on Friday and Saturday, July 29 and 20
WHAT: On the Boards ’24: a festival of new play readings by (mostly) local playwrights: Man and His Shadow by Silvia, Modern Times by P.H. Crosby and American Stink Bug by Jean Minuchin
WHEN: Friday and Saturday, July 19 and 20, 7 p.m.; also available online on demand for one month
WHERE: The LAVA Center, 324 Main St., Greenfield
MORE DETAILS: https://thelavacenter.org/on-the-boards/
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 of new works by Silvia, P.H. Crosby and Jean Minuchin.
Man and His Shadow was written and directed by Silvia and performed by Shannon Edward Chabot, Kimberly Salditt-Poulin, Christine Mirabal and Sandy Wang
Man and his Shadow is a short play in progress that deals with the story of a man whose Shadow abandons him for being arrogant and possessive. He is also abandoned by his Pencil and his Girlfriend, for the same reasons.
Modern Times was written and directed by P.H. Crosby and performed by Trouble Mandeson, Elizabeth LaPrade, Jerry Marcanio, John Reese, Jayse Matrishon, Amie Hyson, Christine Mirabal and Maya Winfrey.
Characters of different ages, races and genders cope with rapidly-changing workplace expectations and norms.
P.H. Crosby writes poetry, fiction and drama. Crosby’s Work has appeared in Rattle; War, Literature and the Arts; Blue Unicorn and other venues, and adaptations of “The Odd Women” and “Bartleby the Scrivener” were produced at The LAVA Center in 2022–23.
American Stink Bug was written and performed by Jean Minuchin and directed by Bri Boehm.
This is the first section of a play in progress in which a bug clown provokes through grotesque whimsy, and confrontation. The protagonist, Stink Bug, has been sent by nature to evaluate the merits of the human race.
We’d like to thank Steve Franklin for his help with props.
Jean Minuchin runs The World and Eye Arts Center, which produces hands-on workshops and programming focused on social issues through the arts. As a performance artist she uses a multidisciplinary approach to create a hybrid form of visual theater. American Stink Bug is her latest and most complex play to date.
Jean says, “Working towards ‘On the Boards’ has allowed me to move forward on a rewrite of my play and try the first section out on an audience. I also had the good fortune of finding Bri Boehm to collaborate with as my director which has been invaluable in shaping the piece for performance.”
Bri Boehm is a director, illustrator, theater educator, and storyteller with training from the Atlanta Shakespeare Company and Pace University. Bri is informed by a background in puppetry, directing devised theater, and Shakespeare scholarship, as well as a passion for accessibility and education.
Admission is on a sliding scale of $5–20 ($1–2 for Card to Culture participants). Advance tickets are now available at https://www.tixtree.com/o/lava.
The schedule for the rest of the festival:
Friday–Saturday, July 26–27, 7 p.m. — staged reading:
Inheritance, written and directed by Nina Gross
July plays will also be viewable online for one month each, with closed captioning.
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