The Welcoming
By Mary Fournier Bill
A Virtual Staged Reading and Discussion
October 24, 2020 marked the inaugural performance of Before Breakfast Productions – a live and online company committed to fostering and showcasing work that inspires, educates, and provokes thoughtful discussion and action through performance.
We presented a staged reading of Mary Fournier Bill’s satirical one-act play, The Welcoming, on Zoom. Written in 1968, the play is set on a cul-de-sac in an unnamed Cleveland suburb. Angst and gossip arise when a house on the street goes on the market for a very low asking price. Once the house is sold, the women on the block find themselves at a welcoming party for their new neighbor – who, at first appears to allay their anxiety, and then, actually intensifies it.
While this piece was written in 1968, the year the Fair Housing Act was first passed, it remains as timely as ever, especially with the not-so-distant rollbacks by the Trump Administration of the Obama program addressing housing discrimination.
Access the The Welcoming reading
Following the reading, we followed up with a wonderful panel discussion with Ellen Burton (author of The Civility Project and C.E.O. of E.J. Burton & Associates), Terrance Range (then COO/Director of Development, Open Communities), Chris Riehlmann (Director of Fair Housing, Open Communities), Dina Tasini (Director of Community Development for the town of Tiburon) and the cast of the show.
While there was no charge for the reading/discussion, the audience was encouraged to donate to Open Communities, an Evanston, IL-based organization whose mission is to educate, advocate, and organize to promote just and inclusive communities in North Suburban Chicago (https://www.open-communities.org/)