This year marks Road Less Traveled Productions Tenth Anniversary Season, and to celebrate they are presenting a special Curtain Up show, Buffalo Rises, featuring Western New York’s exceptional talent in playwriting, performance and fine art. RLTP asked eight WNY playwrights to tell Buffalo’s story through their eyes and imaginations. The result is Buffalo Rises—a collection of eight short plays, accompanied by original artwork by local artists, that recall our city’s history, humor and hope. In one night we are taken on Buffalo’s rollercoaster history as seen from the highs of the 1901 Pan American Exposition, the lows of post-industrial decay and all that’s in between. Over the next few weeks Road Less Traveled Productions, generously sponsored by Buffalo Rising, will present an eight part series taking a look into the plays and playwrights that make Buffalo Rises.
Where’s your favorite spot in Buffalo? Where do you go to have fun, or rejuvenate? Where is peaceful, comfortable, home? It could be a bench in Delaware park, a table at Caffé Aroma, a bright colored chair at Canalside, the patio at Essex Street, a dusty corner of Rust Belt Books, the bulk goods aisle at Wegmans—there are innumerable possibilities. Buffalo playwright Matthew Crehan Higgins recalls this sense of connection and identity in his reflective play “The Fountain at Gates Circle”, part of Road Less Traveled Production’s Buffalo Rises evening.
Gates Circle on Delaware is well known and well traveled in Buffalo. It stands at the edge of Chapin Parkway, guarded by the now vacant Milliard Fillmore Hospital Gates Circle. Originally known as Chapin Place, it was renamed after the Gates family made a generous donation to complete the fountain designed in 1902. With its ornate fixtures, scenic fountain and rumored Whispering Gallery, the elegant Fountain stands as an oasis amid the traffic of city life. It has stood the test of time, following Buffalo’s trajectory over the past century. Recalling Buffalo’s past splendor in its design and stature, it’s a ghost of prosperity past. There was a time you could swim in the fountain; attended by a matron, children could splash about in the heat of summer. Now there’s a notice warning “No Swimming” and so, like many parts of Buffalo, including the old hospital on her eastern side, the fountain stands empty. Its story is a microcosm of Buffalo’s: from its grandeur at the turn of the century, to its community appeal mid-century, and finally to its emptiness of today, waiting for a promised revival. After the loss of the anticipated veterinary hospital, it looks like she will have to wait a little longer.
But still she stands: familiar and yet a little magical. Like many of the places we love, it’s an anchor. Its presence is especially important for those who have thought of leaving Buffalo, those who have left or those who are returning home. Our favorite places recall memories, transitions, and milestones. Maybe it’s where we learned to drive, where we had our first kiss, where we wrote our novel, celebrated jobs and marriages and family. It could be where we mourned, where we learned, where we grew. Higgins, his easy style calling forth a memorable personality in his story telling and revelations, takes us on a tour of Buffalo and memories and inner self. It’s a personal journey, but it’s one we’ve all taken, especially as we face new challenges and new choices.
Higgins, playwright, actor and managing member of Buffalo United Artists, tells his stories with sensitivity and nuance. He has been writing for over a decade, and often mines his personal life for inspiration and material to put on stage, such as in Confessions (Artie nominee for Outstanding New Play) and The Casual Sex Diaries. His dynamic voice jumps from the pages and creates a lively onstage presence, as evidenced in “Fountain at Gates Circle”. As an actor with BUA, Higgins has appeared in End of the World Party, Godspell, Irish Curse, Recovery Mode, and the staged reading of Corpus Christi. He is also an intolerance awareness speaker, and has been a guest for many organizations including SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Fredonia, Pride Buffalo, Rainbow Spirit Rising and Chautauqua Institute. He serves on the Board of Directors of Pride Buffalo.
Buffalo Rises, directed by Scott Behrend, premieres September 13, 2013 at Road Less Traveled Productions theater inside Market Arcade Film & Arts Center on Main Street in Buffalo. Shows are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2pm (with the exception of Friday, September 20th at 8pm for Curtain Up!). Tickets are $33 for Adults, $15 for students. For more information and to purchase tickets visit www.roadlesstraveledproductions.org.
see buffalo rises #5 – Bride of Buffalo Movie by Jon Elston
see buffalo rises #4 – Mad Dogs by Ibn Shabazz
see buffalo rises #3 – On the Eastern Shores of Lake Erie by Justin Karcher
see buffalo rises #2 – Good Neighbors: Caitlin McAneny
see buffalo rises #1 – The Man Who Saved the President, Almost by Gary Earl Ross