Last night, the crew of the Pequod encountered Moby-Dick on the June Havoc stage of the Abingdon Theatre Company as part of the theatre's Sunday Series. We hope to have Moby-Dick back before too long, so stay tuned on that front. In the meantime, set your sights on Staten Island, where Sundog Theatre is preparing for the premiere of my latest play: Meucci's Message.
Italian-American inventor Antonio Meucci did pioneering work with electricity in the mid-nineteenth century, and he reportedly sent sound messages over electrical wires long before Alexander Bell's famous cry for help to his assistant. In spite of his many contributions to the advancement of technology, Meucci died in obscurity, embroiled in one of the most infamous patent disputes in our nation's history.
Meucci's Message brings the great inventor back to life, leading the audience on a journey from the streets of Florence, to an opera house in Havana, to the sidewalks of New York and a tiny house on Staten Island. It tells Meucci's story of constant struggle, from opposing political tyranny in Italy to standing up to an army of corporate lawyers in a protracted legal battle over who really had the right to say he created something.
Sundog Theatre commissioned Meucci's Message as a radio-play-style drama, and it will be performed that way before a live audience on June 21, 26, and 29th at Casa Belvedere on Staten Island. The performance is supported, in part, by public funds from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
For more information and tickets, go to:
Sundog Theatre
http://www.sundogtheatre.org/season-tickets.html