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.