Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder!

Synopsis:

It is exciting 1920, the year of Prohibition and Women’s Right to Vote. Set during the creation of the first commercial radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh, historical figures Dr. Frank Conrad, radio pioneer, and Harry P. Davis, Westinghouse Vice-President, join forces for the premiere broadcasts of the election of President Harding, and a professional baseball game. They, together with delivery men Barney (by night a seance medium), and Hank (by night a bootlegger), are members of both the Secret Society of Spiritualists (who disguise themselves in drag for propriety’s sake), and a cheerful barbershop quartet (who provide on air entertainment).

Meanwhile, teen radio engineer Frank Jr. falls madly in love with the no-nonsense radio-shack girl Friday Maisie. To woo her he resorts to using a love potion with the illegal secret ingredient of absinthe – what could go wrong?

Characters:

Frank Jr. – 18-year-old orphaned boy, radio engineer, romantic, interested in spiritualism, disheveled appearance hesitant speech patterns

Maisie/Frank Jr.’s Mom Apparition – 18-year-old girl, suffragette, girl Friday science mad pragmatist who speaks with high energy a mile-a-minute fast, neat as a pin

Harry P. Davis – Westinghouse Vice-President, senior businessman, Maisie’s boss, barbershop quartet member, Secret Society of Spiritualists of Pittsburgh member, carries a briefcase

Frank Conrad – engineer, middle-aged radio pioneer, Frank Jr.’s uncle, barbershop quartet member, Secret Society of Spiritualists of Pittsburgh member

Hank – Westinghouse handy man – brawny, barbershop quartet bass, deep speaking voice, Secret Society of Spiritualists of Pittsburgh member, bootlegger with shady connections sports a left-eye shiner

Barney – Westinghouse handy man – brawny, barbershop quartet tenor, falsetto speaking voice, Secret Society of Spiritualists of Pittsburgh member, former WWI chaplain, and séance medium,

Airwaves Off-Stage Voices – different characters heard over radio receiver

Resources:

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