I got to visit Capitol Hill while I was in DC for the National Bike Summit. I even got to meet with my congressman, Jim McGovern, to talk about bike safety and also our Kittie Knox Bike Plays. I’m always surprised at where my writing life leads me.

I hope you’re enjoying the start of spring. Tracy and I had a productive maple sugaring season and now we’re starting seeds for our vegetable garden.

The spring and summer will be full of new play productions and some new books.

First, an old book has a new bit of life to it. Steering to Freedom, my historical novel about Civil War hero Robert Smalls, is now available as an audiobook from Audible. I listened to it this winter and was reminded how thrilling the story of Robert’s war years is. I’ve written about many historical figures and he remains one of my favorites.

I also have another new print book available: The Kittie Knox Plays. Edited by Talya Kingston, this new book, published by Plays in Place, features the scripts of The Kittie Knox Plays, as well as historical background, production photos, essays from our 2025 production team, discussion questions, and more. We hope that bike clubs, theatre groups, and schools across the country will partner together to bring these plays and the story of Kittie Knox to life in their communities.

To help promote this project, actress Hampton Richards, who played Kittie Knox in our 2025 production, and I traveled to the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC, last month, where we met with leaders of cycling organizations from across the country. Plays in Place and MassBike were awarded the 2026 Kittie Knox Award from the League of American Bicyclists, for our work on The Kittie Knox Plays. This annual award “recognizes champions of equity, diversity, and inclusion in the bicycling movement.”

Be sure to check out this fun mini-documentary that Sami Ahmad created about the making of The Kittie Knox Plays. If you saw these shows in September, it’ll bring back fond memories. If you didn’t, you’ll get a sense of what you missed.

I’ve been hard at work on a new site-specific play commission play for the MIT Museum and the Central Square Theatre, about hearings held in the summer of 1976 by the Cambridge City Council about recombinant DNA research. The Council was placed the difficult position of receiving conflicting opinions from the scientific community (with Nobel Laureates on both sides) about hazards of this research. Our play, No Recombination Without Representation, will be staged in the Council chamber of the Cambridge City Hall in June. I’ll let you know when tickets become available. It’s a fascinating look at the challenges presented by untested new science and technology and the public’s role in shaping potential safety and impact.

My work with Plays in Place is going gangbusters. We have four new productions in three states coming up soon, and we’re also consulting with the Texas Historical Commission on five sites (I’ll be writing plays for two of them).

Here’s a quick look at the Plays in Place production calendar for 2026, so you don’t miss any shows.

• May 3. Hannah McEachern will direct No More Second Chances, my time-travel Christmas play, in the Boston Theater Marathon. This is a charity event that features 50 ten-minute plays in 10 hours. Tickets on sale soon.
• June 30-September 1. Loyalty or Liberty, three one-act plays by Ken Green, Lily Mathews, and me, at Hunter House in Newport, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, 6pm. Created for The Preservation Society of Newport County, these plays explore slavery, freedom, loyalty, liberty, and even love during the Revolutionary War. Directed by Rachel Walshe. Tickets on sale soon.
• July 10-August 16.  A Stake in the Ground, at Historic Deerfield. This show will run Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, July 10 through August 16. These three short plays by Talya Kingston, Valyn Lyric Turner, and me will be staged outdoors on the grounds of Historic Deerfield and capture the simmering tensions in the town and Massachusetts on the verge of the Revolutionary War. Directed by Brianna Sloane. Tickets on sale now.
• July 10-August 30.  The Slippery Truth: Prison Break at New-Gate written by me, directed by Zoë Golub-Sass. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 5:30pm, at the Old New-Gate Prison & Copper Mine in East Granby, CT, this play dramatizes the events around a 1781 prison break in an immersive production you won’t soon forget. Tickets on sale soon.
• September 17-October 4. The Hull Hawley Plays: The Widow’s Land by Betel Arnold and Hold These Truths by Harley Erdman, at Historic Northampton, directed by Brianna Sloane. We’re back at the Shepherd Barn for two powerful plays that explore race, power, family, loss, and mental illness in the years leading up to the Revolutionary War. Tickets on sale at the end of the summer.

I’ve been doing more podcasts and interviews. Most recently, I was on Playwrights Spotlight, which you can view on YouTube or listen to on any podcast app.

Last, but not least, a talented actress and filmmaker, Deborah Rayne, has adapted my short comedy, Ms. Claus, into a short film and is raising the funds needed to shoot S. Claus, via Kickstarter. If you want to help this film get made, check it out.

It’s all a whirlwind of creative activity, and I’m fortunate to be working with a collection of very talented teams who help make all this happen. If you’re around New England, I hope you’ll come to one of the shows, or else read or listen to one of the books.

No matter what, please don’t hesitate to reach out and say Hi.

Best wishes,
Patrick

www.gabridge.com
Plays in Place

Here’s an image of work-in-progress on the loft of our barn, which will ultimately be a rehearsal and gathering space. It’s slow work, done as I can sneak away a few hours from other jobs, but I sure do love it.