WHAT: On the Boards ’24: a festival of new play readings by (mostly) local playwrights: The Moon Over Us by Beth Filson and Cancer Mom by Steve Poulin
WHEN: Friday and Saturday, July 12 and 13, 7 p.m.
WHERE: The LAVA Center, 324 Main St., Greenfield
TICKETS: https://www.tixtree.com/o/lava
CONTACT: info@thelavacenter.org or 413-376-8118
GREENFIELD, MA — The LAVA Center is proud to present our second annual festival of new play readings by (mostly) local playwrights, “On the Boards ’24,” which continues Friday and Saturday, July 12 and 13, 7 p.m. with staged readings by Beth Filson and Steve Poulin.
The Moon Over Us was written and directed by Beth Filson and performed by Katie Gobreski, Kim Salditt-Poulin, Will Quale, Chip Roughton, Jane Barish, Peter Ludwig and Elizabeth LaPrade
This is a play about traumatic memory: how the past is ever present, and how the present can’t help but change the remembered past. What if the you from your past, and the you you are right now carried on a conversation about experienced events. Is there one truth about what happened—or does an entirely new truth emerge?
Trigger Warning: sexual assault. Scenes from this play may be difficult for some audience members. As this is a work in progress, audience members may not get to see resolution of these events.
Beth Filson is an award winning poet and writer, as well as a self-taught artist. Her solo performance, Telling the Story/Untelling the Diagnosis, was produced last year by Pauline Productions. Beth uses autobiographical material to explore the healing power of connection through the listener-storyteller relationship. Beth also works in the field of trauma-informed care; she has published extensively in her field. She is truly grateful for the opportunities The LAVA Center has created for new and emerging playwrights.
Cancer Mom was written by Steve Poulin, directed by Tracy Grammer and performed by Phoebe Hazzard, Chip Roughton, Katie Grobeski, Alison Blakeslee, Clara Witty, Kimberly Salditt-Poulin and Aria Killough-Miller.
Cancer Mom asks a difficult but elemental question: Can you lie your way to the truth? Jen, the protagonist, becomes obsessed with the secret life her husband Brian leads as he carries on an affair. She constructs her own secret life in response. Becoming a cancer patient, and then a survivor, results in the end of her husband’s affair, and Jen becomes a hero in her daughter Isabelle’s eyes. Her life complete and whole again, Jen is ready to move on, until Isabelle and her college roommate Jade arrive home for a Thanksgiving feast like no other.
Steve Poulin (Playwright), a western Mass native, journeyed from Boston to Seattle to San Francisco before finding his way home again. He’s picked up a few college degrees and taught English along the way, and now finds himself married to an actor. Through this relationship (and the running of countless lines) he has discovered the magic of the stage, writing a series of one-act plays during the pandemic that were produced at Greenfield Community College. “Cancer Mom” is his first full-length production and he is thrilled to bring it to LAVA and the community under the guidance of Tracy Grammer and an amazing cast. None of this would have even been close to possible without the generosity and support of Jan and Vanessa at LAVA.
Tracy Grammer (Director) is a theater artist, writer, and musician based in Greenfield, Mass. A lifelong performer, she has studied theater arts at Shakespeare & Co., HB Studios NY, and GCC, and has served in numerous theater and film productions around the Commonwealth, either as an actor or assistant director. Grammer brings a spirit of possibility, expansion, and play to her work, as well as rigorous attention to uncovering the nuances of the text. She is honored to be partnering with Steve Poulin and this sensitive, insightful cast to bring “Cancer Mom” to the LAVA stage. tracygrammer.com
Admission is on a sliding scale of $5–20 ($1–2 for Card to Culture participants). July plays will also be viewable online for one month each, with closed captioning. Tickets for both in person and online are available at https://www.tixtree.com/o/lava.
The schedule for the rest of the festival:
Friday–Saturday, July 19–20, 7 p.m. — staged readings:
Man and his Shadow, written and directed by Silvia
Modern Times, written and directed by P.H. Crosby
American Stink Bug, written by Jean Minuchin and directed by Bri Boehm
Friday–Saturday, July 26–27, 7 p.m. — staged reading:
Inheritance, written and directed by Nina Gross
On the Boards ’24 is made possible by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the local cultural councils of Amherst, Bernardston, Buckland, Conway, Deerfield, Gill, Greenfield, Leyden, Northfield and Shelburne.
The LAVA Center is a community arts space in Greenfield, MA whose mission is to create opportunities and build inclusive community in and through the arts and humanities. We are focused on making The LAVA Center a space where all artists, including marginalized communities and individuals, can have their voices heard. The LAVA Center is located at 324 Main St., in downtown Greenfield, MA. https://thelavacenter.org