Brown Box Theatre Project Will Present the World Premiere of MOX NOX (OR SOON COMES THE NIGHT)

Brown Box Theatre Project will present the world premiere of Mox Nox (or Soon Comes the Night), a new play of family conflict and human frailty in a world of rising waters. Brown Box commissioned Boston playwright Patrick Gabridge (The Mount Auburn Plays, Lab Rats), to tackle this emotional story of two sisters who inhabit a post-cataclysmic world full of lyricism and magic, but are both falling apart physically and mentally as the water threatens their mountainside home. Mox Nox will tour to 8 communities along the east coast including 4 sites in Delmarva (May 22-31) and 4 sites in Massachusetts (June 4-14). Most performances are free, outdoors, and open to all audiences; only two performances May 22-May 23 are ticketed/indoors at Ocean City Performing Arts Center, 4001 Coastal Highway Ocean City, Maryland (see brownboxtheatre.org for tickets). No tickets are needed for outdoor performances and lawn seating, blankets and lawn chairs are welcome. Directed by Kyler Taustin; Magic Consultant Evan Northrup. Please visit www.brownboxtheatre.org for full performance schedule and rain locations.

About Mox Nox or Soon Comes the Night

"We're all looking for higher ground."

In a world of magical realism and rising water, two sisters are reunited at their family home. Mira, the caretaker sister, had to weather her mother's death alone and holds every childhood slight so close that she is literally burning from the inside, shedding ashes and embers, as her wife, Amanda, attempts to soothe her. Sister Deedee has returned to bring her fiancé, Pike, to a safe place, even as her memory is vanishing faster and faster. In a slowly drowning world, everyone is searching for higher ground. The sisters battle to the end, one unable to forget, the other unable to remember. Mox Nox is a play of lyrical magic and visual surprise, with characters who desperately need love and dry land.

Featuring Susannah Wilson as "Amanda", Cameron Torres as "Pike", Debbie Aboaba as "Deedee" and Rachel Tondreault as "Mira".

According to Artistic Director Kyler Taustin, "We wished to explore the idea that, even in a world of scientific and technological advancement, basic human connection is necessary to find common ground, and a commitment to progress is essential to move forward. Mox Nox addresses global warming under the umbrella of human connection, loss, and denial. Why must we wait for guilt and spite to consume us or for our earth to catastrophically revolt because of our behavior before we confront the issues that face us? Through family struggle in a magical world, Mox Nox asks the question: can we commit to change before it is too late, or will we succumb to our resentments and apathy?"

"We also wanted to bring the "magic" back to theater," he said, "and push the art form to a new level. In Mox Nox Patrick Gabridge has seamlessly infused the element of magic as another language of this play - the characters inhabit this magical world without being in a magic show. It's another tool that the actors have at their disposal to give life to these characters in addition to their voice and their body. Magician Evan Northrup's interpretation of this magical world brings a whole new level of theatricality to this deeply emotional play, and we can't wait for audiences to embrace this preternatural, modern world."

Touring Dates & Locations:

All performances are free, outdoors, and begin at 8:30 pm unless otherwise noted:

DELMARVA:

May 22-May 23 | *Indoors, 8:00 PM - Ocean City Performing Arts Center, 4001 Coastal Highway Ocean City, Maryland 21842 (this is a ticketed event; see brownboxtheatre.org for ticketing information)
May 28 | Holts Landing State Park - 27046 Holts Landing Road, Dagsboro, DE 19938
May 30 | Pemberton Hall, 5561 Plantation Lane, Salisbury, MD 21081
May 31 | Lewes Public Library, 111 Adams Avenue, Lewes DE 19958

MASSACHUSETTS:

June 5 | Borderland State Park, 259 Massapoag Ave, North Easton, MA 02356

June 6 | French River Park, Davis Street, Webster, MA 01570

June 7 | Blackstone Heritage Stage Park, 287 Oak Street, Uxbridge, MA 01569

June 12-June 14 | Herter Park Amphitheater, 1175 Soldiers Field Road, Allston, MA 02134

Brown Box Theatre Project's mission is to deliver professional, impactful theatre directly to communities that otherwise lack access to the performing arts, and to break down barriers that separate potential audiences from live theatre. In an ongoing effort to reinvent the way theatre is created and consumed, each performance transforms public spaces into a vibrant cultural and tourist destination, activating public spaces into creative spaces and encouraging community through accessible arts programming.

Artistic Bios:

Playwright Patrick Gabridge

Patrick Gabridge's full-length plays include Drift, Mox Nox, Lab Rats, Blood on the Snow, Distant Neighbors, Chore Monkeys, Constant State of Panic, Blinders, and Reading the Mind of God, and have been staged by theatres across the country. He's been a Playwriting Fellow with the Huntington Theatre Company and with New Rep and has received fellowships from the Boston Foundation and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. His short plays are published by Playscripts, Brooklyn Publishers, Heuer, Smith & Kraus, Stage Rights, and YouthPlays, and have received more than 1,000 productions from theatres and schools around the world. He was the artist-in-residence at Mt. Auburn Cemetery for 2018-19, where he developed and produced two series of site-specific plays, The America Plays and The Nature Plays, as well as Moonlight Abolitionists (a site-specific play designed to be read under the full moon).

He's also the author of four novels, The Secret of Spirit Lake, Steering to Freedom, Tornado Siren and Moving (a life in boxes). His work for radio has been broadcast and produced by NPR, Shoestring Radio Theatre, Playing on Air, and Icebox Radio Theatre.

Patrick has a habit of starting things: he helped start Boston's Rhombus Playwrights writers' group, the Chameleon Stage theatre company in Denver, the Bare Bones Theatre company in New York, the publication Market InSight... for Playwrights, the on-line Playwrights' Submission Binge, and the New England New Play Alliance. He's currently the Eastern New England Regional Rep for the Dramatists Guild, a member of StageSource, and a past board member of the Theatre Community Benevolent Fund. He is the producing artistic director of Plays in Place, a company focused on creating new site-specific plays in partnership with cultural institutions and historic sites.

Founder and Artistic Director Kyler Taustin

Kyler Taustin is the co-founder and Executive Artistic Director of Brown Box Theatre Project. After receiving his Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies from Emerson College, he soon thereafter founded Brown Box Theatre Project - a travelling theater company with a mission to bring the very best in performance, design, and collaboration to unconventional venues and underserved destinations at little or no cost to audiences.

A Delmarva native, he was troubled by a lack of cultural opportunities while growing up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He has since committed his career to building up the artistic landscape of his hometown, and other underserved communities in both Massachusetts and Delmarva who share a belief in accessible public art. Like the traveling medieval troupes that brought shows to the villages on the back of a wagon, Kyler envisioned a modern company that would load up a truck and bring theater to the people.

Over the past 10 years Kyler has turned Brown Box into a rapidly growing, year-round company that tours full-scale classical and contemporary productions to 35 different communities in Massachusetts and Delmarva, reaching over 10,000 audience members annually.

Magic Consultant Evan Northrup

Evan Northrup is a magician and theatrical illusion designer who creates magical experiences that mirror the magic in the world around us. From a start as a street performer, he has spent over 20 years honing his craft to be able to design moments that leave audiences with their assumptions shattered and their curiosity piqued.

Tickets and Partnership Opportunities:

To purchase tickets for the May 22-23 indoor performances at Ocean City Performing Arts Center, please see brownboxtheatre.org. All additional performances are free, outdoors, and open to all audiences; no tickets are needed. Lawn seating, blankets and lawn chairs welcome. Please visit www.brownboxtheatre.org for full performance schedule and rain locations.

To bring Brown Box Theatre Project to your community please see brownboxtheatre.org, call 443.808.1215, or email contact@brownboxtheatre.org

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