Production Overview
Blood on the Snow was a new play that premiered at the Old State House in Boston, directed by Courtney O’Connor. This site-specific play tells the story of the Town Council meeting the day after the Boston Massacre in March of 1770. We follow Thomas Hutchinson, ruling Boston as governor in the name of the British Crown; he and his advisors on the council pore over accounts of the shocking events of the night prior. Sorting through the angry words of a population oppressed by what they see as an occupying military force, and the British soldier’s reports of aggressive and violent locals trying to start a riot. The men on the council examine how their own beliefs might be influencing their understanding of an event that history would reveal to be a turning point in the birth of a nation. They bicker, argue, and debate until representatives of the Town Meeting arrive to deliver the response from the people of Boston, the demand that all troops leave the city immediately. The Council continues to confer until one by one they agree that to preserve the greater peace and prevent more senseless violence the soldiers should be re- stationed. The play concludes as Hutchinson muses on what was ultimately his decision, whether he will be admonished or punished by his superiors, whether he has only delayed the inevitable violence between Colonists and the British. All of this action takes place in the room where this meeting was actually held.

Design Concept
This project was one of incredibly fine detail. Since we were putting a show into a museum, we had to do a great deal of planning about power usage, cable pathways and speaker locations. Even though there are only five outputs in this playback system their arrangement allowed for the audience to get a sense for what the people in that meeting room might have heard. A mob of angry people, thousands strong walking in front of the evidence of a gross misappropriation of force and violence. Then later, the bells in colonial Boston ringing out the good news that the Town Council and Town Meeting had come to an agreement, a peaceful night assured. This was possible in no small part due to the dramaturgical resources that the Bostonian Society and National Parks Service provided. Nat Sheidley, the Historian at the Old State House, was kind enough to provide me with a map of where in Colonial Boston there were churches or other meeting spaces with bells to ring out the happy news. This informed a soundscape that had a grounding in the physical reality of the world we were depicting. Speakers in the fireplaces, antechambers, and the balcony allowed the room to be engulfed by sound, letting the audience get a sense for how massive the public response was.