Holes Digs Deep at Baltimore Center Stage Through May 10
Louis Sachar's beloved novel Holes — winner of the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award — has captivated young readers since its publication in 1998, and its stage adaptation is now getting a compelling production at Baltimore Center Stage that makes the trip well worth it for DC-area audiences.
The story follows Stanley Yelnats IV, an unlucky teenager who finds himself wrongly accused of stealing a pair of celebrity sneakers and sentenced to Camp Green Lake, a so-called rehabilitation camp in the scorching Texas desert. The punishment there is deceptively simple: dig one hole per day, each as wide and as deep as the shovel used to dig it. What gradually emerges is a richly layered narrative that weaves together past and present, tracing a web of fate, buried secrets, and outlaw gold that connects Stanley's family curse to the parched landscape around him. Stanley's frequent lament about his "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather" becomes one of the play's most reliably funny threads, grounding the story's weightier themes in something warm and human.
Directed by Johanna Gruenhut, the production brings Sachar's story to life through an ensemble largely drawn from Baltimore School for the Arts. Zachary Corey anchors the show as Stanley with likability and quiet sincerity, while Jude Sincere delivers a standout performance as Zero, the enigmatic fellow camper whose stillness and precision give every scene he shares a distinct charge. Ephraim Nehemiah brings a sharp edge to X-Ray, the camp's self-appointed social ringleader, and Susan Rome's Warden commands the stage with a controlled intensity that makes every entrance feel like an event. Marcus Kyd rounds out the adult authority figures as the menacing Mr. Sir, threading dry humor through a genuinely unsettling performance.
The production's design is one of its clear strengths. Sydney Lynne's scenic design evokes the vast, sunbaked expanse of the dried lakebed with minimalist ingenuity, and Jesse Belsky's lighting makes the stage feel genuinely scorched. Sarah Cubbage's costumes strike the right balance between dusty practicality and character definition, while clever puppetry brings the story's infamous yellow-spotted lizards and other critters to wiry, memorable life. Scene transitions are handled with shovel-based choreography that underscores the relentless, grinding labor at the heart of the story.
Beyond its entertainment value, this production carries real purpose. Baltimore Center Stage's Juvenile Justice Theatre Program, highlighted throughout the show's materials, reflects a genuine commitment to taking the themes of Holes beyond the stage — addressing the ways in which carceral institutions fail young people, a message as urgent now as when Sachar first wrote the book. Attending the show is, in more ways than one, an act of support for something meaningful.
Holes runs through May 10, 2026 at Baltimore Center Stage, 700 North Calvert Street, Baltimore. Tickets range from $10 to $90, with senior and student discounts available. Performances run Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 7:30 pm, Saturdays at 2 pm and 7:30 pm, and Sundays at 3 pm. Running time is approximately two hours with a 15-minute intermission.