Cato & Dolly - A New Theatrical Event at the Old State House

Enter the Threshold of History! 

The Bostonian Society Presents An All-New Theatrical Event:

Cato & Dolly​

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​​An all-new play by ​Playwright ​Patrick Gabridge that explores the triumphs and struggles of women and men,​ free and enslaved, who called Boston and ​the ​Hancock House home at the dawn of American Revolution​

July 6 - September 29, 2018; Nine performances per week

Part of Through the Keyhole Exhibition at The Old State House

The Bostonian Society ​announces the world premiere of​ Cato and Dolly, an all-new​ live​ play​ by Playwright Patrick Gabridge at Boston's historic Old State House​, running Friday, July 6 - September 29, 2018. The new play, commissioned specifically for the Old State House's Through the Keyhole exhibition, reveals life behind the door of the Hancock House, Governor John Hancock’s 18th ​c​entury Beacon Hill home. In addition to viewing the historic door​ itself, on public view for the first time in decades, ​visitors to Through the Keyhole will experience ​the new 20-minute play which offers a glimpse of everyday life behind the Hancock door through the eyes of those who lived there: ​ Cato Hancock, an enslaved person in the Hancock household and ​Dolly Hancock, John Hancock's wife and First Lady of Massachusetts. ​Gabridge's powerful site-specific play​ at the Old State House,​​Blood On The Snow, had a sold-out run ​in 2016-2017 ​and was called “electric and alive” by WGBH’s Jared Bowen.  

Cato & Dolly premieres on Friday, July 6, 2018​ ​at the Old State House ​and will run ​for 9 performances per week ​Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 11​:00 ​am, 12:30 pm, and 2 pm through September 29, 2018. The play is included in the price of admission to Through the Keyhole at the Old State House, 206 Washington Street, Boston, MA, 02109.  For more information see www.bostonhistory.org or call 617-720-1713.  ​

Playwright Patrick Gabridge is an award-winning writer of stage plays, novels, audio plays, and screenplays. His short plays have been produced more 1,000 times in theatres and schools in 14 different countries around the world. Gabridge’s ​site-specific ​play Bood on the S​n​ow was commissioned in 2016 by the Bostonian Society to dramatize the aftermath of the Boston Massacre, one of the most formative events in the American Revolution. Gabridge’s work took audiences into the minds of Boston’s leaders as they made the decision to place Massachusetts on the road to revolution. Blood on the Snow was staged in the Council Chamber of the Old State House (the very room where it happened), receiving rave reviews from critics and ran to sold-out audiences in both 2016 and 2017. 

In Cato & Dolly Gabridge gives life to Cato ​and Dolly ​Hancock, as well as other Revolutionary-era figures whose lives intersected at the famous Hancock House over the course of 50 years from 1764-1816. The play follows these real-life individuals through some of early America’s most pivotal events, giving new perspective to the American narrative. Two actors will inhabit the show’s multiple characters, taking us through the threshold into never-before-seen drama unfolding behind the door. ​

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