John Coston
Latest News
The marquee at Goshen Players for “A Goodnight Kiss.”
Cinzi Lavin
Cinzi LavinAnna Zuckerman-Vdovenko
While staying true to the historical narrative, Lavin and Kelly took pains to adapt with sensitivity, editing outdated language, softening harsh racial terms, and trimming some of the religious fervor of the original texts for modern ears. “We didn’t want to rewrite history,” said Lavin, “but we did need to present some things so that it translated.”
The result is a story of two young people navigating distance, war, and the slowness of the mail. It’s also about community, duty, and the Connecticut town of Goshen itself where Fred and Jennie lived, wrote, and now lay interned. It’s fitting, then, that the Goshen Players opened their doors to this production.
“They’ve been wonderful,” said Kelly. “It’s a story from Goshen, and now it’s being told in Goshen. I think audiences will really appreciate that. It’ll be so interesting to see their reactions as ancestors.”
Kelly’s direction brings a collaborative, actor-driven energy to the stage. “I always say the only good playwright is a dead one,” she laughed. “But Cinzi? Thank God she’s not. She’s a dream.” Lavin, in turn, credits her theatrical background for that flexibility. “Both of our background as actors really helped us connect and then the cast came in with ideas and heart and it became something so much bigger.”
Kathleen KellyProvided
Starring David Macharelli and Olivia Wadsworth as Fred and Jennie, with a supporting cast including Robert Kwalick as Narrator, John Fabiani as Jennie’s father, Joel Osborne as Fred’s fellow solider, Harmony Tanguay and Roni Gelrmino as a gossiping villagers, the play layers historical narration with humor, heartbreak, and a surprising amount of warmth. “There’s a lot of humanity here,” Kelly said. “And a little gossip. The Goshen women definitely bring that.”
Adding texture is a curated selection of Stephen Foster songs arranged by Lavin which the U.S. Library of Congress included in its national “Song of America” archive. And for history buffs, Sunday’s 3 p.m. performance will include a talkback with historians Peter Vermilyea, Carolyn Ivanoff, Kevin Johnson, and Natalie Belanger, whose insights will ground the drama in even deeper context.
“Theater is the one place, even more than television and film, where you can really deal with difficult topics,” said Kelly. “You go into a theater, and you are changed.”
“A Goodnight Kiss” will be performed at Goshen Players Playhouse, 2 North St., Goshen, June 6 to 8. For tickets and more info, visit: goshenplayer.booktix.com
Author Paul Hawken speaks with American Mural Project founder
Ellen Griesedieck about his latest book, “Carbon: The Book of Life.”
Brian Gersten
Hawken, a pioneering voice in the global climate conversation, is widely known for his influential works “Drawdown” and “Regeneration.” In “Carbon,” he offers a poetic and profound exploration of the elemental force that binds all life on Earth. Moving beyond the typical doom-and-gloom framing of climate issues, Hawken reframes carbon not as an enemy but as the central thread of existence — present in every living being, tree, breath, and story. The book thus proposes a renewed relationship with our natural world.
Brian Gersten
During his talk, Hawken emphasized that climate solutions must be rooted not in fear, but in reverence and wonder. Hawken did not shy away from discussing our current environmental predicament with the audience in attendance. “The climate movement has failed,” he said. “It really has failed because [it] ignores the innate qualities of human beings and children that want to reimagine who they are, where they are, and how they create more life on Earth.” According to Hawken, “regeneration is the only path forward for the Earth.”
The American Mural Project, home to the largest indoor collaborative artwork in the world, provided a fitting venue for an event focused on collective action and environmental imagination. Find Hawken’s book at Oblongbooks.com.
