, brawling and back stabbing among a trio of soon-to-be legendary actors who just happen to be making a monster movie that will change the course of cinema history. Frustrations, petty rivalries and no-so-secret vices all come to the surface in a comedy that also contains a deeper story of fathers and sons, their mortality, and the legacy they leave.

THE SHARK IS BROKEN runs January 9 – February 1, 2026, with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. And check out a special “Thursdays on Broadway” performance January 29 at 8 p.m. when all tickets are just $12.

For tickets, cast and show info visit www.vagabondplayers.org. Special discounts and group rates are available online.

Big Bang Baby transforms ancestral divinity, folklore, and science into a radiant universe of light, color, and controlled chaos. At its center are fantastical feminine figures creating universes and experiencing their own divinity. Inspired by Afro-Dominican spiritual traditions of “carrying a mystery,” as well as Native Taíno Zemi goddesses, LUSMERLIN celebrates the gift of spiritual presence and creation in women. Across pastel, acrylic and LED-lit sculptural forms, the exhibition asks: What does it mean to be stardust, to be a source of divinity?

This focus exhibition of 10 works explores the relationship between burning fossil fuels—namely, coal—and the emergence of European modernism. Drawing on research conducted by climate scientists and art historians, the exhibition presents a range of paintings and works on paper by Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, James McNeill Whistler, and others to explore the ways that their artistic practices and style emerged, in part, in response to widespread pollution in London and Paris.
Presented as part of the Turn Again to the Earth environmental initiative.

In this focus exhibition of approximately 20 photographs, prints, drawings, and textiles, the natural environment is a source of creative inspiration worth celebrating and protecting.

Works by artists such as Winslow Homer, Richard Misrach, Charles Sheeler, and Kiki Smith, among many others, depict the elements of air, water, earth, and fire and address broader themes of ecological awareness and preservation. These themes range from how artists have used visual language to convey the act of locating oneself in nature; works that depict natural forms through the physical integration of environmental components; and artists’ commentary on sites of environmental disaster, the sociopolitical ramifications of human impact, and the potential of symbiotic healing for this planet and its occupants.