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A busy summer ahead: The Mount Auburn Plays to perform Jun/Sept 2019, plus Cato & Dolly returns!

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It’s going to be a busy summer for Plays in Place!

Patrick’s Mount Auburn Plays, two series of short plays inspired by the lush natural environment and rich history of Mount Auburn Cemetery, will premiere this summer at Mount Auburn Cemetery: The Nature Plays in June, and The American Plays in September. Following actors across the grounds, audiences will become immersed in the untold stories of Mount Auburn Cemetery as brought to life by Patrick’s words. Each performance will be followed by a discussion.

The Nature Plays (May 30-9, 2019) highlight stories inspired by Mount Auburn’s landscape and natural environment, with topics such as spotted salamanders in Consecration Dell, birders at Auburn Lake, and historic debates between naturalists who are buried at the Cemetery. You can get tickets here.

The American Plays (September 2019; specific dates coming soon) highlight the diverse storiesof some of the extraordinary people buried in the Cemetery. Tickets will be on sale soon.

Plus, after its successful initial run last summer, Cato & Dolly will return for a second year to the Old State House Museum, June 17-August 11, 2019! Running 7 days a week, 3 times a day, visitors to the Old State House Museum can experience Patrick’s original 25-minute play, which offers a glimpse of everyday life behind the Hancock door through the eyes of those who lived there: Cato Hancock, an enslaved man in the Hancock household, and Dolly Hancock, John Hancock’s wife and First Lady of Massachusetts. You can learn more at the Old State House’s website.

 

 

Cato & Dolly opens July 6!

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Door from Hancock Mansion

Rehearsals for Cato & Dolly start next week!

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Door from Hancock Mansion

The inside of the Hancock Door exhibit. We’ll perform right on that platform.

Plays in Place begins rehearsals on our first major project next Tuesday, as we prepare Cato & Dolly for production at the Old State House in downtown Boston. Cato & Dolly is a 20-minute live theatrical presentation traveling through some of history’s most pivotal events, giving new perspective to the American narrative. Two actors will inhabit the title roles of Cato Hancock, an enslaved person in the Hancock household, and Dolly Hancock, John Hancock’s wife and First
Lady of Massachusetts, as well as other Revolutionary-era figures whose lives intersected at the famous Hancock House at the dawn of the American Revolution. Cato & Dolly was commissioned especially for the Bostonian Society’s Through the Keyhole exhibition, an all-new 2018 event surrounding the display of the
original front door of the Hancock House for the first time in decades at Boston’s historic Old State House.

The two actors will inhabit the show’s multiple characters, taking us through the threshold into never-before-seen drama unfolding behind the door, in a play that is both fun and poignant.

Cato & Dolly will open on Friday July 6 and play July 6, 7, and 8, before starting a regular run of performances every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, at 11am, 12:30pm, and 2 pm, through September 29. Admission to the play is included with the regular museum admission.

Patrick has written the script and Courtney O’Connor is directing, so the team that brought the hit play, Blood on the Snow, to the Old State House is back in action. We’ve got a tremendously talented set of actors: Margaret Clark, Marge Dunn, and Becca Lewis will rotate into the role of Dolly, and Stephen Sampson and Felton Sparks will share the role of Cato over the course of the run.

Front Door Side of door

The front door side of the Hancock Door exhibit. The surround was made by students at the North Bennett Street School.