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'Seeing Violet' in Ashfield, McGovern Q&A, Afro-Latin heritage

"Seeing Violet," a new play by Peter Snoad, opens a workshop production in Ashfield Sept. 26-28, 2025
Pauline Productions
"Seeing Violet," a new play by Peter Snoad, opens a workshop production in Ashfield Sept. 26-28, 2025

We’re uncovering histories, and doing some exploration.

In Ashfield this weekend, you’ve got the chance to preview a new work about the long lasting effects of slavery on the American landscape. "Seeing Violet" is a new play about the repercussions of one couple discovering their own connection to the triangle trade through a series of revelations at their home, and how that influences their interactions with a young local grad student. We’ll speak with playwright Peter Snoad and production team members Jeannine Haas and Jean Koester about the evolution of this work of theater.

We’ll also explore the untapped legacies of the slave trade in Caribbean, Central and South America as Ousmane Power Greene, professor at Clark University, introduces us to important Afro-Latin figures and communities in Mexico, and reading material to further your own forays in to Afro-Latin heritage in this month’s Power of History.

And our weekly chat with U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern goes transatlantic as we pepper him with a barrage of your questions about President Donald Trump's UN visit, his controversial vote on a motion concerning Charlie Kirk and more as the holder of the 2nd congressional seat legislates abroad in the land of thistle and heather.

Which is to say Scotland, but it is way less fun to say it that way.

Christopher “Monte'' Belmonte is host and executive producer of NEPM's The Fabulous 413. He was born and raised in Massachusetts and has been a radio host in western Massachusetts for the last 20 years — the last 17 of them as host of Mornings with Monte on The River 93.9/WRSI.
Kaliis Smith is a radio host and producer for NEPM's The Fabulous 413. She was most recently host and producer at The River 93.9/WRSI where she appeared on Mornings with Monte for the Nerdwatch segment and hosted weekday evenings.