WHAT: On the Boards ’25: “Aananda” and “The Greatest Nation of All Time: A Political Farce and Time Travel Tragedy”
WHEN: Friday–Saturday, June 13–14, 7p.m. (doors at 6:30 p.m.)
WHERE: The LAVA Center, 324 Main St., Greenfield
MORE DETAILS: https://thelavacenter.org/on-the-boards/
https://www.facebook.com/events/2764540740408984
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 third annual festival of new play readings by (mostly) local playwrights, “On the Boards.” Get a glimpse into the process of making theater, in this festival of readings of new works in several stages of development.
The festival continues Friday–Saturday, June 13–14, with “Aananda” and “The Greatest Nation of All Time: A Political Farce and Time Travel Tragedy.”
“Aananda” was written by Sasha Aronson and is directed by Cynthia Claudio and performed by Lundy Bancroft, Hia Ghosh, Justin (Ryn) Griffin, Lindel Hart and Christine Mirabel. The play takes place during a Social Studies lesson in the year 33 A.A. (After Ascension). Guided by The Teacher, the class reflects on the conventions of the present epoch while studying a period in history known as the “Great Shift” which took place during the final years of the Anthropocene; rapidly over the course of the years 2020-2050 A.D. / B.A. (Before Ascension).
“The Greatest Nation of All Time: A Political Farce and Time Travel Tragedy” was written by Stephen Fruchtman and is directed by Penney Hulten and performed by Justin (Ryn) Griffin, Lindel Hart, Jayse Matrishon, Fae Roberts and Sandra Wang. In the very near future, the world is very nearly out of trees. There is a secret American military operation to go back in time and retrieve more wood, but they’ll have to sacrifice their very last tree to do it. Can they achieve their mission without repeatedly doing horrible damage to the timeline and revealing international military secrets?
Plays take place at The LAVA Center, 324 Main St., Greenfield. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and start at 7 p.m. Tickets are on a sliding scale of $8–35, with a $2 option for Card to Culture participants. The plays will also be viewable online, on demand for one month. Advance tickets can be purchased at https://www.tixtree.com/o/lava.
The rest of the schedule:
Friday–Saturday, June 20–21, 7 p.m.:
“Happy Husband Hunting” by Rex McGregor, directed by Ed Fitzgerald
“Tennis Play” by Jeremy Geragotelis, directed by Ezekiel Baskin
Friday–Saturday, June 27–28, 7 p.m.:
“Jane Austen Ruptured My Spleen” by James Anthony Merolla, directed by Jill Franks
“Glaucman’s Syndrome” by Sam Rahman, directed by Glenda Cresto
Sunday, June 29, 3 p.m. — Playwrights presenting 15-minute slices of their work as table reads for targeted feedback:
“The Voice” by Eva Schegulla
“Consensuality” by Karina Lutz
“Dreamzzz” by Ezra Prior
“Muse-aterium” by Deborah Kearney
“No Sweat” by Howie Faerstein
“Travel Whore: The Backside of International Relations” by Jo-Anne Hart
More details about the festival are available at https://thelavacenter.org/on-the-boards.
On the Boards ’25 is made possible by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the local cultural councils of Amherst, Bernardston, Buckland, Conway, 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
