(Amanda Collins as Angelina Grimke in our 2022 reading at the State House. Photo by Sam Johnson.)
In just a few weeks, we’ll workshop another play in our Suffrage in Black & White series, with a public reading on August 14. Suffrage in Black & White is a series of plays exploring the intersection of the fight for woman suffrage and race and abolition in Boston. Created and developed for the National Parks of Boston by Plays in Place, with assistance from the Lyric Stage Company of Boston. The plan is to fully produce these plays at their sites beginning in 2024.
Next up is a reading of A Light Under the Dome by Patrick Gabridge. Directed by Courtney O’Connor.
At the Massachusetts State House, on February 21, 1838, exiled Southerner Angelina Grimke becomes the first American woman to address a legislative body. Her powerful speech about abolition also firmly asserts the full citizenship of American women. Four other women abolitionists–Maria Weston Chapman, Lydia Maria Child, Susan Paul, and Julia Williams–are there to support and guide her through this pressure-packed moment, and they have their own moments of intense struggle to share. To be staged in the Massachusetts State Senate Chamber, under the dome where Angelina gave her original speech.
Developmental reading: Monday, August 14, 7pm, Senate Chamber of the Massachusetts State House, 24 Beacon Street (use entrance on Bowdoin Street), Boston.
Tickets are free but seats are very limited. Please RSVP to
but that’s not all…
We also have a new series of one-act plays that will open in Northampton, MA, at the end of August.
Pulling at the Roots is a series of three short site-specific plays that guide the audience on a journey through three centuries of Northampton history. Set and staged in the restored historic barn and the grounds of Historic Northampton, the dramas of Pulling at the Roots examine the meaning of home and women’s search for autonomy and breathe the life of humanity into stories often flattened by history. Written by Talya Kingston, Jasmine Rochelle Goodspeed, and Patrick Gabridge, and directed by Brianna Sloane.
The show runs August 24-September 3, 2023 (Thurs, Fri at 6:30pm; Sat, Sun at 2pm & 6:30pm) on the grounds (and in a restored barn) at Historic Northampton, 46 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA. Tickets go on sale soon!
And our play, Revolution’s Edge, continues to run at Old North Church every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, at 5pm, through September 19. You can buy tickets here. Check out recent stories on WBUR and from the Associated Press.
We hope that we will see you at one of these shows in the coming month. Be sure to say Hi!
Evan Turissini, Brooks Reeves, and Nathan Johnson in Revolution’s Edge at Old North Church, photo by Nile Scott Shots.
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