A Revelation of Character - New play about Boston's female abolitionists

A Revelation of Character is a new, short play commissioned by the Associates of the Boston Public Library from award-winning playwright Patrick Gabridge, in collaboration with Plays in Place.

The play dramatizes the fraught relationship between abolitionists Lydia Maria Child and Maria Weston Chapman. Playwright Patrick Gabridge drew from original letters in the Boston Public Library's Anti-Slavery Collection, many of which were conserved and digitized with funding from the Associates of the Boston Public Library.

The staged readings take place in Rabb Hall at the Central Library on November 12 and 13 at 6 PM, and November 15 at 2 PM.

Lydia Maria Child (1802–1880) and Maria Weston Chapman (1806–1885) were leading Boston abolitionists whose efforts shaped the anti-slavery movement. Child’s groundbreaking 1833 book An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans was the first major U.S. publication to demand immediate emancipation, a bold stance that destroyed her literary career. Chapman was a driving force in the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, organizing influential fundraising fairs and rallies that gave national visibility to the cause.

The pair fell out in the 1840s amid disputes in the American Anti-Slavery Society. Child resigned as editor of the National Anti-Slavery Standard in 1841, criticizing Chapman’s rigid Garrisonian stance for rejecting political engagement and alienating moderates, while Chapman viewed Child’s compromises as betrayal. Their clash reflected a deeper split in the movement between ideological purity and a broader coalition to end slavery.

Patrick Gabridge is the producing artistic director and founder of Plays in Place and has created site-specific plays in partnership with many museums and historic sites, including Mount Auburn Cemetery, Boston’s Old State House, Old South Meeting House, Historic Northampton, and Old North Church. He is an award-winning playwright and has written 24 historical plays, along with many contemporary plays that have received more than 1,000 productions from theatres and schools around the world (17 countries so far). He’s also a screenwriter, novelist, and writer of audio plays.

Read more in our digital program, coming soon.

GETTING HERE:

Join us at the Boston Public Library's Rabb Hall, located on the lower level of the Boylston Street Building in Copley Square. Address: 700 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02116. Seating is first-come, first-served.

ABOUT THE ASSOCIATES' PIERCE PERFORMANCE SERIES:

Now in its seventh year, the Associates of the Boston Public Library's Pierce Performance Series seeks to raise the visibility of the Boston Public Library's Special Collections through free public performances. Thanks to the Harold Whitworth Pierce Charitable Trust, past Pierce Performances have commemorated the ratification of the 19th Amendment, the 250th publication anniversary of Phillis Wheatley Peters’ book of poetry, and the legacy of BSO conductor Serge Koussevitzky. Learn more at https://www.associatesbpl.org/Pierce/

QUESTIONS: Contact the Associates of the Boston Public Library at [email protected] or (617) 536-3886.

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