New Commission Tackles Tales of Grove City

Photo pulled from visitgrovecityoh.com

It's not everyday you get the chance to stage history. 
Happy to share the news that I have been commissioned by the City of Grove City, Ohio to craft a new play! 

In celebration of the 2015 Bicentennial of Franklin County's Jackson Township, home to Grove City, I'll be writing a new play that will highlight the history of the area. The play will be a collection of tales aimed at capturing a wide range of stories and events from the past 200 years.

How fun is that, right? (That's rhetorical. . .I'll tell ya, it's gonna be pretty fun.)

Right now, that's all I can tell you. This commission is new and so I am actually in research mode. I'm already learning some fascinating things about Grove City, like that the first graduating class from Grove City High School was all women; or that a surprising number of the city's founding fathers died in freak accidents; or that from 1898 to the 1920s, you could travel from Columbus to Grove City on the Grove City and Greenlawn Street Railway, which gave the city a boom at the turn of the 20th century before automobiles came into fashion (as they were still pretty new then). I also heard a rumor about Al Capone and  a racetrack, but I'm trying to verify that one.

With close to 200 years to sift through, I'm excited to see what stories emerge.

The full play is slated to be shared in the Summer of 2015. A short preview of the play is in the works for this Fall's Arts in the Alley and as that develops, I'll be posting about it.

This entire project would not be possible if not for the commitment to the arts by the City of Grove City and the Grove City Historic Commission, especially Jim Hale and Lisa Napier-Garcia. I'm excited to work with them on bringing Grove City and Jackson Township's history to life!