The Last American Hammer (World Premiere)
Music by Peter Hilliard
Libretto by Matt Boresi
“. . . a thought-provoking creative laboratory is precisely what UrbanArias continues to offer.” – Patrick Rucker, The Washington Post
Click here to read the full review
“What Hammer does bring to the table, however, is a curious premise–quirky, and often hilarious, without diminishing the concerns of its characters into rote stereotypes. When the moot court (which figures literally in one scene towards the end of the play) is brought to a close on a tragic note, it is not without a shade of humanity and the glimmer of desire for change–a difficult, but needed conclusion for these times.”- Beatrice Loayza, DCMetroTheaterArts
Click here to read the full review
The Last American Hammer Aria from UrbanArias on Vimeo.
Images by C. Stanley Photography
SYNOPSIS
Milcom Negley, a one-man militia, rages against the tyranny of federal overreach. He is hunkered down in a rural Toby jug museum where Tink Enraught, a mannered curatrix, offers him tea and cookies. Milcom is a “Thirteenther” – a conspiracy theorist who believes an obscure, would-be Thirteenth amendment negates the authority of our government. He occupies the museum because it is the only place left in his failed town to receive federal funds – a grant for the upkeep of a rare 17th-century British pitcher known as “Sir Oswyn”. Although Milcom expects to be swarmed by military drones, attention is paid only by Agent Reyes, a young rookie FBI field specialist. Milcom explains that the town’s only major source of employment – a hammer manufacturer – has gone under, leaving the residents lost. He is armed with “the Last American Hammer” to roll off the plant’s line and intends to hold a proxy trial against the US government using Toby jugs as physical stand-ins for a court.
STARRING
Elizabeth Futral as Tink Enraught
Timothy Mix as Milcolm Negley
Briana Elyse Hunter as DeeDee Reyes
Conducted by Robert Wood
Directed and Set Design by Grant Preisser
Lighting Design by Abigail Hoke-Brady
Costume Design by Grace Santamaria
Featuring members of Inscape Chamber Orchestra
Click here to read the libretto
*The Last American Hammer was commissioned by UrbanArias with very generous support from Dan and Gloria Logan; and an anonymous admirer of UrbanArias in memory of Deborah Brewer.
*Ms. Futral’s appearance is underwritten by an anonymous donor and the Billy Rose Foundation.