04/23/2026
Some stories ask us to look at what we don’t always want to see. 🎭
In the 1970s, Norman Lear created an American sitcom, “Hot l Baltimore,” adapted from Lanford Wilson’s smash hit 1973 play “The Hot l Baltimore.”
Set in a seedy hotel, it centered on people living on the margins - people who were considered social “others” (especially for TV in 1975): s*x workers, immigrants, runaways, Black individuals, members of the LGBTQ+ community, the elderly, and people facing mental health challenges. Individuals whose lives didn’t fit neatly into what audiences were used to. Baltimore’s ABC affiliate banned the premiere episode.
Because of that, it struggled. It didn’t last.
Not because the stories weren’t meaningful - but because they were uncomfortable.
Lanford Wilson’s work has always lived in that space.
Writing about people on the fringe. The overlooked. The ones society doesn’t always know how to face.
That’s what makes it powerful.
And what makes it endure.
Decades later, that same perspective feels eerily relevant - a reminder that these stories still matter, and still need to be seen.
“Who We Become: One-Acts by Lanford Wilson” continues to carry those stories forward.
