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@olive.mvg

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Returned home. Here again, wandering familiar streets. Alone, in company, day, night, time, tide, work, play. All echoes and stone walls, cigarettes and chocolate milk. Creeping shadows and crumbling brick, warm and red and melting in the sun

This past spring I was assaulted on the way to work. I then spent some seven hours working. And then home. And then work again. And then the SVU. And then to Richmond. Working when I could. When I couldn’t. The Catskills. Chicago. The moon. Home. I think I’m still metabolizing the fear I felt that morning, just before 6a. I think I’m still there a little bit.

Reflecting in this moment. Taking stock. Etc. There’s this sort of phantom limb feeling - like there’s some missing piece I keep reflexively reaching for. What’s become of me? Where did I go? When will I come back? Will I come back? I think I’m scared that maybe things are just different now. Before and after. What’s right and what’s left. And all around me now the world’s a set of strange signs, troubling symptoms.

Everything’s fine of course and everything’s okay. Journaling and releasing by @olive.mvg

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22 days ago

(Chicago summer, drafted and saved weeks ago)

Drew asked me what my Hopes and Dreams were, after an unexpected slumber party, before the rocks and the water, and I think I said something to the effect of “feeling safe, at ease, at home, no matter where I am” and then he said something Perfect of course in response to what I had said and we hugged and drank coffee (him coffee me tea) and I realized that I was exactly where I was meant to be !!! And then I met Jack and we adopted a child named macaroni (and he proposed !!! Jack not the child) and I realized that I was exactly where I was meant to be. I spent so many hours with Gabe and Lucas and I feel here and now in my body an ache for more time. This open wound that is my heart - ooO ANd this blood it is a syrup sweet wine - oh and I am DRUNK !!! Absolutely lost in the night Dissolved. The lake an ocean and everything in disguise. Wearing hats. This summer, I wore a hat.

And what a beautiful summer it was<3 cheers to more pls

Gosh and the other night I dreamed of this great beast - somewhere between a dog and a blanket - a spirit of the air - more cloud than flesh - and I hope I get to see him again. He was so beautiful and I loved him and he knew taken in Chicago,IL by @olive.mvg

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22 days ago

returned, iridescent opens next week‼️

Have you gotten your tickets yet?👀

buy them now in our bio!💻

Opening Night is Friday Sept 18th @ 7:30pm💐🎟️

INDUSTRY FOLKS -- peep our Monday night show on the 21st @ 7:30pm just for you! 🫰🎭

If you can't make any of the 1️⃣1️⃣ shows, consider donating!
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✨returned, iridescent⭐️
written by Rose Farrell
directed by Jack McManus

Philly Fringe Festival
Sept 18-27th
The Proscenium at the Drake taken in The Proscenium Theater At The Drake by @olive.mvg

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a month ago

Olive has swung back into TBD’s orbit🪐

Olive Gallagher (she/they)
is grateful to be returning to Luna, to Development, to Philadelphia. She's a trans actor and folk musician who loves developing new work and queering classical texts. Favorite projects include her Barrymore Award winning performance in the solo musical "DRIP" (Inis Nua Theatre Company), world premier play "WITCHDUCK" (Firehouse Theatre and Cadence Theatre) in Richmond VA, "ROMEO AND JULIET" (Catskill Mountain Shakespeare) - and most recently, playing Ophelia in "HAMLET" (Oak Park Festival Theatre) out in Chicago. Outside of acting, Olive is an avid reader / movie-goer / museum-stroller / long-walk-taker / etc etc etc - and she's almost always down to receive a recommendation (or a companion) for the next adventure. If you see Olive out in the world, approach slowly, remain calm, and say hello. She really likes your whole vibe.

Link to tickets & link to donate in our bio 🌈
.
✨returned, iridescent⭐️
written by Rose Farrell

Philly Fringe Festival
Sept 18-27th
The Proscenium at the Drake taken in The Proscenium Theater At The Drake by @olive.mvg

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2 months ago

Feeling myself here and now as a consequence - a strange gesture of the past expressed in 3d - one in a long line of dominos tipping - the narrowing trunk of a fig tree, reaching her heavy fingers to the heavens - the sun a star - the moon a stone - this life lent - our time brief. And there, prostrate and trembling, behind every yes lies so many thousand no’s - this moment a kaleidoscope of shattered sacrifices - in the pursuit of this single thread, so many wiry snapping stragglers pulled away. Peeling, unplyed unbound and now alone. So many possibilities, lost. Everything lost. No matter how the time is spent, it is lost. Of course.

Hm.

So many possibilities - here. In the richness of what remains, what has been chosen for, what has been put in our bowl while we, bowed, beg. “Please. Whatever you give, i will accept. Whatever you’re brave enough to share, I will treasure. Whatever you are, whatever you’ve become, I will hold - oh I will hold your sweet face here in the cup of hands - and I will endeavor to love you. Oh and it will be the privilege of this lifetime, for however long we have, here, together. I hope you will remember me, too. When it’s all done.” What a privilege it has been to spend the summer here in Chicago, doing our silly little play, getting to hear this story course through each other so many times. What an honor

Anyway - five performances remain !!! Chicago friends, if u r able to make the journey out to Austin Gardens, dm me and I will help u find tickets<3

HAMLET @oakparkfestival taken in Oak Park Festival Theatre by @olive.mvg

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2 months ago

Oh how fun let’s do it again please FROM THE TOP FROM@THE TOP - missing my ducks, missing my witches, missing most of all the friends I made this past spring. Thank u Rebecca for knowing and enjoying me - thank u all for making this a show a Party Every Day. I love u buddies<3

WitchDuck by Eva DeVirgilis:)
A World Premiere
Co-produced by Cadence and Firehouse Theatre
Direction by REBECCA FREAKING WAHLS
Photos by Jason Collins Photography
Ensemble: Anna Sosa (my roommate can u imagine), Mary E. Hodges (mama), Eva DeVirgilis (mother), LILY MARCHESCHI (my buddy), Jacqueline Jones (grandmama), Rachel Marrs (NO ARMS), Rachel Garmon-Williams (protein<3) - and freaking ME Of course duh
Understudies: Anjali Sharma, Heather Falks, Samantha Richardson, Kerrigan Sullivan, Flynn McCabe taken in Firehouse Theatre by @olive.mvg

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2 months ago

So many days have passed since these photos were taken - so many lives between! Sweet Beth, who carried me through a difficult winter. Beth did not get to speak very much - and when she did, most of her sentences were either “Jo!” or “Amy…” - and every night she slowly grew more and more ill until she died.

It felt important to me that she wanted to live - that she was more than just a wilting flower, a ghost, half alive - that she was a girl! Who enjoyed her life! Who loved her family! Who struggled to find words, to care for herself, to let go. Thinking about a monk’s begging bowl - my task was to accept the life I had been given oh and just to love it completely. To love these new friends I got to call my family for a few hours each night. How easy !!! How lucky. Oh and how hard it was to say goodbye when it all ended that final time.

I miss this project so much. I wish Beth could live for even just one more day! One more minute! A second more. Gosh I guess this will always be the way - there will never be enough time.

Kate Hamill’s “Little Women”
Hedgerow Theatre, 2025
directed by Abby Weissman
sm team: Jessica Beaver and Ella Namour
md: Matthew Mastronardi
ens: Marissa Emerson, Leo Mock, Emily-Grace Murray, Katherine Perry, Minou Pourshariati, James Arthel Reilly, Bob Weick, and Jameka Monet Wilson

Oh gosh and probably so many more people that are slipping my feeble mind !!! So many hands touched this piece taken in Hedgerow Theatre Company by @olive.mvg

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3 months ago

Happy day my love my friend my buddy my gift. I think u r so cool GOSH I do I do I really freaking do - I m so grateful to have met u, to be in your orbit, to know the home that is your company, your embrace. Thinking of u BIG Here now today forever always. Gosh everywhere I look, there u r. What a gift by @olive.mvg

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4 months ago

Waiting for Lefty - EgoPo Classic Theatre, dir. Devon Roberts - autumn 2025

Another set of memories I neglected to document in their exact time - better now than never.

This is a vignette sort of play, and so there wasn’t much of an on-ramp into the height of conflict in each scene. Outside of the play, I was thinking frequently about the people who had drifted into my life, just as quickly drifting out, though not before profoundly impacting me. Thinking about how brief our lives are, how briefly we get to be with each other, changing each other, softening and warming and readying each other for the rest of this (hopefully) long journey home. Wherever home may be, wherever we land at the end of these lives.

In my lil scene, if I ever felt unsteady, unmoored, or underprepared for the heights we were meant to reach, I found the steadiness, the warmth, the ease in Tommy’s eyes. I had a sort of mantra that would play back on a LOOP in my mind, something about “walking each other home” - and then I would remember how lucky I am to be here and now, held in the embrace of Tommy’s attention. Attention as care. Oh and then I would think about how lucky I am to be here and now !!! And what would happen if I let myself be changed by this moment? if I surrendered to this brief encounter? if I risked it altering my course - knowing of course that no matter what, at the end of all, I will home returned.

I feel so lucky to have been part of this project. Thank u Devon. And thank u to everyone who walked beside me over this month and change - I have been changed by you. I cannot wait to see how u continue forward, where u land<3

omg also there’s no pictures here of me and Nathan but he played my brother and I got to freaking STEP On him how fun oh he’s such a sweetie by @olive.mvg

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7 months ago

Catskill Mountain Shakespeare - benefit, summer 2025

Post Juliet, post Marina (named so for she was born at sea, of course), it was such a gift to return to Hunter, to see the green mountainside just beginning to burn - golden - aflame with autumn encroaching !!! Oh and to see so many loved ones.

I didn’t get any pictures with Jess, but she was present at this benefit and had played Lady Cap in r&j - i wish I would have gotten a photo with u, Jess. I love you and I think of you often. My mom, my friend, oh my gosh and what a freak you are, in the very best way.

Hunter introduced me to a whole new patch of my heart. Phenomenologically flowing into and through so many other hearts, as one might a pen while writing a letter! Dissolving into new friends and strangers, bending into them, a sunflower under the weight of its seeds !!! I am changed from my time in Hunter. I hope to someday return - if not just to let the slow-talking man behind the counter at m&j bagel store bakery deli cafe know that I am doing well. I hope the same for him taken in Hunter Mountain, N.Y. by @olive.mvg

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7 months ago

Another photo set from this past summer / autumn, mostly snapped on my way to or from work at a coffee shop I no longer frequent. Storms and tangles of birds - sometimes swirling, flushing down some atmospheric drain - sometimes crackling across the sky, static electric wings - sometimes just sitting, watching. Eerie. A visitation. Waiting. Felt incongruous with the season. Striking !!! Every time I was on a walk (whether before the sun, dragging my body across the pavement, or after it’s setting, slick with grease and sweat) I noticed more and more patches of birds. Or maybe it was the same flock, following me. I would nod and continue on my path while they watching sat or screaming swarmed. Maybe they were waiting for me! The last of their flock, straggling behind, distracted by labors and worries - maybe they were waiting for me to rejoin them, to perch and sing and fly so that together we could finally return home.

Eventually they left, with the first frosts. I haven’t seen them much anymore. I hope they come back !!! Oh I hope I didn’t miss my chance to be with my family - to go home - to belong. I’m sorry for just passing through !!! If I had known !!! Oh I would have stayed. Sat, watched beside u as the world rolled through every passing day. I would have gone wherever you led me. I would have followed - if I had known how much I would miss you, I never would have left u behind. I hope to see u all again by @olive.mvg

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7 months ago

IN THE WORKS ~ IN THE WOODS Festival, summer 2025

Realizing that I never scrapbooked these photos from so many moons ago - I remember this week so fondly. Grateful for the opportunity to sing, to enjoy and be enjoyed, to reflect on the lives of trees. Thank u David Lee White and furthermore thank u Kate Brennan and finally thank u to everyone I was lucky enough to meet up in Forestburg<3 taken in Forestburgh Playhouse by @olive.mvg

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7 months ago