FirstWords

This statement was issued by the leadership of Theatre@First on June 3rd and shared with our participants and supporters via email.  We continue to explore ways that we can dismantle barriers, create change, amplify the voices of BIPOC, and support the protests against racism and police violence as a theatre community.  BLACK LIVES MATTER The murder of George Floyd has been added to the list of too many Black lives that have been taken by police and other perpetrators of white violence. While live performance at Theatre@First is on hiatus, we are still here and we are grieving and raging at the specific injustices and systemic racism that yet again echo across our screens and through our streets.  We are particularly concerned at this time for the Black artists and other people of color within our community, who are especially impacted by the cruelty of recent events.  We see you, you are an important part of our community, and you are not alone....

Changing Lanes Director Elizabeth Ross Way back at the beginning of the year I was incredibly pleased to be selected to direct a staged reading of Changing Lanes by Maggie Kearnan and Taylor Buehler, the 2020 selection for our FirstWorks program for new plays. When I first read Changing Lanes I knew it was a very special script and its themes of identity, reaching out for human connection, and the difficult necessity of changing plans in the face of tragedy would be profoundly affecting for our audience. Little did I know how much more resonant the work would become during this world crisis.  FirstWorks isn’t like other Theatre@First productions. We’re not just trying to put on the best show possible, the purpose of FirstWorks is to help our playwrights refine their play through the editing process and by receiving responses from our audience. We couldn’t let a beautiful play like Changing Lanes not be produced and it would be a disservice to our authors to not fin...

Theatre@First is sad to announce that all mainstage performances have been canceled for the remainder of the 2020 calendar year. While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to make it unsafe to gather together in person, we will not let this stop us from bringing the joy of theatre to our community virtually. We will continue to celebrate the arts through a variety of online special projects and events. We encourage you to like our Facebook page and join our community group . Please watch our website for announcements and subscribe to our newsletter for monthly updates.

Theatre@First is committed to playing our part to support the well-being of our community in these times of social distancing. Our leadership continues to monitor the coronavirus situation and make decisions based first and foremost on the health and safety of our actors and production staff. We're excited about what we have planned for 2020 and hope to be able to bring you, our audience, entertaining and thought-provoking live theatre in some form as the year rolls on, but we absolutely will not "reopen for business" until it is safe to do so. Just because we can't put on traditional shows in traditional spaces, that doesn't mean we're sitting on our heels! We've got plenty of ideas in the works for ways to keep the arts alive in Somerville and beyond. We're looking into ways to live-stream our performances. Our reading groups, which once might have met in someone's living room, are now happening over video conferencing. We're doing everyt...

As we all know, the COVID-19 coronavirus is spreading rapidly throughout the US, including our area. With a state of emergency in place in Massachusetts and guidance from the City of Somerville on large gatherings, many groups are canceling events, programs, and meetings. It is certainly a difficult time to know what is necessary to keep ourselves healthy. After much consideration, Theatre@First has decided that the safest course of action is to cancel our production of Eurydice this spring. The choice to do so was not taken lightly and has been made with everyone's health and safety in mind. We're all disappointed, but we must do our part to stop the spread of the coronavirus throughout our communities. We hope to reschedule this production after the virus has run its course and that you will all be able to join us then. We are keeping an eye on the public health community and their guidance and response to this evolving situation. We hope to go on with the remainder of o...

by Mike Haddad, Festival Director, Giving@First In October of 2017, Theatre@First put on a play festival to raise money for people suffering from the effects of a devastating hurricane season. The festival became known as Giving@First . A wonderful team of writers, directors,  actors,and tech crew from the Theatre@First community came together to write, rehearse, and perform six never before seen shows. The festival was a smashing success: great art was made, money was graciously donated to a worthy cause, and all involved had a very hectic, chaotic, amazing twenty-four hours.          On January 10th/11th 2020, Theatre@First proudly put on its 4th Giving@First festival, this time raising money for ALS ONE .  We have stayed true to our original format, and over the last couple of years, the festival has gotten bigger and bigger (this year we squeezed in a seventh show to accommodate as many people as we could....and still got it d...

by Theatre@First Vice President Jo Guthrie I have held 15 different roles in over 35 productions both in front and behind the curtain over my 16 years with Theatre@First.  Where I have found myself most useful has been in production roles backstage but I have also enjoyed two onstage roles. It has given me a great deal of perspective and a number of great stories. Anything can happen in theatre.   As a leader in our group I try and make it to most productions.  I am also pretty good at dealing with emergencies in a pinch. One night I was called out of the audience to help an actor who had managed to dislocate her shoulder.  I have absolutely no experience at this so...turned to my audience and actually got to say the lines “Is there a doctor in the house?” on stage for a real reason.   Every moment you are standing there is another opportunity to slow the heck down.  This is one of my favorite notes to actors but is so incredib...