If Colorado Had an Ocean (2014)
The Honor and Glory of Whaling Trilogy: Part I — Loomings
WRITTEN BY / MICHAEL GORMAN
DIRECTED BY / DAVID BENNETT
December 2014
Ellen Stewart Theatre, La MaMa, New York City
A rebellious rock and roll spirit and dreams of high-seas adventure combine to create theater's "perfect storm" in the high-energy prologue of Mike's trilogy "The Honor and Glory of Whaling".
Michael Gorman’s powerful drama If Colorado had an Ocean – is Part-One in a trilogy of plays that chart the rise and fall of a young New England commercial fisherman through the intrusion of opiate addiction, and his yearning for an imaginary place. Set in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the play tackles complex emotional and social issues around relationships and livelihoods with a soulful energy and a sharp sense of wit while addressing the common threads of addiction and recovery within the close-knit commercial fishing community.
With this play, Gorman creates the opportunity to observe ourselves as a community and helps us understand that opiate addiction is a disease for which there is tremendous need for more treatment, compassion and empathy. The play provides a cathartic and illuminating view of these problems with the hope of being thought provoking and healing. Although If Colorado Had An Ocean is Part I in Gorman’s Trilogy of Plays— “An Honor & Glory of Whaling”, it was the last play in The Trilogy to be produced.
DIRECTED BY / DAVID BENNETT
December 2014
Ellen Stewart Theatre, La MaMa, New York City
A rebellious rock and roll spirit and dreams of high-seas adventure combine to create theater's "perfect storm" in the high-energy prologue of Mike's trilogy "The Honor and Glory of Whaling".
Michael Gorman’s powerful drama If Colorado had an Ocean – is Part-One in a trilogy of plays that chart the rise and fall of a young New England commercial fisherman through the intrusion of opiate addiction, and his yearning for an imaginary place. Set in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the play tackles complex emotional and social issues around relationships and livelihoods with a soulful energy and a sharp sense of wit while addressing the common threads of addiction and recovery within the close-knit commercial fishing community.
With this play, Gorman creates the opportunity to observe ourselves as a community and helps us understand that opiate addiction is a disease for which there is tremendous need for more treatment, compassion and empathy. The play provides a cathartic and illuminating view of these problems with the hope of being thought provoking and healing. Although If Colorado Had An Ocean is Part I in Gorman’s Trilogy of Plays— “An Honor & Glory of Whaling”, it was the last play in The Trilogy to be produced.
SYNOPSIS:
When old high-school friends Steven and Big John—an aspiring commercial fisherman and a long-distance truck driver—reunite on a hotel construction site in New Bedford, the stage is set for a fishing and drug fueled adventure worthy of the elusive pursuit and chaotic final chase of Moby Dick.
Steven and Big John belong to a class and culture of working people that are considered “invisible”, like “Fedallah and the Phantoms”—Ahab’s stowaway crew of primitive whale hunters in Moby Dick. With its allusion to Captain Ahab and his all-consuming pursuit of Moby Dick—The Great White Whale, the play melds the ancient whaling era with contemporary times. After all, what was Ahab, but an addict, really, and what was Moby Dick but an allusion to opium, and heroin—its contemporary scourge" says Gorman. The play also features a mobile replica whaling boat- the perfect stage from which to both wage a battle against addiction and to hunt Moby Dick.
For more information visit: http://lamama.org/if-colorado-had-an-ocean/
When old high-school friends Steven and Big John—an aspiring commercial fisherman and a long-distance truck driver—reunite on a hotel construction site in New Bedford, the stage is set for a fishing and drug fueled adventure worthy of the elusive pursuit and chaotic final chase of Moby Dick.
Steven and Big John belong to a class and culture of working people that are considered “invisible”, like “Fedallah and the Phantoms”—Ahab’s stowaway crew of primitive whale hunters in Moby Dick. With its allusion to Captain Ahab and his all-consuming pursuit of Moby Dick—The Great White Whale, the play melds the ancient whaling era with contemporary times. After all, what was Ahab, but an addict, really, and what was Moby Dick but an allusion to opium, and heroin—its contemporary scourge" says Gorman. The play also features a mobile replica whaling boat- the perfect stage from which to both wage a battle against addiction and to hunt Moby Dick.
For more information visit: http://lamama.org/if-colorado-had-an-ocean/
|
"Gorman has crafted another gripping, sensitive play about the frailties – and illusions – of life, love and addiction.
It is as powerful as it is timely." — David Bennett, Director |
|
"Think The Perfect Storm meets Trainspotting"
Backstage.com |
|
|
"If Bruce Springsteen had grown up in a place like New Bedford he might
have written characters
like these."
Blogcritics Magazine
|
|
"If Colorado Had an Ocean... is my favorite kind of theater, not just inviting us to spend time in a different time and place, but really immersing us in it, engaging all of our senses and leaving us with much to ponder and savor long after the show is over."
Martin Denton - NY Theatre Now
Martin Denton - NY Theatre Now
|
|
Watch the trailer for "If Colorado Had An Ocean"
|
New Off-Broadway Play Paints Colorado In Dreamy Light
DEC 9, 2014- COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO (link to article & interview) |