During a paper mill strike in a small Maine town, the lives of two families collide around a company CEO and a man building a wooden ark in his yard. Criss-crossing the lines between workers and management, novelist Monica Wood’s first play is a revealing drama about family, loyalty, and the quiet tragedies of mill-town life.
Papermaker
Quick Info
- Location: 25 Forest Ave, Portland ME
- Dates: April 21st - May 24th
- Price: Previews $37; Evenings & Final Thu Matinees $42; Weekend Matinees $47
Stories & Reviews
- Monica Wood keeps it close to home | Portland Press Herald
- Life in the Shadow of a Maine Paper Mill: 'Papermaker' Explores Culture Clash | MPBN News
- Playwright, actors tour Rumford mill for research | Sun Journal
- Paper chase: Monica Wood’s two-act play Papermaker debuts at Portland Stage | Bangor Daily News
- Maine mill town drama ‘Papermaker’ portrays decline of the middle class | Bangor Daily News
- Payday at the mill | Portland Press Herald
- MONICA WOOD’S ‘PAPERMAKER’ PREMIERES AT PORTLAND STAGE | Maine Today Magazine
- Novelist Debuts as Playwright | Broadway World
- Greg Kesich: Stage play, real life demonstrate strength of unionized workers | Portland Press Herald
- Mill ends: Papermaker captures emotion, conflict of economic hardship | Portland Phoenix
- From Page to Stage | Bangor Metro
- Daniel Noel tackles the role of a lifetime in ‘Papermaker’ | Portland Press Herald
- In the Flesh | Down East Magazine
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Videos
The History of "Papermaker"
Audience Response to "Papermaker" by Monica Wood
Artistic Perspective with Monica Wood
Playwright
Monica Wood
Monica Wood is a novelist and fiction writer best known for the novel Any Bitter Thing (2005) and her best-selling memoir When We Were the Kennedys (2012), which won the May Sarton Award for best memoir by a U.S. or Canadian woman. Born in Mexico, Maine and currently living in Portland, Wood’s fiction is frequently set in Maine and draws on her experiences living and growing-up with working class people in rural New England. Her other books include Secret Language (1993), My Only Story (2000), and Ernie’s Ark (2002). Her short stories are widely anthologized, and won her the Pushcart Prize for short fiction. Papermaker is Wood’s first play.
Cast & Artists
- Jake Donahue Peter Albrink*
- Henry John McCoy Tom Bloom*
- Nancy Letourneau Moira Driscoll*
- Ernie Donahue Daniel Noel*
- Emily McCoy Justine Salata*
- Marie Donahue Lisa Stathoplos
- Director Sally Wood
- Playwright Monica Wood
- Stage Manager Myles C. Hatch*
- Sound Designer Chris Fitze
- Costume Designer Clinton O'Dell
- Scenic Designer Anita Stewart
- Lighting Designer Shannon Zura