Produced by Plays in Place

September 20 at Eustis Mansion in Milton

September 27 at Herter Park in Boston

If you’re pumped for the 2025-2026 theater season to begin, but not keen on piling into a theater during our glorious September weather—stay outdoors and enjoy The Kittie Knox Plays.

Plays in Place is an innovative concept that, under the leadership of Patrick Gabridge, brings history to life in site-specific plays. Plays in Place has created plays performed in The Old State House, Old North Church, Mount Auburn Cemetery, and other Boston-area locations. Their newest production extends the idea of ‘place’ to the urban outdoors, the perfect locale to ride a bike!

Kittie Knox was Black woman in Boston in the late 19th century; the girl was mad about bikes! The 1890’s were a golden era of cycling. The development of the ‘modern’ bicycle with two equal wheels and a chain that connect pedals to rear wheel drive made cycling safer than earlier, awkward, big wheelers; people had more leisure time to pedal expanding networks of boulevards and parks; and for women in particular, cycling offered new-found freedom of movement. Bicycle clubs abounded. Cycling was all the rage.

Kittie Knox courtesy Facebook

Still, for a Black woman to claim full rights to this growing sport was extraordinary. Yet, Kittie Knox did just that: competing with men (and often beating them); and claiming a place as a premier cyclist despite her race and gender. These three plays celebrate her moment.

The Kittie Knox Plays are three related pieces, which really feels like one play in three acts. Each segment is 20 to 30 minutes long. The actors are on bicycles, and the audience moves between each act. Action begins in Gay Head on Martha’s Vineyard in 1893, which Kittie and friends explore on two-wheels. Things start off a bit slow, as there is a lot of exposition in the first act, but the action speeds up in 1895, when Kittie travels to Asbury Park, NJ to claim her place at a national convention where many other cyclists are none-too-happy for her presence. Back in Boston, in 1896, the final act takes place at a cycling ball where Kittie’s fame and abilities eclipse the fact that she’s colored—and arrives without an escort. This is the best part of the piece because director Michelle Aguillon does a wonderful job integrating the bicycles into the dancing. It’s terrific!

The ball is a triumph for Kittie, but dark clouds loom as the Supreme Court’s Plessy v. Ferguson decision is soon to enshrine separate but equal as our national disgrace, even as the emergence of the automobile will sideline bicycle travel to the gutter for the next century.

Kittie Knox died at age 26 and is buried at Mount Auburn cemetery – with a bicycle headstone

The Kittie Knox Plays are a delightful way to enjoy the out-of-doors and engage in a bit of non-traditional history. The plays will be presented the next two weekends. Three performances on September 20 at the Eustis Estate in Milton, and the final three at Herter Park in Boston. Admission is free but reservations are required. Ride your bike to either spot and enjoy!