 superhero clubhouseSECRET MESSAGE: MERCURY PROGRAMConceived and Directed by Jeremy PickardWritten by Jeremy Pickard in collaboration with the original cast Performed by Brian Belcinski, Alison Marie Bryant*, Danny Gardner*, Corey Johnson, Eugene Oh *member of AEA Lighting Design by Bruce Steinberg Costume Design by Sarah Gosnell Sound Design by Liz Stanton Graphic and Web Design by Emily Caufield and Steven Carlton Choreographed by Danny Gardner Stage Management by Alex Krasser House Management by Carly Hoogendyk Featuring original songs by Maggie-Kate Coleman and Nicholas Morgan General Management/Dramaturgy by Maria Portman Kelly Produced by Odyssey Productions MERCURY is an Equity Approved Showcase.  Trading Cards
Support Superhero ClubhouseYour gift, of any size, will hugely impact our artistic endeavors, and it is tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law. Superhero Clubhouse is produced by Odyssey Productions, Inc., a duly formed 501(c)3 public charity formed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Odyssey has applied to the IRS for tax-exempt status and is simultaneously seeking an advance letter of recognition. Secure donations can be made online through PayPal:  Gold Stars for Stellar Generosity!
Deb & Bob Bacewicz (CT hospitality and support) RealityDanbury, Connecticut is a real place, and it really was the "Hat City of the World" for nearly 150 years. There really was a Zadoc (aka Zoe) Benedict, and he really did open a hat shop in Danbury in 1780, launching the American hat industry. The other things we know about him, including his serendipitous felt discovery, are probably legend. Mercury really is a highly toxic heavy metal. Nitrate of mercury really was an essential ingredient in the making of felt hats for hundreds of years, and it really did poison 18th- and 19th-century milliners all around the world, begetting the phrase "mad as a hatter". The use of mercury in hat making was outlawed in the USA in 1941, much to the relief (and, in some cases, outrage) of hatters everywhere. After the dangerous process was outlawed in France, mercury continued to be used on the sly by hatters who dubbed themselves secreteurs practicing secretage. The rivers and soil surrounding Danbury, CT really are contaminated with mercury, largely as a result of the old hatting industry. Recent testing results have shown mercury levels in certain Danbury soils to be as much as 67,000 parts per billion-- that's 6,700 times what is considered normal! Mercury doesn’t break down as it passes through the soil and water beds, so it’s incredibly difficult to dispose of, and lasts for centuries in certain forms. In 2003, a grove of cottonwood trees biologically-engineered to suck mercury from the soil and sequester it through a process called bioremediation was planted in Danbury. The experiment was a failure, however; the trees merely released the toxin back into the atmosphere. Mercury poisoning is very real. We commonly encounter it when eating fish, because fish absorb methylmercury (the most toxic and organic form of mercury) in the plants they eat and the water they swim in. Many contemporary cases of mercury poisoning occur as a result of diets high in tuna or other large predatory fish (friendly advice: avoid eating sushi on a daily basis, and if you buy canned tuna, buy "chunk white" as opposed to "chunk light"). Not long ago people (maybe you!) played with elemental mercury (a.k.a. "quicksilver") in science class and at home, but while touching elemental mercury is toxic (and awesome), it isn’t nearly as toxic as inhaling it in vapor-form. Intense and long-term exposure to the stuff can result in many dreadful things, including brain damage and death. For a while, the milder symptoms of mercury poisoning were called the "Danbury Shakes". There is still a great deal of debate and controversy among scientists and law makers surrounding the regulation of mercury, its effects on health and the environment, and public communication. If you'd like to know more about the history and present debates, try the book Diagnosis: Mercury by Jane Hightower. Because of its unique characteristics, mercury has had a prolific career as a featured ingredient in a wide range of household, industrial and medicinal (that's right, medicinal!) products. Laxatives, cleansers, thermometers, dental amalgams, certain plastics, paper manufacturing products, etc etc etc ... all made with mercury. Fluorescent light bulbs are currently (pun intended!) seeing a comeback because of their glorious energy efficiency, but like many green advancements, it comes with a price: the bulbs contain mercury, so they are dangerous if broken and difficult to dispose of. Not to mention the destructive mercury mines that are reopening in China as a result of CFLs increasing popularity.Mercury really is a planet. It's the smallest (now that Pluto's a dwarf) and the closest to the sun. It revolves very slowly but orbits very quickly. It was probably formed by a collision of two other galactic masses, and a lot of debris from that collision fell all over Earth (the character of "The Computer" was partly inspired by this research). Here's what astronomer Bernard de Fontenelle in his The Plurality of Worlds (1686) imagined the citizens of the planet must be like: "They are absolutely Mad; I fancy they have no Memory at all, that they make no Reflections, and what they do is by sudden Starts, and perfect Hap-hazard; in short, Mercury is the Bedlam of the Universe." In mythology, Mercury really was the messenger god, and the god of travel, among other things. He invented the lyre (an ancient stringed instrument), and he was responsible for transporting dead people across the River Styx into the Underworld. In Greek he’s called Hermes. He really could fly; there were wings on his hat and on his shoes. In astrology, Mercury rules over communication-- and the lack thereof. We weaved these themes throughout our play; see how many references you can spot! The Star Spangled Banner really did start as a tavern drinking song called the Anacreontic Song, probably written by John Stafford Smith of London’s Anacreontic society in the 1760s. Francis Scott Key wrote the poem "Defense of Fort McHenry" in 1814, and it was his brother who fit the poem to the tune of the Anacreontic song. It became our national anthem in 1931. The composer Charles Ives really did grow up in Danbury. Although he is never mentioned in our story, his music can be heard, and the character of "The Salesman" is loosely based on him. His music is often discordant, filled with juxtaposition and inspired by Americana. Lewis Carroll really did begin telling his Alice stories on the 4th of July in 1862 while rowing his young friends the Liddell sisters in a boat. His "Mad Hatter" character was most likely based on a famous furniture maker of the time, but Carroll would certainly have known the stereotypical symptoms of hatters. And regardless, Carroll's eccentric world with all its bastardized language, fantastical imagery and bizarre adventures might as well have been the product of a mercury-induced fever-dream. Because we wanted to tell the story of a 26-year-old man's existential crisis as well as an environmental allegory of contamination, Alice (essentially the story of a 12-year-old girl's existential crisis and her journeys through an abnormal environment) proved the perfect source for inspiration, and we ravaged it thoroughly. Can you count the words and images we borrowed directly from Alice in Wonderland and Through The Looking-glass? Several of our cast members really are unemployed. If you would like to hire them, email us at info@superherclubhouse.org. How green is MERCURY?Small, low-budget organizations do not by nature create very large footprints. But practicing sustainability from the get go allows us to build an infrastructure that will define how we function later, when we're big, fat and famous. Still in our infancy, we are planting seeds that we hope will one day grow a totally self-sustaining, zero-impact theatrical society. Space Transportation Costumes Set Light Marketing OUR VISION OF A GREEN SHC FUTUREWe Dream Of:
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