The Fourth Annual Communal Spaces Festival
Moves to Brooklyn
8 New Plays To Premiere in 4 Brooklyn Community Gardens
Saturdays and Sundays: August 30 & 31, September 6 & 7, 13 & 14
New York — Now in its fourth year, The Communal Spaces Festival will premiere eight new short plays inspired by and performed in community gardens in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. The festival will take place on the last weekend in August and the first two weekends in September. Previous festivals have included site specific performances in community gardens on the Lower East Side, East Village, Upper West Side and Harlem. In the past four years 27 new works have been presented. This year’s titles include Washougal My Heart, COMPETE ME and ALTHEA THE GARDEN CANTATA.
The Communal Spaces Festival is being produced by The Motor Company, Co-Artistic Directors Lillian Meredith and Christopher Norwood. Admission is free, no reservations required. Seating is available on a first come, first serve basis and all plays run approximately 30 minutes.
More information is available at www.communitygardenproject.wordpress.com
The Plays & Schedule
Saturday & Sunday – August 30th & 31st
Saturday & Sunday – September 6th & 7th
Saturday & Sundays – September 13th & 14th
Saturdays and Sundays @ 1:00 pm
The Traditionalists
Written by Patrick Shaw, directed by Lillian Meredith.
Ryan dropped out of high school, so he can train to be the next mayor, naturally. So how could he help three Traditionalists from the Edge Country find their disappeared children? His dad, the Mayor, will know.
Location: Target Community Garden
Absolutely Somewhere
Written by Nora Casey, directed by TBA.
A new house. An old dog. Shampoo. Everybody’s looking for something.
Location: Garden of Hope
Saturdays & Sundays @ 2:30pm
Garden Sweet Garden
Written by Erin Buckley, directed by Jaki Bradley.
“Bob and Lloyd used to live in Chelsea. Bob and Lloyd’s rent went too high. Bob and Lloyd can no longer live in Chelsea. Bob and Lloyd make alternate arrangements.”
Location: in Target Community Garden
Poetic Memory
Written by Georgette Kelly, directed by Lillian Meredith.
This garden was created in memory of someone special. So was this play. In it, two friends grapple with the recent death of their dear poet-friend, and wonder what he’s up to now in poet-heaven.
Location: Garden of Hope
Saturdays & Sundays @ 4:00 pm
COMPETE ME
Written by Angela Santillo, directed by Elizabeth Nelson.
A beauty pageant, a step off, a 500-meter dash, and a botanical clash. A collision of competition and one person has to judge them all and they are burning out…fast.
Location: Clifton Place Memorial Park and Garden
Washougal My Heart
Written by Clare Barron, directed by Dina Vovsi.
It’s Victoria’s 25th birthday and the whole gang is going cliff jumping for old times’ sake! But the cliff’s too small and the water’s too cold and someone beloved is missing.
Location: Classon Fulgate Block Association Garden
Saturdays & Sundays @ 5:00 pm
ALTHEA THE GARDEN CANTATA
Written by Alexandra Bassett, directed by Chris Norwood.
A rhythmically riotous escapade that chronicles one very particular day in the life of Althea at age 16 and also at age 96.
Location: Clifton Place Memorial Park and Garden
Small Wars
Written by Madeline Chilese, directed by Ilana Becker.
Two lovers find themselves in the second American civil war. Both fight for different sides, both want each other back.
Location: Classon Fulgate Block Association Garden
About The Gardens:
Clifton Place Memorial Park and Garden (1031-1039 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn) Clifton Place Garden and Park began in 1982 by the Clifton Place Block Association. In 2000 the garden became permanent park land under the Parks Department. The garden has individual plots, a deck space, and bee hives.
Target Community Garden (931-933 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn) In 2007, nationally acclaimed garden designer and horticulturist Sean Conway partnered with New York Restoration Project, local community groups – including the Bedford Garden Group and Block Association – and neighborhood residents to create the garden’s stylish and innovative design. This versatile space provides areas where neighbors can relax, have barbeques and hold community events, as well as a lawn where children can play.
Classon Fulgate Block Association Garden (474 Classon Avenue, Broklyn) Back in 1968, a young man named Joe Robinson took on the task of transforming a debris filled lot into a vegetable garden. A memorial garden was developed utilizing car tire monuments housing newly planted trees with the names of senior members, and gardeners from the block who have passed on as a remembrance of those who came before us, and who enjoyed the fruits of their labor, and the foods, and the friendships fostered in the garden.
Garden of Hope (392 Hancock Street, Brooklyn) Founded by local residents in 1982, the Garden of Hope was adopted in 2006 by interior designer Ellie Cullman, co-founder of the design firm Cullman & Kravis, Inc. The Garden of Hope has become a popular place for everything from community gatherings to weddings and youth recreation to quiet contemplation.