AUGUSTA — The Forty Hour Club, a resident theater company of the La MaMa Experimental Theater Club in NYC will stage “The Ahab Inside Me—Redux,” an original Blues Opera written by Maine and La MaMa Playwright Michael Gorman.
The opera will premiere at 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, July 20-22 and 3 p.m. Sunday, July 23, at the historic Colonial Theater, 139 Water St.
“The Ahab Inside Me—Redux” is an inspirational tale about fishing, obsession, addiction, and recovery, and a cathartic act of environmental justice for the maligned White Whale. The opera is the latest installation from The Forty Hour Club’s epic ongoing performance art and advocacy project “Chasing the New White Whale—Harpooning Addiction” that deals directly with the opiate epidemic in the commercial fishing community of New England and beyond. Gorman, who lost his brother, a commercial fisherman, to a heroin overdose in 1998 has been writing and producing original work about the opiate epidemic for the past two decades, according to a news release from Donna Daly of The Forty Hour Club.
The production features Moby Dick meeting The Perfect Storm in this high-seas adventure about a fishing community’s daunting quest for survival and transformation in the face of the opiate crisis. The drama unfolds through an aspiring young fisherman’s struggle with addiction; and in a grand delusion, an epic confrontation with Captain Ahab and his obsessive pursuit of Moby Dick.
Featuring a live blues band and a diverse cast of singers, musicians, professional actors and non-professional community performers (many in recovery) from Maine, New England, New York City, and Los Angeles.
Tickets cost $25 or pay what you can. All proceeds support Chasing The New White Whale— Harpooning Addiction.
For more information, visit fortyhourclub.com.
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