Theater Thursday Play Reading Series
Silverthorne Theater Company will take advantage of the use of online streaming to bring three new plays to the Valley and beyond this summer through the 2020 Theater Thursday Play Reading Series. All three plays in this year’s series will be streamed free to Silverthorne’s Facebook page and will feature live discussions with the playwrights following the readings. The series is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council through the generous support of the Greenfield, Hadley and Buckland Cultural Councils.
Each of the readings will be streamed on on Silverthorne’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. There is no charge to view the reading. Viewers can visit YouTube – Silverthorne Theater Company or https://www.facebook.com/silverthornetheater/ to access the performances on the date and at the time of the performance. These will be available one time only.
Thursday, August 20. DISTANT MUSIC, by James McLindon. Directed by Penney Hulten
This complex piece by Northampton playwright James McLindon is set in January 2000. On a snowy night in an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Connor, Maeve and Dev meet, each agonizing over an irrevocably life-changing decision. Connor, a seemingly cynical Irish-American law professor, has spent much of his life looking for something to believe in, but he’s been repeatedly disillusioned, by his faith, the law, and, finally, love. Tonight may be his last chance as he mulls over the prestigious judgeship he’s been offered and, far more importantly, the fact that the woman he has always loved, Maeve, a nun, may suddenly be available if she decides to perform a baptism for the child of two gay men in her parish. Dev, the bartender, is an unsettled Irish immigrant whose easy humor and tall tales mask his own dilemma: should he buy the local fish and chips shop with his brother and return to Ireland or admit that America is now his home? The three fight over religion and beer, whether truth exists at all, the differences between the Irish and Irish-Americans, the many failings (according to Dev) of the latter, and, finally, the capacity of stout to explain, metaphorically and metaphysically, most of life. As the evening unfolds, each is eager to tell the others exactly what they should do with their lives and equally resolved not to discuss his or her own. Ultimately, Maeve’s determination to force Connor to confront their feelings for each other, and Dev’s weakness for eavesdropping on them through the heating vent, bring all three face to face with their futures.
The play, winner of numerous awards, has been produced across the country and is published by Dramatic Publishing.
Date and Time
Thursday Aug 20, 2020
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM EDT