ABBY PAIGE

Please join me on Thursday, May 15 in Montpelier! We’ll be celebrating the release of two Vermont books with theatrical roots: my new book Piecework and the new, revised edition of David Budbill’s Judevine.

Written in the 1970s, Judevine is a collection of poems that narrate the life of a northern Vermont town and its inhabitants. Musical, raucous, and moving, they recall Robert Frost’s lesser-known monologue poems, and it seems only natural that David Budbill eventually adapted the poems for the stage. For me, as a teenager in the early 90s, seeing that adaption performed on stage was a life-changing experience. Before that, I thought that art was made in far-off places about far-off people who were different in every way from me and the people I knew. Watching characters I recognized and listening to stories that took place in a familiar, nearby world was a revelation. It completely changed my understanding of art. Being cast in the play a decade or two later was one of the deepest joys of my career, and I’m grateful to have known David; he passed away in 2016.

I’m so thrilled that these poems are back in print! Judevine‘s themes of rural poverty, injustice, and economic and social struggle continue to resonate, and they rhyme beautifully with the those of my plays. It’s going to be fun to celebrate these two books with fellow Judevine fans, old and new. I hope you’ll join us!

Find more information on my book launch page or at David Budbill’s website.