If you missed it the first time due to snow, we’ll be performing Open For Business on Sunday, April 19th as part of double feature with our Public Park plays! Show starts at 2pm.
Open for Business is the culminating performance of The Manton Avenue Project’s Tag Team program, an afterschool playwriting class held at MAP’s Clubhouse in Olneyville. Seven young playwrights, 5th graders at William D’Abate elementary, have collaborated on a play about starting a business, in this case a homeless resource center and ice cream/pizza parlor in Olneyville Square. For this project, The Manton Avenue Project partnered with the Business Innovation Factory, and the playwrights learned about creating an ethical and sustainable business model for their community. The resulting production will be directed by Brien Lang, and designed and performed by the wonderful talents of local adult theatre artists, including Lang, Clare Blackmer, Kelly Seigh, Kristin Elliot, and MAP’s Artistic Director Meg Sullivan.
This production will be a culmination of an enriching afterschool class, where we’ve discussed what we would do if we had a storefront in Olneyville Square. What kind of business would best serve our community? What does our community need? As a team, the playwrights came up with the characters and story line through a wonderfully challenging process of negotiating and creative collaboration, and each child has written an ‘act’ within a full-length play. Our goal is to bring kids’ creative voices to the public stage and, through our ongoing and tuition-free playwriting programs, to help them reach their full potential as tomorrow’s creative thinkers and community leaders.
This play is about a business model for a homeless resource center in Olneyville, but it is about so much more. What it means to be a family, the challenges of teen pregnancy, and having the courage to follow our dreams while helping others. Due to the difficult subject matter, the show may not be suitable for kids under 6.
Tickets are pay-what-you-can at the door.