JUN 17 – AUG 11, 2019
At the Old State House
The names you never knew. The stories you’ll never forget.
The original play Cato & Dolly offers a glimpse of everyday life inside the Hancock House through the eyes of those who lived there: Cato Hancock, an enslaved man serving the Hancock household, and Dolly Hancock, John Hancock’s wife and First Lady of Massachusetts.
Blood on the Snow playwright Patrick Gabridge gives life to the Revolutionary-era figures whose lives intersected at the famous Hancock House. Two actors take on eight real-life characters in a compelling drama that spans over 50 years, staged before the preserved front door of the iconic 18th-century mansion on display at the Old State House.
Unlock the forgotten stories of the past and step over the threshold of history to experience the lives of those who witnessed the dawn of American Independence.
Cato & Dolly is presented in partnership with Plays in Place, a group of theatre professionals working with cultural institutions to make site-specific theatrical experiences. Gabridge’s powerful site-specific play at the Old State House, Blood On The Snow, had sold-out runs in 2016 and 2017 and was called “electric and alive” by WGBH’s Jared Bowen. This production was made possible in part by the support of the New England Women’s Club.
Recent Online Events
- Video | Liberty & Sovereignty in 18th Century New England
Examining the political conversations that were taking place around the time of the Boston Massacre among white colonists and the African- and Native-descended communities.Read more → - Video | Boston’s Activists of Color: A Historical Tour & Contemporary Conversation
View a short film about anti-slavery activists in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood during the 19th-century Abolitionist Movement, followed by a conversation with one of these activists’ descendants.Read more → - Video | Man of Many Worlds Online Panel
A lively discussion about Attucks’s Afro-Indian community and reflect on the experiences he might have had that informed his thinking about resistance and protest and ultimately brought him to King Street on the night of the Boston Massacre.Read more → - Video | Discovering Crispus – A Play in Process
Exploring how the memory of Attucks has inspired generations of activists to fight for social change.Read more →