New housing, commercial developments, infrastructure, and public facilities are all great at economic development, but it takes a vibrant cultural scene to truly create a place where people want to be. In the past year, perhaps no one has personified Worcester’s cultural growth more than Olivia Scanlon.
During the height of COVID, she created free outdoor Shakespeare on the Worcester Common, with a production of “Julius Caesar”. She serves as managing director at the new BrickBox Theater. Unlike the Hanover Theatre where audiences can find professionally touring Broadway shows (and where Scanlon also serves as artistic director), the Brickbox is a place where community members can put on their own shows with audiences of up to 300 people. She develops talent by teaching acting at places like WPI and MIT.
In November, Scanlon – who lived in Cambridge before moving to the Canal District – opened the new Canal District Wines with her wife, Rachel Scanlon. The couple works with Gilbert Distributors of Shrewsbury, a woman-owned company, so more than half of their wines come from women and Black winemakers.
What sets the Central Mass. business community apart from the rest of the world? Opportunity. The reason I’ve been successful here isn’t because free Shakespeare or boutique wine shops are novel ideas unto themselves, but because they didn’t yet exist in this region.
She’s 84% done: I have a goal to visit all 50 states. I’m up to 42.
