Going Wild

Written by Peter Snoad

Reading on Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Performed by Artes de la Rosa

Small-town librarian Meredith Stafford and her husband Beau are losing the struggle for the perfect lawn. Invasive weeds and pesky moles have made an unholy mess of their front yard. Meredith decides to “go wild," replacing the decimated lawn with a “natural” landscape. When she’s fined for violating a local lawn ordinance, she’s incensed: their son gave his life in Iraq to defend their rights and freedoms, and this is an insult to his memory. As the "going wild" becomes a national movement amid legal battles, threats from a multinational corporation, corrupt politicians, and viral social media posts will Meredith and Beau save their garden?

Peter Snoad is a British-American playwright and recovering actor based in Boston, Massachusetts. His work has been produced throughout the U.S. and in Canada, the U.K., Australia, and Singapore. Peter’s award-winning plays include: Seeing Violet (Pestalozzi Prize, Firehouse Center for the Arts, Newburyport, MA); Guided Tour (Stanley Drama Award, Wagner College, NY and the Arthur W. Stone New Play Award, Louisiana Tech University); Now What? (Winner, Rising Artists Play Competition, Southwest Theatre Productions, Austin, TX); Identity Crisis (Winner, New Play Festival, Centre Stage, Greenville, SC); The Draft (Best Ensemble, ArtsImpulse Award, Boston, MA and Finalist, Best New Work (Small Stage), Independent Reviewers of New England); Orbiting Mars (Winner, New Play Contest, Santa Cruz Actors Theatre, Santa Cruz, CA); Perfect Strangers (Winner, International Short Play Contest, Stratford Fringe, Stratford-Upon-Avon, U.K.); and The Growing Stone (Finalist, Detroit New Works Festival, Outvisible Theater, Detroit, MI). Other honors include a two-year Visiting Playwright residency at Hibernian Hall in Roxbury, MA, and writing fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. www.petersnoad.com