Community Garden

Winner of the 2018 David L. Shelton Playwright Award.
As Bernie and Hillary duked it out on the national stage, Claire got to work building the
community garden she knew would transform her neighborhood and her life. Instead,
political discord grew like weeds and strangled the gardeners. Months after the election,
Claire recalls her story to a writer who also hopes to transform a community for the better.
But...

Winner of the 2018 David L. Shelton Playwright Award.
As Bernie and Hillary duked it out on the national stage, Claire got to work building the
community garden she knew would transform her neighborhood and her life. Instead,
political discord grew like weeds and strangled the gardeners. Months after the election,
Claire recalls her story to a writer who also hopes to transform a community for the better.
But as this nice, white lady reveals what really went on amid beds of organic produce, the
idealistic writer draws closer and closer to becoming the garden’s latest victim.

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Community Garden

Recommended by

  • Nick McCord: Community Garden

    My class dove into this New Play head-first. Gorgeous, needed, and every student who encountered Ben Jolivet in this text left stunned, thoughtful, and engrossed.

    My class dove into this New Play head-first. Gorgeous, needed, and every student who encountered Ben Jolivet in this text left stunned, thoughtful, and engrossed.

  • Kate Leslie: Community Garden

    I've seen this play twice - once as a staged reading and again as a full production. Jolivet is a master of language and story-telling, but the brilliance of this play is how it forces the audience to look at themselves. A play about politics that digs into hard questions. You will be talking about this play long after the lights come up.

    I've seen this play twice - once as a staged reading and again as a full production. Jolivet is a master of language and story-telling, but the brilliance of this play is how it forces the audience to look at themselves. A play about politics that digs into hard questions. You will be talking about this play long after the lights come up.

  • John Minigan: Community Garden

    This is a powerful, TOUGH play. Jolivet gives us an engaging, meta-theatrical concept, in a theater and about a theater piece, that's deeply challenging. What does it mean to try to do good in the world--and what does it take for real political action to reach its targets? Can art be a force for positive change, or is that naive? How do we avoid falling into cynical despair? By the end, it's a hard play to watch (in the best possible way), because our assumptions have been so fundamentally questioned. An important play that "disturbs the comfortable."

    This is a powerful, TOUGH play. Jolivet gives us an engaging, meta-theatrical concept, in a theater and about a theater piece, that's deeply challenging. What does it mean to try to do good in the world--and what does it take for real political action to reach its targets? Can art be a force for positive change, or is that naive? How do we avoid falling into cynical despair? By the end, it's a hard play to watch (in the best possible way), because our assumptions have been so fundamentally questioned. An important play that "disturbs the comfortable."

Character Information

  • Claire
    A “nice white lady.”
    Character Age
    40s-50’s
    Character Race/Ethnic Identity
    White
    Character Gender Identity
    Cis female
  • Benny
    Me. Ish. A white liberal playwright.
    Character Age
    30s-50s
    Character Race/Ethnic Identity
    White
    Character Gender Identity
    Male

Development History

  • Type Reading, Organization Hollins Playwrights Lab , Year 2017

Production History

  • Type Workshop, Organization Hollins Playwrights Lab / Mill Mountain Theatre Winter Festival of New Plays, Year 2019

Awards

  • David L. Shelton New Play Award
    KCACTF Rev. 4
    Winner
    2018