A play with music

Script and lyrics by Leon Martell

music by Penka Kouneva

"STEEL" follows Willy, a hungry young man who arrives at the Big Bend Tunnel camp desperate for work. John Henry's assistant, his "shaker" is killed in an accident and Willy gets a job, but he must step into a dead man's boots. Neither the crew nor John Henry believe the young man can endure the grueling labor in impossible conditions, but once he proves himself he becomes John Henry's protégé. As the tunnel nears completion the Company Rep. reveals his plan to replace the crew with a new "Steam Drill". John Henry won't go without a fight and on behalf of the crew challenges the machine to a contest. In this ferocious battle, Willy must stand between John Henry's hammer and the mountain. The Company Rep. offers Willy a position on his team and John Henry gives Willy the chance to run off. Even though everyone is sure that before the contest is over, Willy will be dead, he chooses to stay with the crew that has accepted him. John Henry and Willy win, but instead of Willy, John Henry dies. The Company Rep calls the loss senseless but Willy knows he has learned more from John Henry than drilling rock. He has learned how to be a man, and that is something no machine can ever do.

STYLE: The piece is openly theatrical. It's the fever dream of a hungry young man; absurd, heartfelt, ridiculous, and desperate. The tunnel holds the ghosts of all those who worked there and all those the men have left behind.

What makes a neighborhood? Where does the story begin. in "the History of Fairfax - According to a Sandwich" the play starts in Cantor's Deli, the open 24 hours seven days a week landmark. Frequented by Hasidic Jews and heavy metal rockers a like the place is also haunted... Billy Gray, ghost of Fairfax past does his endless shtick... if only for Sadie the waitress. Cantor's waitresses, of course, can transcend time and space. Billy was a "headliner" now he's ignored. To support his argument of the world going to Hell, Billy tells the story of Fairfax.. .from the beginning, in the Labrea tar pits. 25,00 years of struggle, nobility, absurdity, and humor wend their way back to the present. The question arises, why is Billy playing in a deli? When all the accolades are over, he lives on, as "the Billy Gray Special" headlining the menu. The ghosts of the neighborhood never really leave.

What makes a man? His job? His friends? His actions? Timmy, a mentally disabled man, is proud he has work, even if it is in a hell hole tannery, filled with rotting cow hides and toxic chemicals. He dreams of love in his life, but the object of his affection is already married to his brother. The only men he can turn to for advice are his coworkers, the notorious Hurley brothers.

By the second act, his job is at risk, caught between corporate corruption and the efforts of the EPA. He is under the control of manipulative drifters and any hope for love is slipping away. How do you stand up when you're already in quick sand?

Hank's wife has run out of reasons not to be cruel. She declares him insignificant in every way. When he sees the truth in what she says, he makes a desperate attempt to revitalize. When the Company send him to Latin America, instead of his rubber stamp inspection tour of a reactor, he ventures into a "forbidden zone" and finds Al, an underworld figure who becomes his new mentor. Can Hank restore his relationship with the wife he once loved? Did his work ever have any value? Should he give in to the dark side of his subconscious? Or should he just take dancing lessons? "The evil that men do lives after them..." but does it have to?

John makes the mandatory pilgrimage to his Godmother's trailer in the woods. John's cousin Donna is aching to get out, his Grandfather is preparing to die, and cousin Roger just wants the world to go away. Aunt Florence, his godmother, is just afraid to be forgotten. Meanwhile, J.J. the three year old from hell, does everything he can to bring on the Apocalypse. Seven dogs are chained to the trailer. Why does John comes back?

A Dark Comedy in One Act.

Russ has prepared a demonstration of a "draft horse pull" (aka "hoss' drawin'"), an arcane sport on which he is an expert. He has enlisted the help of Kathleen who both announces at these events and comes from a family with a long history with draft horses. Things start to go awry when she forces Russ to admit that he doesn't have any horse, for this demonstration, or anywhere for that matter. Russ proceeds to play all the drivers and all the horses in his lecture demonstration, with Kathleen reluctantly providing color. Issues of abandoned loves and lost dreams arise.

Imagine being told, "This is "X", they're going to be your best friend and sole companion for life. See you later." This is what we do to our pets. Described by audiences as "doggie 'No Exit'" and "canine 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf'," it's lust, hatred, dreams, and bones, told in dog-speak and all in a tiny back yard.

When the founder of an old Hollywood hangout dies, his ultra hip daughter takes over. She comes in after clubbing, to deal with the night shift staff... some of whom she knows much better than others.