Move4ART

When the Fairmount Indigo Corridor Collaborative brought its community "visioning" process to Mattapan last December, the forum was packed.   The Collaborative's Community Action Group (CAG) gathered residents, urban planners, architects and developers around six work tables in the community room at the Mattapan Branch Library ; replete with maps, markers, clips, and questions to prompt the work ahead. The table-sized maps were drawn from the  City of Boston's Fairmount Indigo Planning Initiative  launched in February 2012  to take advantage of the MBTA's expansion of commuter rail service.  The CAG's facilitators wanted to know what kind of "transit-oriented development" Mattapan residents envisioned along the Blue Hills/Cummings corridor. Biggest surprise was how many people there voiced a desire for a more robust nightlife in Mattapan.  Turns out, there was no need to convince anyone that Mattapan would benefit from having a cultural arts ce...

Photo credit: G. Sierra Khan              Wheelock Family Theatre showcased the first cohort of young playwrights to participate in its Emerging Playwrights Program  (EPP) last Friday night at the Mattahunt Community Center .          A large, first-floor activity room was converted into a makeshift, flexible theatre space.  And there, with the Boston mural as a backdrop, actors staged readings of the young playwrights' works.      In rapid-fire fashion, the evening's program cycled through five ten-minute plays:  Eden Beleke's Paradise  took a comedic look at cell phone addiction and the tensions it engenders; Jacarrea Garraway's Our Son  finds parents' new possibilities dashed once their son drops out of college and returns home; Alex Drumm, Jr.'s Worst Case Scenario  traps father- and son-in-law to be in an elevator where they hash out their differences, whil...