The NEW York Theatre Company Brings PATIENCE BOSTON to the Players' Ring Theater

From September 15 to October 1 the NEW York Theatre Company will present the premiere production of Michael Kimball's colonial crime drama, "Patience Boston," at The Players Ring Theater, 105 Marcy St, Portsmouth, NH. Show times are 8pm Fridays and Saturdays and 3pm on Sundays. Tickets cost $18, with discounts for students, seniors, and Players' Ring members. To reserve, visit www.playersring.org or call 603-436-8123.

The history of York, Maine, contains two notorious characters: Joseph Moody and Patience Boston. Patience was a 23-year-old Native sentenced to hang in 1735 for a gruesome child murder to which she eagerly confessed. During her confinement in the York jail, she was ministered to by the Puritan evangelist Samuel Moody and his son, Joseph Moody, a tormented young preacher later known as "Handkerchief Moody" when he mysteriously began wearing a black veil over his face whenever he left his house, even while preaching at his pulpit, until he was removed from his post.

"Patience Boston" marks the third Kimball play directed by Leslie Pasternack (along with "Best Enemies" and "Duck and Cover"), an award-winning performer and playwright ("Clean Room") and director ("Make Sure It's Me").

The cast of eight features Liz Locke as Patience Boston and David Houlden as Joseph Moody. Greg Chabot plays Joseph's father, Samuel Moody, the Puritan evangelist who settled in York following the infamous 1692 Candlemas Abenaki raid that burned the town and killed or captured most of its settlers. Charles Bradley and Pamela Battin-Sacks play jailer Jeremiah Moulton and Hannah Moulton. Jeremiah considered Native Americans his enemies. At age four, he lost his parents and home in the Candlemas raid and years later led a bloody attack on an Abenaki settlement. The cast is rounded out by Paul Benford-Bruce, Steven Sacks, and Whitney Smith.

Playwright Michael Kimball is the recipient of the John S. Gassner Memorial Playwriting Award (New England Theatre Conference) for his previous play, "Duck and Cover," and he garnered a 2007 Edgar nomination for his "Ghosts of Ocean House," which also won the 2006 F. Gary Newton Playwriting Award, given by The Players' Ring. As a novelist, Kimball won the UK's Fresh Talent Award for his 1996 London Times bestselling thriller Undone.

About the Players Ring: Since 1992, the mission of The Players' Ring has been to promote the efforts of local artists through the production of original works, while providing an affordable theatre space to local production companies. "The Ring" provides an environment where artists can thrive, grow, take risks and make daring choices.

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