February 7— 26

When an actor turns to teaching for a steady paycheck, he learns that it’s less of a job and more of a constant, visceral reminder of one’s own success and/or failure. Mr. Parent is a hilarious, joyful, and heartbreakingly honest peek into the kids, adults, and systems of the Boston Public Schools. Based on the real-life adventures of favorite Boston actor Maurice Parent, Mr. Parent asks, “What does it mean to show up for our kids — and ourselves?”

A filmed to stream play in development. 

This play is part of the WORKshop Series.

About the Artists:

Melinda Lopez is the recipient of the 2019 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Achievement, She is a multiple award winning playwright and performer, and the Playwright-in-Residence at the Huntington Theatre Company. Plays include: MALA (Best New Play, Elliot Norton Award, available on Audible in Spanish and English,) YERMA (adaptation,) BACK THE NIGHT, BECOMING CUBA, ORCHIDS TO OCTOPI (Best New Play, IRNE) and SONIA FLEW (Elliot Norton, Best New Play, Best Production.) Melinda also performs on stage, radio and in film.

Maurice Emmanuel Parent is an award-winning actor, director, educator and mentor with 20 years of professional experience. He has over 40 acting credits at theatres across the nation and abroad, having performed with some of Boston’s oldest and most respected companies such as the Huntington Theatre Company, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Lyric Stage Company, New Repertory Theatre, and Central Square Theater among others. His work as an actor has earned him two Elliot Norton Awards from The Boston Theater Critics Association, three Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) awards, and an ArtsImpulse Award. Parent’s history as an educator extends back nearly a decade. He’s taught for Northeastern University, MIT, The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and spent nearly 6 years as a Performing Arts Specialist in the Boston Public School System. He was named the Boston College Rev. J. Donald Monan, S.J. Professor in Theatre Arts for 2018-2019 and a Tufts University Mr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Neubauer Faculty Fellow for the 2019-2020 academic year. Currently Parent is a full time Professor of the Practice in the Tufts Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies and Visiting Faculty at the Boston University School of Theatre. Parent is the co-founder and Executive Director of The Front Porch Arts Collective, “a black theatre company committed to advancing racial equity in Boston through theater.” In its fourth season, “The Porch” has quickly become a well respected voice in the Boston theatrical landscape. www.MauriceParent.com / www.FrontPorchArts.org

Megan Sandberg-Zakian is a theater director with a passion for the development of diverse new American plays & playwrights, and a co-founder of Maia Directors, a consulting group for artists and organizations engaging with stories from the Middle East and beyond. Her book There Must Be Happy Endings: On a Theatre of Optimism and Honesty is available from The 3rd Thing Press. Megan is a graduate of Brown University and holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College. She lives in Jamaica Plain, MA, with her wife Candice. megansz.com