Playwright Christina Anderson’s lyrical and ambitious “How to Catch Creation” at Baltimore Center Stage is a charming exploration of art and love told through a stellar cast, lively direction and sensory-pleasing design elements.

The creation of children, relationships, art and literature are the primary issues spinning between six successful, well-rounded characters whose coincidental intersections across two generations make the play feel akin to NBC’s “This Is Us.”

Paula Vogel has made a career of tackling uncomfortable topics. The Maryland playwright won a Pulitzer in 1998 for “How I Learned to Drive,” which centers on pedophilia and incest. Other works put AIDS, pornography and domestic violence on Vogel’s stage.

With “Indecent,” co-created by Rebecca Taichman, Vogel turns her attention to a controversial play from an earlier time: “The God of Vengeance,” which debuted in 1906.

“Fun Home” strikes a chord by creatively showing, often through song, how defining moments in our childhood and formative years shape who we become as adults.

Stephanie Ybarra is only a couple of months into her full-time role as the artistic director at Baltimore Center Stage, but already she has met for listening sessions and meet-and-greets with dozens of leaders in the Baltimore community, been named the keynote speaker of Maryland Arts Day in Annapolis on Feb. 14, and completely rearranged the admin offices at 700 N. Calvert St.

For the second time in as many years, insult comic Lisa Lampanelli will come to town and perform, not at a club or one of the big halls that sometimes host stand-up comedy but at Center Stage, the State Theater of Maryland.

Several months after the departure of Kwame Kwei-Armah, Baltimore Center Stage has announced its pick to fill his shoes as artistic director. Enter Stephanie Ybarra, currently special director of artistic projects for the Public Theater in New York, and soon to be the creative leader of Baltimore’s largest professional producing theater.