July 2nd: Brad and I went to the Lowell Spinners game (my first) with Belinda & Evan; Spinners win; Brad and I shared a pretzel; we did the chicken dance with Belinda; we watched the fireworks; my pants stuck to the back of my thighs the whole time, which made it really feel like summer for the first time this year. Play ball!
July 2nd-5th: I worked at the Historic New England Center. First full week after officially opening. I start working on my spiel.
July 7th: Confirmation emails were sent to Living Theatre Archive Fellows!! insert air horn noise here
There are 14 fellows from 4 continents, relating to 8 physical locations of Living Theatre Archives (and several other growing modern digital collections). More on this developing fellowship as the year goes on.
July 8th: Finished creating “Character Cards” (think: Pokemon Cards but moving images and sound and original characters developed by Dracut Youth Theatre Circle participants!) and sent them off.
July 9th-12th: I worked at the Historic New England Center. While there, I created a scavenger hunt for kids to use as a guide for exploring the Shoe Stories exhibit.
July 11th: Brad went to Kate and Nic’s baby shower!
July 15th: We had to make a surprise move. Started packing up the archive boxes and putting them in storage while we figured out our next steps…
July 16-18th: I worked at the Historic New England Center while Brad kept working on packing our stuff and getting us ready to go.
July 16th: Professor Kate Bredeson Wins Butterfield Award for Judith Malina Diaries
^^^ Interested in the shirt Kate is wearing? You can get one here! ^^^^
July 18th: Before working at the Historic New England Center, I went to Dar Rafiki’s in Haverhill and got an insanely beautiful pistachio croissant that was basically the size of my head.
July 19th: Spent the day processing and recovering… we are exceedingly lucky, our Interim Home is so so lovely, it is a 1940s time capsule and has wallpaper in every room on every wall…and so we were at least surrounded by old homey loveliness while processing and recovering from a whirlwind of a week
July 20th: I walked around Lowell Cemetery. I am still thinking about one particular grave that’s in the shape of a lounge chair? With a book on it? And the heads of dogs on the ends of the arms of the chair? And it’s made of STONE! So striking, nothing else in the Cemetery looks anything like it, it’s incredible. Photo below.
July 21st: Brad & Tom Hood take a walk and do trail maintenance
July 23rd-26th: I worked at the Historic New England Center. This week marked our first big public program since opening: An Artists Sketchbook for the Community!
Inaugural artist-in-residence Ruben Toledo activated the space with a mural depicting objects from the Historic New England collections in an A-Z format, gifting us what is essentially a giant coloring book on the Center walls, which the public can come fill with color.
July 24th: On this day in 1968, Paradise Now premiered at Festival d'Avignon.1
July 28th: I go to the Pollard Memorial Library for the first time. It used to be called Lowell City Library2 (the original stained glass window above the doors facing Merrimack Street reads “City Library”), it is a beautiful public space, a lovely monument to a city whose seal reads “Art is the Handmaiden of Human Good.” I take out 2 fiction and 2 non-fiction. The receipt the librarian hands to me lists the titles of the books, the date due (August 18, 2026), total checkouts: 4. And at the bottom, it reads: “You saved this much by using your library: $102.00” I like this, the would-be-price. It makes me smile.
July 30th: Brad is cast in The Weavers at MIT directed by Jay Scheib!!!!!!
And: The Theatre of Drawing arrived in the mail!3 Judith’s Antigone drawings are featured in the book alongside drawings/scores/maps/storyboards etc from 40+ American performance artists - including Jay Scheib!
The universe has great timing sometimes, doesn’t it?
July 31st: A wonderful interview with Kate about the Diaries published, you should check it out:
If you missed our last entry you can find it here:
It was after this premiere that the company was (in)famously prevented from performing the play again as scheduled, and The Living Theatre issued an eleven point declaration to announce their decision to leave the Festival a few days later.
You know, the Lowell City Library was Jack Kerouac’s hometown library. I thought about that as rain started coming down (hard) outside, and I watched it through the wood-framed windows and wondered if I was sitting where he sat or if I’d stood where he stood and tried to breathe in the connection between me and everyone who has ever lived, which I feel like I always feel in a library. Maybe it’s the shared pages…and the intimacy of sharing books with people I will never know. Anyway. I’m rambling. I’ll put this ramble in the footnote.
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