Newburyport Literary Festival

A Celebration of Literature, Readers, and Writers
• Save the Date! •
• In-Person & Virtual Events • April 24–26, 2026 •

Fuente Grande @ Actors Studio of Newburyport

Join Us for Fuente Grande • a play by John Tavano directed by Marc Clopton

Fuente Grande
  • Poets Rhina Espaillat & Alfred Nicol are the voices of Lorca’s poetry.
  • Vocalist Shannon Muhs sings Lorca’s songs. Musician and playwright
  • John Tavano plays Lorca’s music on Spanish Guitar.
All proceeds benefit the Newburyport Literary Association and the Newburyport Literary Festival.

Fuente Grande is a one-act play by John Tavano which is set in a small bar where the friends of Federico Garcia Lorca gather and clandestinely try to protect him from assassination at the time of the Spanish Civil War.

Our play takes place on the night of Lorca’s murder as his friends clandestinely try to protect him.

Fuente Grande is a natural spring in the city of Granada, Spain, first named Aynadamarin, in Arabic, The Fountain of Tears—during the Spanish Civil War, the place where Nationalist Forces carried out assassinations, including that of the poet Federico Garcia Lorca when he was 38 years old. 

The Newburyport Literary Festival Steering Committee Poetry Planning Team is grateful to John Tavano and the performers, and to Marc Clopton, founder and director of The Actors Studio of Newburyport, play director and event host, for their generosity in presenting this excellent and timely play to benefit the Newburyport Literary Association and Newburyport Literary Festival.