‘Most Dangerous Women’ play coming in May
GREENFIELD — As part of its Social Justice in the Arts and Media series, The LAVA Center at 324 Main St. will present “Most Dangerous Women,” written and directed by Jan Maher.
The play will be performed on Saturday, May 7, and Saturday, May 14, with shows at 1 and 7 p.m. both days. It is also available online, on demand, by visiting bit.ly/3KfPoqP.
During World War I, a group of women from a dozen countries founded the world’s oldest continuous women’s peace organization. According to a LAVA Center press release, “Most Dangerous Women” tells the story of the founding of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom — and the subsequent women’s activism for peace and social justice that has occurred in the century since — in a readers’ theater compilation of headlines, speech excerpts, stories, poems and songs taken verbatim from the history makers featured in the play.
‘“Most Dangerous Women’ is a play that is never finished,” Maher said in the release. “As long as history keeps happening, it keeps being updated. Audiences can expect to hear about history being made right up to the date of the performances.
Maher explained some of the women are well-known for their work, such as Jane Addams, founder of Hull House who is called the mother of the profession of social work.
“Others are ordinary women who rose to the demands of history: women who resisted Nazism and Nazi occupation, for example, during World War II, and Leymah Gbowee, who organized women across religious/ethnic divides in Liberia to stop a protracted civil war there,” Maher continued. “Still others victimized by the brutality of war and armed conflict survived to bear witness, such as Toyomi Hashimoto in Nagasaki and 11-year-old Zlata Filipovic in Bosnia.”
The play will be performed by Emily Gopen, Nina Gross, Kaia Jackson, Laura Josephs, Jean Koester and Kirsten Levitt, the release states. Robby Moore serves as stage manager, and Lucinda Kidder will facilitate post-performance discussions of the issues brought up by the play.
A $5 to $10 donation is suggested to reserve your seat, but a $1 minimum is required. Seating will be limited and all visitors to The LAVA Center must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination upon entry.
Support the Recorder. Subscribe Today
To reserve a seat, visit thelavacenter.eventbrite.com.
Former book store owner exhibiting art at LAVA Center
GREENFIELD — Local artist Tom Swetland, former owner of Federal Street Books, will display his work at The LAVA Center at 324 Main St. throughout May.
Swetland is a mostly self-taught artist, according to a LAVA Center press release. His work includes collage, assemblage, mixed media and junk sculpture of assembled found objects. The work is largely influenced by surrealist artists of the 1930s, tribal art and 1960s psychedelic posters.
An artist’s reception will be held Sunday, May 1, from 5 to 8 p.m. Swetland’s exhibit can also be viewed on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m.
From the Greenfield Recorder Notebook, 4/29/22
Click here to read the article online.
