Body Contact: Jess Meyer Coordinates Intimacy in Commonwealth Shakespeare's 'The Winter's Tale'

EDGE: You're also a co-producer with Plays in Place, which is putting on a historical play by Patrick Gabridge called "Revolution's Edge," at Old North Church – the very site of the events in the play. Can you tell us a little about that?

Jess Meyer: Plays in Place [is] a site-specific theater company that collaborates with cultural institutions, historical organizations, and museums to create and develop new plays that feature events and people that existed within that actual place.

Patrick Gabridge is the Producing Artistic Director of Plays in Place, and he has created this niche of creating site-specific theater that exists within these historical spaces as a way of helping the public realize that these are spaces that you are welcome into and that we encourage you to learn about.

"Revolution's Edge" was commissioned by the Old North Church. They have been creating programming that makes their site accessible and allows people to be invited in and engaged with the site in different capacities. Old North Church [is] the place where, on the evening of the revolution, the "one if by land, two, if by sea" lanterns were hung in the steeple. The play takes place that evening before the lanterns were hung. Reverend Mather Byles is retiring – or being fired, depending on who you ask. His slave, Cato, comes in to help him pack up his things, and there's a vestryman of the church named Captain John Pulling, who is a patriot of the Revolution. Reverend Mather Byles is a royalist. All three of them are fathers with young children around the same age, grappling with the idea of what war implies for their families.

We're excited to be sharing this particular piece again. It's a wonderful play. It was commissioned for the 300th anniversary of the church last year, and we're back for another 10 weeks this summer from a very successful run reaching over 2,000 patrons last year. We have two incredible casts, and we are running from June 7 through August 10, Wednesdays through Saturdays.

Being able to unflatten the history of a site is one of the most exciting parts of my artistry. When we think about "Revolution's Edge," particularly in our current political climate, there are so many parallels. One of the things I love about doing historical plays is, "How far have we really come since then, and how far do we have to go?" We utilize theater as a tool to be able to ask those questions of the audience.

"The Winter's Tale" plays on the Boston common July 16 – Aug. 4. For more information and tickets, follow this link.

"Revolution's Edge" runs Wednesday through Saturday through August 10 at the Old North Church, 193 Salem Street, Boston, MA. Seating starts at 5:30 p.m. For more information, follow this link.