IN TOKEN OF MY ADMIRATION
April 22 - June 12 at Axis Theatre

Axis Company presents the Off-Broadway premiere of In Token of My Admiration beginning April 22 at Axis Theatre. Conceived, written, and produced by Axis Company, the piece is directed by Randy Sharp featuring Axis’ signature blend of advanced technology and live performance. In Token of My Admiration will be performed under an Equity Off-Broadway contract with opening night scheduled for Saturday, April 24.

During August, 1849 in Massachusetts, an explosive friendship began between Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville that lasted only a year and a half. Hawthorne was at the height of his literary success, having just published The Scarlet Letter and then The House of the Seven Gables. During this period Melville wrote the American masterpiece Moby Dick which he dedicated to Hawthorne with "In token of my admiration for his genius." Only a few months after it began, their friendship and their separate lives took turns for the worse: Moby Dick recieved much derision in the press; Hawthorne, afraid of the dark door he had opened in Scarlet Letter, retreated into idyllic fairy tales that sold well but showed little of his inner life. Incredibly, after the disaster of Moby Dick, Melville went to work for twenty years as an ordinary customs inspector in downtown New York, publishing nothing but poems. Following his son’s suicide, Melville began his terminal relationship with alcohol. Meanwhile, Hawthorne took a patrician's job as consul to Liverpool, cutting himself off physically and mentally from the "blue room" he had entered in New England with Melville. He died a relatively young man self-described as "another pallid phantom gliding noiselessly up and down the stairs."

In Token of My Admiration chronicles what may have happened to these men as they crashed into each other and then spun away to lives of darkness, boredom and frustration. Using impressions, film, music, and writings from both Hawthorne and Melville, Axis unfolds the interiors of two of the greatest minds in the artistic world.

The production stars Brian Barnhart (as Melville) and Joe Fuer (as Hawthorne) with sets and costumes by Kate Aronsson, lighting by David Zeffrin and sound design by Steve Fontaine.

Axis Company was formed with a mission to present aggressive surrealism, classic vaudeville turns, and vanguard adaptation. Past productions include the New York Premiere of Sarah Kane’s Crave (starring Deborah Harry), Samuel Beckett’s Play, Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Buchner’s Woyczek, and a revival of Benjamin Baker’s A Glance at New York, among numerous original works.

In Token of My Admiration will be presented April 22 - June 12, Thursday - Saturday at 8:00pm. The Axis Theatre is located at One Sheridan Square (just off 7th Avenue, accessible from the 1/9 train at Sheridan Square). Tickets are $20; $10 students/seniors. For information and reservations, call 212-807-9300 or visit AxisCompany.org.