Mount Auburn Cemetery is a longtime partner of Plays in Place, sponsoring some of our earliest productions. We are featuring them today because we want to share the recent coverage of the Artist-in-Residency program on Watertown Cable News, which also highlights Plays in Place.
Mount Auburn was founded in 1831, and their mission has always been “to inspire all who visit, comfort the bereaved, and commemorate the dead in a landscape of exceptional beauty.” A mission like that lends itself wonderfully to supporting the arts, and in 2014, Mount Auburn became the first cemetery in the United States to establish an Artist-in-Residence program.
“Playwright Patrick Gabridge…found inspiration in Mount Auburn’s landscapes and archives. He developed “The Nature Plays” and “The America Plays,” a series of short, site-specific performances that explore the natural world, American history, and the lives of notable figures buried at Mount Auburn. “I spent months researching Mount Auburn’s archives and walking the grounds to create plays specifically tied to its history and nature. It was a deeply immersive experience,” said Gabridge.”
If you want to know more about those projects, keep reading! In the meantime, watch the spotlight on the Artist-in-Residency program from Watertown Cable News:
In fact, in addition to being a cemetery, Mount Auburn is a National Historic Landmark, a botanical garden, an outdoor museum of art and architecture, and a habitat for urban wildlife, which makes for rich creative fodder.
Since its inception, the Artist-in-Residence program has been awarded to 28 artists, across mediums. In 2018-2019, Plays in Place Producing Artistic Director, Playwright Patrick Gabridge, was an Artist-in-Residence at Mount Auburn. In that time he wrote 11 site-specific plays for the grounds.
During his artist-in-residency, Patrick created two original 5-play series to be performed at Mount Auburn, plus an additional play.
Photo: Corinne Elicone
The Nature Plays was the first series, highlighting stories inspired by the rich natural environment of Mount Auburn, from spotted salamanders in Consecration Dell, birders at Auburn Lake, and historic debates between naturalists who are buried at the Cemetery. Audiences experienced the performance at various spots across the grounds, surrounded by the sights and sounds of the natural world.
Photo: Corinne Elicone
The America Plays was the second series of site-specific short plays written for Mount Auburn Cemetery. These five plays present a journey through the American experience through the lens of Mount Auburn, highlighting the drama and philosophies of the men and women who struggled to find their place in this nation as the American identity was being formed. The plays highlight the voices of sculptors Edmonia Lewis and Martin Milmore; women like Harriot Kezia Hunt and Charlotte Cushman who sought new opportunities beyond the social norms of their time; and an immigrant story highlighting some of Mount Auburn’s Armenian “residents” and the community concentrated in Watertown.
Both play series were celebrated and boasted sold out runs.
The final play written during residency was Moonlight Abolitionists,
Photo: Patrick Gabridge
a swirling conversation between six abolitionists buried at Mount Auburn, performed as a concert reading (with the actors at music stands) under the full moon at Washington Tower in the Cemetery.
We love working with Mount Auburn and are happy to share this program with you. Applications for artists are now being accepted.
