A Noh Drama About Elvis Presley
Because Noh Dramas do not have plots it is impossible to
provide a plot synopsis. Noh Dramas are meditations, and
Blue Moon Over Memphis is a meditation on loneliness.
This is what "happens" in the play:
Judy, an Elvis Presley fan, makes a pilgrimage to Graceland
on the anniversary of Elvis's death. While she is standing at
the Music Gate during the all-night vigil, a mysterious man
appears who lets her into the Meditation Garden. There is a
comic interlude (called the kyogen interval) when the
groundskeeper of Graceland escapes to the Meditation Garden to
get away from the mobs of fans who are rioting at the Music Gate
because they think they've seen Elvis. When the groundskeeper
leaves, Elvis appears. Elvis and Judy talk. Elvis disappears
with the coming of the dawn.
4 Women and 6 Men
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JUDY: A
40-year old woman who makes a pilgrimage to Graceland
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THE MAN: A
heavy-set black man in his 40’s
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ELVIS: as a
young man
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OSCAR: The
groundskeeper at Graceland. An old man
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CHORUS
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3 WOMEN:
Elvis Presley fans
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3 MEN:
Members of the “Memphis Mafia”
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Published in Japanese and English in the “Journal of the Noh
Research Archives” at Musashino University, Tokyo Japan, spring
2004. Winner of the Lee Korf Playwriting Award; Produced in
the Lincoln Center Living Room Festival, directed by
Nancy Jones. Produced in a student production at the New School
University, directed by the author. Presented in a
concert reading at La Mama ETC in their “Experimental Theatre
Series” curated and directed by George Ferencz.
Presented in the Dixon Place reading series, directed by
Jean Randich. Produced in a student production at Brown
University, directed by the author.
“Talk about good things in small packages
... Deborah Brevoort's tender story about a meeting between
the ghost of Elvis and a lonely fan feels as if it's playing
out inside your head, like a dream ...”
– St. Louis Post
Dispatch (Judith Newmark)
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“Blue Moon Over Memphis is a
touching bit of nostalgia ... great fun to be immersed in.”
– St. Louis Post
Dispatch (Ralph Murphy)
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(Click on Thumbnails for Larger View)
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New School University, NYC |
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Produced in the Atrium Theatre; Written & Directed by Deborah Brevoort |
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Lincoln Center Directors Lab / HERE |
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Production Poster, Lincoln Center Living Room Festival at HERE; Directed by Nancy C. Jones |
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Sound Stage Productions, St. Louis, Missouri |
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The cast of Blue Moon Over Memphis, directed by Randy Stinebaker as a reader’s theatre production, featuring Steve Davis, a nationally known Elvis impersonator. |
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