Quilt Keepers Threads Montclair’s Community Tapestry into Powerful Play
Posted in: Announcements
MONTCLAIR, NJ — In a town long synonymous with cultural depth, civic engagement, and artistic daring, an ambitious new theatrical work is bringing Montclair’s past vividly into the present by placing community voices center stage.
More than a play, “The Quilt Keepers” is a living archive — a deeply collaborative, community-driven work shaped through listening, learning, and honoring the stories of those who built and sustained Montclair across generations.
The production, which debuted December 15 and runs through December 17 at Vanguard Theater Company, weaves together oral histories, intergenerational memory, and imaginative storytelling to illuminate the legacy of Montclair’s historic Fourth Ward — widely recognized as the heart of the town’s Black and Brown cultural life.
The culmination of a multi-year collaborative effort, “Quilt Keepers” was spearheaded by performer, producer, and theater professor Janeece Freeman Clark, founding artistic director of Vanguard Theater Company. At its core, the play explores a simple but profound premise: every neighborhood holds an ongoing story — a tapestry stitched together from the experiences, struggles, and triumphs of its residents.
For the creative team, translating deeply personal narratives into shared public performances offered an opportunity to build empathy, challenge dominant historical narratives, and amplify voices too often sidelined or forgotten.
“This neighborhood was shaped by migration, segregation, resilience, and community care,” Freeman Clark told TAPinto. “Its stories reflect broader American histories that are frequently under-told.”
At a time when rapid development, technological acceleration, and cultural shifts leave little room for reflection, “Quilt Keepers” serves as a reminder that storytelling not only preserves the past — it safeguards identity for the future.
“Audiences aren’t just invited to watch,” Freeman Clark said. “They’re invited to recognize the humanity behind the history, and to consider how the past continues to shape our present and future,” Freeman Clark said.
“Quilt Keepers” marks a first-time collaboration among Vanguard Theater Company, Montclair State University, and The New Jersey Play Lab — three institutions united by a shared commitment to meaningful storytelling and purposeful community engagement.
The partnership grew out of Montclair State University’s BA Theatre Studies program, led by award-winning director and theater professor Jessica Silsby Brater. The program emphasizes the connection between what unfolds onstage and the world beyond the theater walls.
“When Jessica described her community-based theater course — embedding students directly in communities to research, listen, and write from lived histories — it immediately aligned with Vanguard Theater’s long-standing interest in telling the Fourth Ward’s story through an intentional and ethical process,” Freeman Clark said.
“The BA Theatre Studies program developed the idea of new play commission partnerships with the New Jersey Play Lab in 2022,” Silsby Brater explained. “The program focuses on the relationship between what happens on stage and what happens in the world around us, so we wanted to partner with New Jersey professional theaters to build connections in the artistic community.”
For students, participation meant more than studying theater — it meant learning Montclair’s history directly from those who lived it.
“Our goal is to develop artist-citizens,” Silsby Brater said. “Students who understand their role as change-makers and who are grounded in the communities around them.”
At the heart of the play are two young friends, fictional characters Tala and Nilo, whose curiosity opens a door into the lives of Montclair’s “quilt keepers” — elders, families, and neighbors whose experiences reflect migration, redlining, immigration, resilience, and the pressures of gentrification.
The quilt serves as both literal and metaphorical framework: individual pieces stitched together to form something collective, resilient, and enduring.
In transforming lived histories into theater, questions of authenticity naturally arise: how much creative reshaping can occur while still remaining faithful to the original storyteller’s truth?
Rather than strict verbatim theater, “Quilt Keepers” adapts real stories into a fictional structure — a choice that allowed for theatrical freedom while preserving emotional and historical integrity.
“The project grew from deep listening,” Freeman Clark said. “Accuracy and authenticity are the foundation. But we wanted to create a piece that felt like memory — layered, intimate, and alive.”
In 2023, commissioned playwright Dania Ramos conducted oral history interviews with community members, while Vanguard high school students participated in the research process, ensuring that community voices shaped the work from the ground up.
Those whose stories informed the script were invited to early readings and feedback sessions, ensuring trust, accountability, and care throughout development. New Jersey Play Lab dramaturgs Cheryl Katz and Kaitlin Stilwell supported the process, helping refine the work with clarity and ethical rigor.
“Theatricality becomes a vessel, not a distortion,” Freeman Clark said. “Our responsibility was to translate emotional truth — not embellish it.”
For Aminah Toler, Montclair’s Fourth Ward councilor and a lifelong resident with deep family roots in the neighborhood, the play carries profound personal meaning on multiple levels.
She hopes “Quilt Keepers” inspires audiences to become more deeply invested in their communities — to listen, reflect, and ask meaningful questions.
“My wish is that people walk away with a stronger understanding of how African Americans helped shape Montclair,” Toler said. “Despite enormous challenges, this community persevered and thrived. That story deserves recognition.”
Toler believes the play opens space for dialogue across generations, allowing younger residents to understand the struggles that shaped the town they inherited, while older residents see their histories honored onstage.
“Storytelling bridges generational divides,” she said. “It reminds us what makes Montclair such a gem — and why protecting that legacy matters.”
She also hopes the model travels.
“My vision is that other towns create their own ‘Quilt Keepers,’” Toler said, “so communities across New Jersey can better understand how deeply interconnected our histories really are.”
For the collaborators, success will not be measured by applause alone — but by the conversations and connections that linger long after the curtain falls.
“These stories aren’t just footnotes,” Freeman Clark said. “They belong to the people who shaped this town, and they deserve to be honored with care, respect, and visibility.”
Through a shared appreciation for the nuggets of wisdom, life lessons, and inspiring stories contained in the play, Freeman Clark hopes the production connects people who might never otherwise cross paths.
“We want audiences to leave with a deeper understanding of how personal histories shape collective identity,” she said, “and with a renewed responsibility to listen, remember, and protect the stories embedded in the places we call home.”
If You Go
WHEN Monday, December 15 through Wednesday, December 17, at 8:00 PM each day
WHERE Vanguard Theater Company, 180 Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07042
MORE Tickets (Students $15, Adults $20) at www.vanguardtheatercompany.org