It was an important and exciting night for me, the world premier of the playwright in me, and of my new work “Last Day At Maple View Farm.” It was a fitting setting in a small theater at the Hubbard Hall complex in Cambridge, N.Y. Of course, there was the obligatory sub-zero night and driving snow and ice storm raging outside – I can’t imagine a January cultural event without it, it is almost a part of the play itself.

There was a small and brave crowd there, and the seven actors performing “Last Day At Maple View Farm” touched my heart and soul, they brought my words to life. This is a new experience for me, seeing my ideas and words being acted out by other people, by actors with their own interpretations of my meaning and ideas. I loved it. The play will be performed at Hubbard Hall, along with two or three other works Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with matinees on Saturday and Sunday. You can check tickets and times out at Hubbard Hall’s website.

Hubbard Hall’s executive director David Snider is offering new plays and readings right in the middle of winter, when we most need them up here, and this winter is a whopper. When I heard the weather forecast, I told Maria we would be lucky to get a half-dozen people to come we did better than that. We did more fine tuning tonight, I thought of things to cut and some to add, David sees each of these plays as a rehearsal, not a finished work.

More and more, I am thinking of taking this rich subject – the end of the small family farm – and turning it into a full-blown play. This version is only 45 minutes long. I’ll be there tomorrow night, and at each play this weekend, David has asked me to take questions from the audience at the end of the play. Tonight meant a lot to me, I am immensely grateful to David and to the actors, each one added something richer than my words to the play. I learned a lot and grew a lot, a miracle always.