An award-winning event that combines theater, history, and environmentalism returns for one night only when White Mountains plays Act II Playhouse in Ambler on Friday, April 6 at 8 p.m.
White Mountains consists of staged readings of seven exciting and thought-provoking short plays that were directly inspired by oral histories with various Ambler community members. The event explores the town’s past, including that it was once known as “the asbestos capital of the world.”
“Ambler’s fascinating past is full of great stories, colorful
characters, and compelling conflicts,” said event producer and Act II
Communication and Education Director, Bill D’Agostino. “These
entertaining and inspiring plays draw on that history and look to the
future.”
When it was first produced in 2015, White Mountains won a Philadelphia Geek Award for best “In Real Life” project. The plays were created as part of Resources for Education and Action for Community Health in Ambler (REACH Ambler), a project that explores the history, environmental health, and community identity of Ambler through a partnership between the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and the Science History Institute.
The project enlisted top Philadelphia playwrights, who read the oral histories conducted by REACH members and then turned them into plays. The playwrights whose works will be presented are Jessica Bedford, Mark Costello, Bill D’Agostino, Quinn Eli, Jacqueline Goldfinger, M. J. Kaufman, and David Robson. The evening is directed by David O’Connor and produced by Bill D’Agostino.
Ambler’s history is intertwined with the legacy of Keasbey and Mattison, a manufacturer of asbestos-containing products. From the 1880s through the mid-20th century, asbestos production was the cornerstone of Ambler’s local economy; Ambler has been called “the town that asbestos built.”
Today Ambler has a vibrant and flourishing downtown, although the community still grapples with its past. A Superfund site and piles of asbestos – known informally as “The White Mountains” – are in various states of remediation, part of the complex legacy that the plays explore.
A talkback with REACH Ambler team members and community members will follow the staged readings.
These readings were created with the support of a Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) from the National Institutes of Health to the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and to the Science History Institute (formerly the Chemical Heritage Foundation).
Tickets to White Mountains are $10 and can be purchased online here or by calling Act II’s box office at 215-654-0200.