On the Boards New Play Fest: “Aananda” + “The Greatest Nation of All Time: A Political Farce and Time Travel Tragedy”

LAVA’s third annual festival of new plays by (mostly) local playwrights will include new and developmental works by ten Massachusetts-based playwrights and five LAVA friends from further afield. Get a glimpse into the process of making theater, in this festival of readings of new works in several stages of development.

“Aananda”
written by Sasha Aronson
directed by Cynthia Claudio
performed by Lundy Bancroft, Hia Ghosh, Justin (Ryn) Griffin, Lindel Hart, and Christine Mirabel
The play takes place during a Social Studies lesson in the year 33 A.A. (After Ascension). Guided by The Teacher, the class reflects on the conventions of the present epoch while studying a period in history known as the “Great Shift” which took place during the final years of the Anthropocene; rapidly over the course of the years 2020-2050 A.D. / B.A. (Before Ascension).

“The Greatest Nation of All Time: A Political Farce and Time Travel Tragedy”
written by Stephen Fruchtman
directed by Penney Hulten
performed by Justin (Ryn) Griffin, Lindel Hart, Jayse Matrishon, Fae Roberts, and Sandra Wang

In the very near future, the world is very nearly out of trees. There is a secret American military operation to go back in time and retrieve more wood, but they’ll have to sacrifice their very last tree to do it. Can they achieve their mission without repeatedly doing horrible damage to the timeline and revealing international military secrets?