Thoreau at Home at 18th & Union

18th & Union: An Arts Space and The Bakehouse (Todd Jefferson Moore / Richard E.T. White) present a premiere co-production of Thoreau at Home, a play for one actor, running January 19-22. Written by poet and novelist David Wagoner, it takes us on an immersive, lyrical journey with the influential American naturalist Henry David Thoreau through the environment he grew to think of and care for as his home. 

Thoreau at Home is performed by Todd Jefferson Moore and directed by Richard E.T. White, with music and sound design by Peter Richards and stage management by Emily Grierson. 

Working from Thoreau’s journals, David Wagoner has crafted a vivid portrait of encounters with birds, animals, plants, and weather among the remarkably varied landscapes around Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau believed that cities were saved, not by the good men in them, but by the forests and swamps around them. He recognized the dangers of an exclusively commercial America and tried to show in all his words and actions, in the whole flavor of his life, a richer alternative. 

This play–so timely as we wrestle with the effect the human race has had on the natural world–shows us Thoreau shortly before his early death yet still active in mind and heart, planning the fullest life he could imagine, and finding wonderment in the smallest details of the landscape he called home. Following his path, we are invited to reconsider our own relationship to nature through his clear, informed vision. 

Running time: 60 minutes.