Mount Auburn Cemetery provided the following information:
Announcing the world premiere of the“The Nature Plays”, the first series of site-specific short plays by Mount Auburn Cemetery’s Playwright Artist-in-Residence, Patrick Gabridge.
“The Nature Plays” run from June 1-9, 2019 at Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mt. Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA. These five short plays highlight stories inspired by the rich natural environment of Mount Auburn with topics such as spotted salamanders in Consecration Dell, birders at Auburn Lake, and historic debates between naturalists who are buried at the Cemetery.
Through comedy and drama “The Nature Plays”explore topics both current and whimsical from global warming to the secret world of mushroom hunting. Audiences will experience the performances at various spots across the grounds, surrounded by the sights and sounds of the natural world. Each performance will be followed by a discussion.
“The Nature Plays” will run for 8 performances over two weekends; two shows on Saturdays and Sundays at 1:00 and 5:00 p.m. The entire performance will run for approximately 75 minutes and will include walking within the Cemetery on paved and unpaved surfaces; total walking distance approx. 1 mile; rain or shine.
Tickets for The Nature Plays are $35 per person ($30 for members) at mountauburn.org/the-nature-plays or by calling 617-607-1980.
Cast members of “The Nature Plays” are all members of Actors Equity Association and include: Lisa Tucker, Jacob Athyal, Ed Hoopman, and Theresa Nguyen. Directed by Courtney O’Connor. Presented in partnership with Plays in Place.
The second series of plays, “The America Plays”willpremiere September 14-22, 2019. Tickets for “The America Plays”will be available at a later date.
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 Cemeterywelcomes 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 (MA-30-13-0533-13). Mount Auburn’s resident artists have included Roberto Mighty, MFA, who created “earth.sky”: a site-specific, multi-screen digital multimedia installation, and singer/musician/composer Mary Bichner, whose residency included pop-up concerts and composing a dozen works inspired by the pastoral setting of Mount Auburn.
This program is funded in part by Mass Humanities and the Bob Jolly Charitable Trust.
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 will be 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 Nature Plays” (June 1-9, 2019), see www.mountauburn.org or call 617-607-1980. Tickets are $35 each, $30 for members. Tickets for “The America Plays” will be available at a later date.