Medford Playwright Premieres "The America Plays"

Announcing the world premiere of the The America Plays, the second series of site-specific short plays by Mount Auburn Cemetery’s Artist-in-Residence, playwright Patrick Gabridge. The America Plays will run from September 12-22, 2019, for 11 performances at Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mt. Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA. These five plays present a journey through the American experience, 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. Hear the voices of sculptors Edmonia Lewis and Martin Milmore; strong 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. Audiences will experience the performances outdoors, at various spots across the grounds, surrounded by the sights and sounds of the natural world. Seating is provided and free on-site parking is available. Tickets for The America Plays are $35 per person ($30 for members) at https://mountauburn.org/the-america-plays/ or by calling 617-607-1980.

“The America Plays raise questions about American identity and who we include and who we don’t include in our story,” said Playwright Patrick Gabridge. “These are stories of race, gender identity, immigration, and how they play out in America in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. I hope audiences will take away a new sense of understanding of who we are as Americans and how we continue to write our collective story today.”

The America Plays will run for 11 performances over two weekends: Two shows on Thursday, Sept. 12 at 1:00 pm and 5:00 pm; two shows on Saturday, Sept 14 & 21 and Sunday, Sept 15 & 22 at 1:00 and 5:00 pm, and one show on Thursday, Sept. 19 at 5:00 pm. The entire performance will run for approximately 90 minutes and will include walking within the Cemetery on paved and unpaved surfaces and steep inclines; total walking distance approx. 2 miles. Shows will run rain or shine. After each performance is an optional moderated discussion with the playwright, director, actors or an expert on a person or topic explored in the plays.

All plays will be fully staged outdoors on the Cemetery grounds, Directed by Courtney O’Connor. The cast of The America Plays includes professional actors from Boston and beyond featuring: Ken Baltin*, Amanda Collins*, Karen MacDonald*, Robert Najarian*, Sarah Newhouse*, Mathew C. Ryan, and Cheryl Singleton*. (*Denotes member of Actor’s Equity Association). Costume design by Amanda Mujica, Sound design by Arshan Gailus. Produced by Plays In Place.

About Mount Auburn Cemetery

Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded in 1831 as the United States’ first designed landscape open to the public. With over 175 acres of landscaped gardens, ponds, an outdoor museum of art and architecture, and a habitat for protected urban wildlife and migrating birds, Mount Auburn Cemetery welcomes over 250,000 visitors each year. Visitors are welcome to wander the picturesque setting and to linger among the 100,000 burial sites that include historical and contemporary figures such as artist Winslow Homer, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and chef Joyce Chen. Mount Auburn provides year-round educational and art programs promoting the site as an important cultural and natural resource.

Mount Auburn’s Artist-in-Residence program was created in 2014 by the Friends of Mount Auburn with a grant/support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (###a>MA-30-13-0533-13). Mount Auburn’s resident artists have included Roberto Mighty, MFA, who created

About Patrick Gabridge, Playwright:

Playwright Patrick Gabridge is an award-winning writer of historical and contemporary stage plays, novels, audio plays, and screenplays. His short plays have been produced more 1,000 times in theaters and schools in 14 different countries around the world and appear in various anthologies. His recent site-specific works include Blood on the Snow and Cato & Dolly for The Bostonian Society/Old State House, and Both/And: A Quantum Physics Play for the MIT Museum. In 2018 Gabridge launched Plays In Place, a new company that works in partnership with museums, historic sites, and other cultural institutions to develop and produce site-specific theatrical plays and presentations to help engage, entertain, and enlighten visitors in new and vibrant ways. Gabridge’s Mount Auburn plays are presented in partnership with Plays in Place as one of the company’s inaugural projects.

For more information about playwright Patrick Gabridge please see www.gabridge.com; to commission a site-specific work for a museum, historic site, or other cultural institution see www.playsinplace.com.

For tickets to The America Plays see https://mountauburn.org/the-america-plays/ or call 617-607-1980. Tickets are $35 each, $30 for members.

The Mount Auburn Plays are funded in part by Mass Humanities and the Bob Jolly Charitable Trust.