Archibald J. Motley Jr., Tongues (Holy Rollers), 1929. Oil on canvas, 29.25 x 36.125 inches (74.3 x 91.8 cm). Collection of Mara Motley, MD, and Valerie Gerrard Browne. Image courtesy of the Chicago History Museum, Chicago, Illinois. © Valerie Gerrard Browne.

Every Tongue Confess

Every Tongue Confess by Marcus Gardley is the fifth play in The God’s Closet Reading Series presented by The Front Porch Arts Collective, in residence at Central Square Theater. The reading will take place on Monday, January 29, 2018 at 7pm and tickets are free with RSVPs strongly recommended. RSVP Online.

In the backwater town of Boligee, Alabama, the summer heat is rising higher, driving the townsfolk to distraction and conjuring the spirits of the past to walk the earth. Wrapped in the combustible music of a Deep South juke joint and the sweat-soaked gospel of a revivalist church tent, intergenerational stories of loss and redemption collide. Based upon biblical stories and events in the town’s history, Every Tongue Confess awakes a fiery theatrical furnace in which some will be saved, some will be purged, and the truth cannot escape.

To directors and actors who wish to be considered for one of the readings, please email us at thefrontporcharts@gmail.com. Thank you for your interest!

The God’s Closet Reading Series is funded, in part, by The Boston Foundation as part of the Live Arts Boston initiative.

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Black Odyssey

Black Odyssey by Marcus Gardley is the fourth play in The God’s Closet Reading Series presented by The Front Porch Arts Collective, in residence at Central Square Theater. The reading will take place on Monday, October 30, 2017 at 7pm and tickets are free.

We have now created a waiting list for the reading! The good news is that we have had great luck getting people into the reading from the waiting list. Please join the waiting list for updates.


Black Odyssey
By Marcus Gardley
Directed by Benny Sato Ambush

Featuring:

Johnny Lee Davenport – Great Grand Daddy Deus
Cliff Odle – Grand Paw Sidin
Liana Asim – Aunt Tina
Maurice Parent – Lincoln
Miranda Adekoje – Pea
Kinson Theodoris – Malachi/Poly’famous

Hayley Spivey -Stage Directions

More cast members to be announced!

Pascale Florestal – Dramaturg
James Austyn Williamson – Assistant Director


Black Odyssey mashes up Greek mythology and African-American folklore in this musical and visionary new take on Homer’s classic.

After he is lost at sea and presumed dead, Ulysses Lincoln, a Gulf War veteran, struggles to find his way home to his wife, Nella and his son, Malachi.

A host of Gods control his fate, including the dignified Deus, scheming Paw Sidin, and radiant Aunt Tina, who make Ulysses confront his ancestral past so he can embrace his unsettled present.

To directors and actors who wish to be considered for one of the readings, please email us at thefrontporcharts@gmail.com. Thank you for your interest!

The God’s Closet Reading Series is funded, in part, by The Boston Foundation as part of the Live Arts Boston initiative.

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Silhouette by Kara Walker.Silhouette by Kara Walker.

An Issue of Blood

An Issue of Blood by Marcus Gardley is the third play in The God’s Closet Reading Series presented by The Front Porch Arts Collective, in residence at Central Square Theater.

The reading will take place on Monday, September 25, 2017 and tickets are free. Please note that all advanced RSVPs are full. There will be a limited number of tickets available at the door on a first come, first serve basis. You may also join a waiting list. If spaces are released, patrons on the waiting list will be moved over in the order that they joined. Join the wait list today.


An Issue of Blood
By Marcus Gardley
Directed by Pascale Florestal

Featuring:

Yewande Odetoyinbo as Negro Mary
Kadahj Bennet as John-Israel
Kai Thomani Tshikoski as Dozens Goode
Jessica Chance as Nova
Katie Grindeland as Calla
Alexander Platt as Constable

Phyllis Smith, Stage Manager
Zack Rice, Dramaturg


It’s 1676 in Virginia – a time when class, not color, defined an American’s destiny. ​H​istoric figure and wealthy landowner Negro Mary​​ believes a vile curse has been cast upon her family and land. But her plans to break the curse are thwarted by a secret wedding, an interracial love triangle, and a crime of   passion.

Can Mary cheat fate and change the course of history? Or will ​their lives end in ​​division and destruction?

In An Issue of Blood, playwright Marcus Gardley looks to a pivotal moment in our collective past to understand how we arrived in our tumultuous present.

To directors and actors who wish to be considered for one of the readings, please email us at thefrontporcharts@gmail.com. Thank you for your interest!

The God’s Closet Reading Series is funded, in part, by The Boston Foundation as part of the Live Arts Boston initiative.

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Dance of the Holy Ghosts

Dance of the Holy Ghosts by Marcus Gardley is the second play in The God’s Closet Reading Series presented by The Front Porch Arts Collective, in residence at Central Square Theater. The reading will take place on Tuesday, May 9, 2017. Doors will open at 6:00pm, and the reading will start at 7:00pm. Tickets are free but you are encouraged to RSVP.


Directed by Harsh J. Gagoomal
Cast:
Oscar – Cliff Odle
Viola/Tanisha – Jasmine Rush
Marcus – Kadahj Bennett
Darlene – Cloteal L Horne
Willie/Father Michael – Maurice Emmanuel Parent
Earma/Norma – Lovely Hoffman

Oscar Clifton prefers to live his memories rather than his life. But when his estranged grandson comes calling after eighteen years, Oscar must face a very different version of his past. Together, what future can they make when they are so alike they can’t stand each other? Something is going to have to arouse them; something beyond the smell of sweet potato pie and the muddy blues of the Delta—something supernatural. dance of the holy ghosts is a poetic family drama that waltzes from the hilarious innocence of a childhood crush to the heartbreak of a ruined marriage. It is a memory-scape that arouses all the senses, wakes the imagination, and leaves no stone unturned.

 

To directors and actors who wish to be considered for one of the future readings, please email us at thefrontporcharts@gmail.com.

The God’s Closet Reading Series is funded, in part, by The Boston Foundation as part of the Live Arts Boston initiative.

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Both/And: A Quantum Physics Play and Talkback

Join us at the MIT Museum to watch an inventive one-act play by Patrick Gabridge that is part comedy, part poetry, and all inquiry into a major scientific experiment taking place right now. Both/And seeks to explore basic tenets of quantum physics.

As a special event for ArtWeek, you can meet the actors after the 3:00pm performance on Saturday, April 29, 2017 and Saturday, May 6, 2017 and ask questions about their experience bringing this unique science-theater collaboration to the public.

Besides the two performances with talk-backs, Both/And will be performed eight times during ArtWeek at 1:30pm and 3:00pm on Sunday, April 30; Saturday, May 6; and Sunday, May 7, 2017. It will also be performed throughout the Summer. Full schedule is available here. 

Both/And is a project of Catalyst Collaborative@MIT, the science-theater partnership between Central Square Theater and MIT.

Attendance at both the performance and the talkback is included with MIT Museum Admission. 

ArtWeek attendees get 15% off tickets to both Paradise and Homebody with promotional code: ARTWEEK.

See more of Central Square Theater’s ArtWeek events

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