Telemachus Clay isn’t a spectacle for the eyes … it’s a festival for the ears. Described as a “Collage for Voices”, the New York Times called said of the premiere that “The effect is that of an orchestra” that “takes on a choral depth and insists on magnetizing attention.”

The playwright is Lewis John Carlino, a man who, unlike his protagonist Telemachus Clay, went on to a very successful Hollywood career. He is known for popular films such as The Great Santini, I Never Promised You A Rose Garden, The Fox, Class, Resurrection, The Brotherhood, Seconds, The Mechanic, and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea.

Set in a post-beatnik, prehippie small town, Telemachus Clay follows the title character as he leaves his small hometown for a dream of making it big in Hollywood. He finds little but cynicism and corruption when he brings his script of a Utopian fantasy to the powers that be; ultimately, he decides to perform Eleven actors bring to life nearly 90 characters, including animals and inanimate objects.

Director Howard Waxman, who worked on a second New York production of Telemachus Clay about a year after its off-Broadway premiere, says “It’s nothing you’ve ever experienced before,” adding “I’ve kept a copy with me for 50 years, hoping for the chance to share it with a new generation of theatergoers.”

Waxman said that the experience of working with the play fifty years ago was one of the most vivid theater experiences he had ever had. “The voices of the cast of that production are still vivid in my head, but are now mixing with the voices of the cast in the production we are rehearsing now,” he said.

The play will be performed at the Chocolate Church Arts Center, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, January 30, Saturday, January 31, Friday, February 6, Saturday, February 7, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, February 1 and 8. Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 at the door.