Give Up The Spear (2021)
A performance of selected songs and scenes from the upcoming production of
“Never Leaving this Boat”—(Fragments of a Blues Opera).
CREATED BY / MICHAEL GORMAN
June 17, 2021
Cove Street Arts, Portland ME
Playwright Michael Gorman and The Forty Hour Club presented a selection of songs and scenes from their upcoming production “Never Leaving this Boat”—(Fragments of a Blues Opera) at COVE STREET ARTS in Portland on June 17, 2021
The short performance, entitled “Give up the Spear”, took take place outdoors in the gallery’s parking lot and featured live music, original songs, dramatic monologues and scenes (including language and imagery from Moby Dick), movement, a mythical chorus of ancient whale hunters and modern-day commercial fishermen, and a rolling boat.
Buoyed by the enduring spirit of the blues and propelled by the provocative energy of street theater, “Give up the Spear” tapped into Gorman’s larger body of work and epic art and advocacy project “Chasing the New White Whale” that directly addresses the opiate crisis in the commercial fishing community of Maine and beyond.
Raw and edgy, and minimally rehearsed, the performance offered a privileged first glimpse of the upcoming opera, as well as an exciting window into Forty Hour Club’s developmental process.
This event was part of the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation Closing Reception Fellows & Residents: an exhibition curated by the Foundation’s Executive Director Donna McNeil, featuring work of awardees from 2017-2019.
June 17, 2021
Cove Street Arts, Portland ME
Playwright Michael Gorman and The Forty Hour Club presented a selection of songs and scenes from their upcoming production “Never Leaving this Boat”—(Fragments of a Blues Opera) at COVE STREET ARTS in Portland on June 17, 2021
The short performance, entitled “Give up the Spear”, took take place outdoors in the gallery’s parking lot and featured live music, original songs, dramatic monologues and scenes (including language and imagery from Moby Dick), movement, a mythical chorus of ancient whale hunters and modern-day commercial fishermen, and a rolling boat.
Buoyed by the enduring spirit of the blues and propelled by the provocative energy of street theater, “Give up the Spear” tapped into Gorman’s larger body of work and epic art and advocacy project “Chasing the New White Whale” that directly addresses the opiate crisis in the commercial fishing community of Maine and beyond.
Raw and edgy, and minimally rehearsed, the performance offered a privileged first glimpse of the upcoming opera, as well as an exciting window into Forty Hour Club’s developmental process.
This event was part of the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation Closing Reception Fellows & Residents: an exhibition curated by the Foundation’s Executive Director Donna McNeil, featuring work of awardees from 2017-2019.
Performers:
Harlem Lafayette, Jim Reitz, Carrie Beehan, Roland Albert, Tyler Weeks, Michael Gorman.
Musical performances by Carrie Beehan, Harlem Lafayette. Guitar: Lex Jones.
Harlem Lafayette, Jim Reitz, Carrie Beehan, Roland Albert, Tyler Weeks, Michael Gorman.
Musical performances by Carrie Beehan, Harlem Lafayette. Guitar: Lex Jones.
