Playwright’s Festival of New Works

A musical about a guy who plants pipe bombs is, admittedly, an unlikely prospect. But then, unusual stories ask for unusual presentation. A Loud Noise in a Public Place is the title of the musical by Davis writer Jay Feldman and Los Angeles composer Fred Sokolow. The story involves George Metesky, New York’s “Mad Bomber,” who planted dozens of pipe bombs between 1940 and 1956. He was as famous in his time as the Unabomber was in the ’90s—though in Metesky’s case, none of his devices actually killed anyone.Ultimately, the Mad Bomber was caught—he turned out to be a middle-aged guy who’d been injured decades before in a work-related incident at Consolidated Edison, the mammoth electric utility. After his request for disability benefits was turned down (and government benefits like SSI and Social Security didn’t exist in 1940), the Mad Bomber decided to seek what he saw as justice by punishing ConEd for its “dastardly deeds.”

The musical explores this perplexing situation—yes, the Mad Bomber was a criminal, even a terrorist. But was he pushed into that role by a situation that left him no other avenue to seek recompense? The musical’s songs also draw on a cross section of popular musical styles from the era, ranging from stirring Salvation Army marches to boogie woogie to doo-wop.

The festival’s other offering is a new play by Los Angeles writer Judy Soo Hoo, involving Korean-American characters in a series of offbeat situations in a trailer park in the flatlands of the Lone Star State. —