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Maryland designated the award-winning CENTERSTAGE in Baltimore's historic Mount Vernon cultural district as the official state theater in 1978. Since it's founding in 1963, CENTERSTAGE has become Baltimore's leading professional theater and welcomes over 100,000 people each season. Maryland also recognizes an official state summer theater (Olney Theatre in Montgomery county).
The origin of theater goes back to prehistoric people acting out their hunting experiences and ancients singing and dancing for religious ceremonies. Theater as pure entertainment evolved slowly - the first recorded European theater was in ancient Greece about 600 BC (for a festival honoring the god of wine and fertility). A poet named Thespis won a dramatic play competition at this celebration and is so considered "the first actor" (origin of the term thespian).
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