A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Rocket City, Alabam'

Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy  /  3w, 6m

Book, Lyrics, and Music by Mark Saltzman

"Through Rocket City we are provoked into assessing our own beliefs and any ambiguities in our moral principles—the play also confronts its audiences with challenges to issues of race relations, gender politics, religious tolerance, mili…

Rocket City, Alabam'

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    3w, 6m
  • Duration
    Duration
    105 Minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Biography, Period, Docudrama/History, Romantic Comedy
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Appropriate for All Audiences

Details

Summary

Rocket City, Alabam', a play with songs, captures a formerly suppressed, true-life episode in the history of the American South, presenting a story of secrets, colorful Southern characters, and several famous songs of the region -- blues, spirituals and gospel. At the dawn of the Cold War, the early 1950's, a young, brash, Army major, Hamilton Pike, quietly brings notorious Nazi rocket scientist and former Hitler employee Wernher Von Braun to Huntsville, Alabama, a cotton town selected to become America's "Rocket City." But Huntsville has a Jewish community over a century old and emotions ignite when Amy Lubin, the Jewish fiancee of local war hero Jed Kessler learns of Von Braun's Nazi past. With sensitivity and humor, Rocket City, Alabam' presents the moral dilemmas of idealism vs. practicality, of revenge vs. forgiveness, all this accompanied by classic Southern songs, including "Down By the Riverside," "Alabama Bound," "This Little Light of Mine" and many more. Rocket City, Alabam' was developed at Alabama Shakespeare Festival in its Southern Writers Project.

History

Alabama Shakespeare Festival, 2008

AMY LUBIN – Young New York woman, early 20s
MAJOR HAMILTON PIKE, JR . – American blue-blood, Princeton- educated Army officer. Mid-20s to early 30s
JED KESSLER – Amy's Alabama-born fiancé, 20s
WERNHER VON BRAUN – The German rocket genius.
ISRAEL WATKINS - African-American WWII vet and local entertainer. 
SUSANNA PRUITT - The leader of Huntsville society and columnist for the local paper. 

Two multi-role actors. 
One multi-role actress.

  • Time Period 1950s
  • Setting

    Huntsville, Alabama, early 1950's

  • Features Period Costumes
  • Additional Features Local Celebrity Cameo, Play with Music
  • Duration 105 Minutes
  • Cautions
    • No Special Cautions

Media

"Through Rocket City we are provoked into assessing our own beliefs and any ambiguities in our moral principles—the play also confronts its audiences with challenges to issues of race relations, gender politics, religious tolerance, military authority and the divide between North and South that remain with us today." - Michael P. Howley, Montgomery Advertiser

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £55 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

Available Formats:

Authors

Mark Saltzman

Mark Saltzman began his career in New York with Jim Henson writing for the Muppets. His Sesame Street sketches and songs (including “Caribbean Amphibian”) earned him seven Emmy Awards, but behind Kermit’s back, Mark was writing cabaret shows and musicals that played at Soho R ...

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