New York-based theater director Ira Kip, 30, has roots all over the world. She is of Caribbean descent but grew up in the Netherlands, and she and her twin sister Ayra—who divides her time between Stockholm and Amsterdam—run an international arts collective. Through the collective, the pair also runs Art Rules Aruba, a summer arts program in nine disciplines for 300 kids in Aruba. And now Ira Kip has extended her reach to Baltimore. Kip’s play, She’Baltimore—her first foray into writing for the stage—is about a lesbian couple from Baltimore, caught up in domestic violence. Some of the cast are local, some from New York; some are professional actors while others have little prior theater experience. The play, which Kip also directs, has its American premiere this week at the Load of Fun Theatre. She hopes to take the production to Washington, D.C., and New York City following its run here.

City Paper recently sat down with Kip to talk about the project.

City Paper : So how did you come to write a play based in Baltimore?

Ira Kip: Five years ago, I came here and met some folks who I have built relationships with. My best friend is here. And then I started teaching [summer classes] at CCBC [the Community College of Baltimore County] at Dundalk and then I also started teaching in D.C., theater classes. And I was always very interested in the city and knew that one day I wanted to write about the city.

CP : How come? What is it about Baltimore that struck you?

IK: It gets me out of the craziness of New York, but it actually reminds me a lot of home, as well. I’m from Amsterdam. It’s a lot slower, people are a lot nicer, but there’s a lot going on here. It’s in development on certain levels and on other levels it’s still very behind. So there’s a big contrast that I always found very interesting . . . . I’m here very often, every other weekend. A lot of people ask me, “Why don’t you move?” or, “When are you moving?” Because I’m always here. So I also see it as my second home.

CP : And what inspired you to write this particular play?

IK: In 2006, I went to the New School for Drama, and a good friend of mine who is a director as well, we were in the class together, she’s from Baltimore. And she’s the one who told me about a friend of hers walking into the emergency room after she was beaten by her girlfriend, and they didn’t want to help her because they couldn’t tell if she was the aggressor or the victim. . . . Because with women, you can’t really tell. Or people often think it’s the woman who’s more masculine, not the woman who’s more feminine. So I was always intrigued by that story and I started writing about it. . . . And then while I was doing my research, I found out that it’s actually a big issue, domestic violence in the LGBT community, but nobody really talks about it.

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