Hello Friends!
After a very busy summer, the Plays in Place team is starting to catch our breath. Thanks to the many of you who were able to attend, all our shows felt extremely successful. In case you missed it, here’s what we were up to this summer (and what’s coming next).
Stetson Marshall in Revolution’s Edge (photo by Ben Rose)
Revolution’s Edge returned for a second year at Boston’s Old North Church, where it was warmly received for the entirety of its 10-week run. Almost 3,000 people saw the show over the two years. Our stellar cast of Eric McGowan, Tim Hoover, Joshua Robinson, Stetson Marshall, Dustin Teuber, and Kevin Paquette were skillfully directed (again) by Alexandra Smith, with stage manager Melee Lee ably keeping the ship moving forward and Jess Meyer as our lead producer. We will miss spending time with the welcoming staff of Old North Church (and grabbing post-show snacks at Bova’s Bakery).
Tahmie Der and Matt Haas in Rose by Jasmine Rochelle Goodspeed (photo by Frank Aronson)
Pulling at the Roots, our collection of three plays examining three centuries of Northampton history, also returned for a second year, to the Shepherd Barn and grounds of Historic Northampton. High demand led to a sold out, extended three-week run with Linda Tardif, Christine Stevens, Bill Stewart, Tahmie Der, Matt Haas, and Myka Plunkett reprising their roles from 2023, and Will MacAdams joining in as David Lee Child. The plays—Circling Suspicion by Talya Kingston, Rose by Jasmine Rochelle Goodspeed, and The Optimist’s Razor by Patrick Gabridge—were directed again by Brianna Sloane, with Nikki Beck as stage manager (see list of the entire team here). Audiences braved the heat and thunderstorms and loved to stick around after the shows to discuss the history and the people involved. We’re grateful to Historic Northampton for having us back and hope we will get to work with them again soon.
Thomika Bridwell, Marge Dunn, and Regine Vital in A Light Under the Dome (photo by Nile Scott Shots)
We finished the summer with Part One of a project that we’ve been working on with the National Parks of Boston since 2020. A Light Under the Dome played for eight sold-out performances in the Senate Chamber of the Massachusetts State House. We had long waiting lists for each performance in this incredible space (our waiting list on the final day was more than 200), so I hope you were able to get tickets. Our cast of Thomika Bridwell, Amanda Collins, Marge Dunn, Bridgette Hayes, and Regine Vital filled the Chamber with the spirits of five powerful abolitionist women in a performance that will linger in the hearts and minds of audiences for years to come.
Longtime Plays in Place collaborator Courtney O’Connor directed the show and Adele Traub was our stage manager (see the list of the entire team here).
What’s next?
For the rest of this year, we’ll be busy writing and researching and planning. We have nine different projects in various stages of development (with 8 playwrights in 4 states). Our plan for 2025 is to produce A New Era by Miranda ADEkoje, directed by Summer L. Williams, the second play in the Suffrage in Black & White series we’re creating with the National Parks of Boston; The Kittie Knox Plays by Patrick Gabridge, Claire Gardner, and Kirsten Greenidge in Boston, Cambridge, and Martha’s Vineyard in association with MassBike, directed by Michelle Aguillon; and a concert reading of a new play about Maria Weston Chapman and Lydia Maria Child (more details to come soon), directed by Lisa Rafferty. Yet another ambitious year of site-specific (and bike-specific) plays.
We need your help!
We try not to fill your in-box with requests for donations. In fact, the entire structure of our company is designed so that we do not conduct fundraising campaigns for our shows (though our non-profit partners do). But we have two special exceptions to that model right now:
The Kittie Knox Plays. We need to raise more than $100,000 to get this collection of plays about barrier-breaking cyclist Kittie Knox and her friends fully staged and launched towards additional productions across the country. (Big ambitions with this one.)
Suffrage in Black & White is almost entirely funded by the National Parks of Boston, but we still need funds for additional expenses.
If you value the work that Plays in Place creates and have the ability to help support these projects, please donate today.
Thank you for joining us on our theatrical explorations! It has been a true joy to share these plays with you, and we hope to see you at our next projects.
