4 | FEBRUARY 25 - MARCH 3, 2022 | WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM
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Forge Theater Lab playwrights explore the pandemic in ‘No Place to Go’ Richard Duckett Worcester Telegram & Gazette | USA TODAY NETWORK
They could be called some of the fi rst dramatic dispatches from our current times. The Forge Theater Lab will present “No Place to Go: Stories From a Pandemic,” a staged reading of 10 short plays, scenes and original monologues by area playwrights at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 25 and 26 at Fitchburg State University. For playwrights looking to capture what this moment is like, with all its attendant issues, “now is the time to do that” while we’re still living in the pandemic, said Charlene Kennedy, managing director of the Forge Theater Lab who is also directing “No Place to Go.” “In a few years our perspective is going to change,” she said. The Forge Theater Lab, which is in its fourth season in residence at Fitchburg State University, seems like an appropriate place for “No Place to Go.” According to its web site, the Forge “develops new plays that ignite passionate conversations.” With “No Place to Go,” a time like no other brings about moments like no other. “The pieces run the gamut of life,” said Kennedy, spanning multiple generations, relationships and voices. While Forge Theater Lab is in residence at FSU it doesn’t just work with university students and alum, Kennedy said. For “No Place to Go,” Forge put out a request for submissions from writers within a workable radius of Fitchburg. The idea was that writers within that radius could come to Forge Theater Lab and participate in the rehearsal and staged reading process if they wanted to. Forge Theater Lab also didn’t want people selecting the works to be overwhelmed by pieces sent nationwide. As it was, over 40 works were submitted, Kennedy said. “A respectable response.” The pieces include “Unrest” by Chamari WhiteMink of Bloomfi eld, Connecticut; “I Did Not Behave Well” by Norma Jenckes of Pawtucket, Rhode Island; “Love In The Time Of Covid” by Jamie Steinbach of Boston; “For Real” by Ellen Davis Sullivan of Andover; “Marty” by K. Alexa Mavromatis of Rumford, Rhode Island; “Kindness of Bakers,” by Monica Staaf of Foxboro; “Movie Reel” by Jack Rushton of Newbury; “A Dramatic Reading of Angry Emails from Entitled Patrons” by K. A. O’Connor of Ayer; “Queerantined” by Jessica Stier of Short Hills, New Jersey; and “Drinking Our
K. Alexa Mavromatis is the author of “Marty.” SUBMITTED PHOTOS
Way Through the Pandemic” by Pamela Kathleen Hill of Ashby (Hill will also be appearing in the staged reading). Some are short plays that run for about 10 to 15 minutes, others are scenes and monologues that might be run for just fi ve minutes or less. In total, the program runs about 90 minutes, Kennedy said. “No Place to Go” has tragedy and humor. “I suppose the tragedy is the pandemic itself,” Kennedy said. “They are humorous at times. There is an element of tragedy. There is fear, confusion — going to a grocery store and a fear of shortage of materials. There’s wearing a mask.” One work focuses on a Black man in the pandemic, while another has older characters “that look at life from their perspective and loss,” Kennedy said. “There’s a piece about what do you do if you’re a member of the LGBTQ+ community and you’ve just started to come out and you now can’t because you’re still living at home and haven’t taken that step (there).” Another piece focuses on nurses living in a hotel room
Pamela Kathleen Hill wrote and is acting in “Drinking Our Way Through the Pandemic.”
and not allowed contact with their families, Kennedy said. “They’re not all heavy. We always as people fi nd humor even in the darkest moments,” Kennedy said. Regarding whether there is any sort of common denominator in “No Place to Go,” Kennedy said, “Hopefully it moves us so there’s a cathartic response to these pieces. Maybe a recognition in that, ‘I’m not alone in this situation.’ Also that there is hope for our tomorrow. That we can emerge from this period and will emerge.” Best of all, “I think through all 10 pieces it examines humanity and how we respond to crises. I do feel and believe that there’s an overall optimistic quality,” Kennedy said. A staged reading takes place without props or costumes, but there is a cast — scripts in hand — who have been working on performing the pieces. The cast includes Michael Babineau, Amber CharSee FORGE, Page 8
