The Kittie Knox Plays

Produced by: Plays in Place

Scroll down to donate!

A series of plays about a bicycling barrier breaker

Project Overview

Kittie Knox was a young biracial cyclist who fought against race-based limitations in America’s post-Reconstruction reaction against Black advancement. During her cycling career (1893 – 1899), she became a well-known century (100-mile) rider, protested the League of American Wheelmen’s color bar, and refused to conform to conventions about “lady-like” speed, and fashion while cycling. The Kittie Knox Plays chronicle the dramatic story of a turbulent time in America’s history with lessons for today’s struggle for racial and gender equality and justice.

In September 2025, Kittie’s story was brought to life in this trilogy of plays performed outdoors (with bikes!) at three different locations in the greater Boston area. Audiences moved through each location from play to play, guided by the production team/ushers. It was a truly immersive experience. 

Where the play was produced in 2025:

• • Cambridge Crossing, East Cambridge, September 13
  • Eustis Estate Museum & Study Center, Milton, September 20
  • Herter Park, Boston, September 27

Kittie lives on beyond 2025! 

MassBike is working with Plays in Place to publish a book of the play scripts, essays, and production notes, illustrated with production photos from the Boston-area shows. This book will be distributed nationwide to encourage productions and readings of the plays by bike clubs, theatre groups and schools. Your contribution supports the book and future productions across the country.

Visit the Plays in Place website for a complete list of the 2025 production team and more production photos. 

Support the plays by making a tax-deductible donation below.

2025 Production Team

• Playwrights: Kirsten Greenidge, Claire Gardner, & Patrick Gabridge

• Director: Michelle Aguillon 

• Co-Producers: Hannah McEachern & Patrick Gabridge

• • Historical Consultant: Lorenz Finison

Project Team  

Plays in Place is a theatre company that creates new site-specific plays in partnership with museums, historic spaces, and other institutions. They have extensive experience bringing historic stories and sites to life in ways that deeply engage audiences. Past partners and projects include: Mount Auburn Cemetery (The America Plays, The Nature Plays, Moonlight Abolitionists), Revolutionary Spaces (Cato & Dolly, I Am This Place, Scipio’s Balcony, Imagining The Age of Phillis), Roosevelt- Campobello International Park (Beloved Island: Windows on Campobello), the National Park Service (Suffrage in Black & White, Revolution Retold), Old North Church, and Historic Northampton. 

MassBike is a nonprofit organization that advocates for policies that encourage and support community wellness, equity, and inclusion, enable sustainable growth, drive economic vitality, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They have extensive experience in organizing group cycling events and have organized rides and events around Kittie Knox and a diverse group of historical cycling figures and events.  

Lorenz J. Finison, Historical Consultant to the project, author of Boston’s Cycling Craze, 1880-1900: A Story of Race, Sport, and Society, a founding member of the Friends of the Bicycling History Collections at UMass Boston, and of the New England Cycling Coalition for Diversity.

Support Provided by

The Boston Foundation and The Lawrence & Lillian Solomon Foundation

This program is supported in part by a grant from Cambridge Arts, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Support the publication of The Kittie Knox Plays

Publication of the The Kittie Knox Plays book depends on generous support from donors like you. Please use the form below to make a tax-deductible donation today that MassBike will put towards The Kittie Knox Plays.

Checks made payable to MassBike with "Kittie Knox Plays" in the memo can also be sent to: MassBike, 50 Milk Street 16th floor, Boston MA 02109

If you would like to donate to the Kittie Knox Plays through a matching charitable fund, please donate normally to MassBike and send us an email note indicating that the donation is intended for the Kittie Knox Plays to [email protected].