FIRST NIGHTS
A NEW MUSICAL
about memories lost and found
for anyone who wonders what the year 1968 was like, whether you were there or not.
Joshua Gersh, professor of communications, has an assignment to create a commemoration of a protest that he had been involved with back in 1968 on the college campus where he currently teaches. This spikes a great deal of soul searching about what happened in the past and how his choices led him to where he is today.
1968
JOSHUA GERSH
student
2008
JOSHUA GERSH
Professor
His students are rehearsing the opening number that Professor Gersh is writing and directing for the musical revue which is meant to evoke the era with a 60s style rock anthem romanticizing the passions of the moment.
GENIUS IN THE TREE
“Can’t a person be a person without a family tree? When the father is overthrown the orphan is left alone to invent an identity all on his own.””
JASON, the young actor who plays young JOSHUA GERSH performs a number from the show that reveals the sense of dislocation from family and society that he had felt when he was entering adulthood in the 60s. Past is prologue.
WE GOT A GRANT!
JOSHUA and the kids reveal how this production was possible.
“A wealthy alum is gonna hand us a plum to expand the parking lot and build a new gymnasium. All he wants is a campus celebration, a festival, a rock ‘n roll commemoration of a student rebellion and a campus demonstration forty years ago with a musical show.
”
That’s how LOYALTIES form in a college dorm.
Another song from the show which portrays the first day of college for the characters played by JENNY and MAYA and the beginnings of life without parents.
“Like it or not, I’ll probably have to smoke pot but that’s how loyalties form in a college dorm.”
CHANGE YOURSELF (CHANGE THE WORLD)
JASON portraying a young JOSHUA tries to bring some reason to the young radicals planning to disrupt the campus as a protest against the war in Vietnam.
END OF THE FIRST ACT
ACT II
WHAT DO WE KNOW?
RUTH, who is JOSHUA GERTZ’ ex-wife, suddenly appears and gives him her perspective on the passage of time.
HERE (AND NOW)
MAYA, and RUTH reveal how JOSHUA’S life has been haunted by the past. He remembers, romanticizes and regrets so much that has been lost.
Suddenly we fade back into a hallucination of the year 1968
RUTH describes what happened to her marriage to JOSHUA.
“Lost in a fable, severed by doubt”
The REAL demonstration.
The long shadow of MLK covered the cultural revolution. The young African Americans in the production acknowledge his legacy.
MARTIN TOLD US
JOSHUA GERSH sings a draft of the Finale of the production while AL JAMES who is providing the funding has his own take on how the play should end.
