This week, Jared takes us into Paula Vogel’s play-reading series “Bard at the Gate” and provides an update on the newly restored Mayflower II.

“Bard at the Gate,” an online play-reading series presented by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel

Indecent by Paula Vogel
Paula Vogel is the playwright of the Tony Award-winning play "Indecent," seen here in a 2019 reproduction at Huntington Theatre Company
T Charles Erickson, courtesy of Huntington Theatre Company

Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “How I Learned to Drive” was set to have its Broadway debut this year, until the coronavirus resulted in the cancelation of all Broadway shows. Now, Vogel has turned her attention to a new project: play-reading. Through livestreams hosted on YouTube, “Bard at the Gate” presents a series of play readings with Vogel hosting select artists and playwrights. For this project, Vogel has chosen plays that she says have been overlooked or ignored in the larger theater community and many of the works featured are by artists of color.

“We need to recognize the brilliance of the theatrical community,” says Vogel. “And we have to make that community accessible to everyone.”

“Mayflower II,” a recreation of the historic ship that brought the Pilgrims to America, has returned to Plymouth Harbor after a three-year renovation.

Mayflower II
The Mayflower II on its way back to Plymouth
Courtesy of Plimoth Plantation

Plimoth Plantation has welcomed the newly-renovated “Mayflower II” back to Plymouth Harbor. The 64-year-old reproduction of the historic ship that carried the first Pilgrims to America recently underwent a three-year restoration process at Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut. Now, the Mayflower II has returned home and has re-opened for public tours — just in time to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim’s first landing in Plymouth. This recreation was designed by MIT naval architect William Avery Baker for Plimoth Plantation. The ship was first built in England beginning in 1955, and arrived in Plymouth on June 13, 1957.

“This was a merchant vessel. This vessel was intended to carry Bordeaux wine,” says Plimoth Plantation Associate Director of Marketing Kate Sheehan, describing the constraints of the Pilgrims’ passage. “We're keeping it relatively spare at the moment so that we can really bring forward the story of the restoration.”

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