BY SCOTT STIFFLER | An inquisitive nature and a still small voice with no off switch can curse the beast who treads the earth—and walks the boards! On the plus side, it makes for some crackerjack contemplative entertainment. Such is qwethe case with Trav S.D., the stage and pen name of our Chelsea Community News colleague whose latest work is one of genealogy, philosophy, and, as we’ve come to expect, ambition.
Cued by his mother’s death (and the upcoming 400th anniversary of The First Thanksgiving) to find the facts behind the lore that had long been potent fertilizer for the family tree, Trav S.D. confirmed as fact that he and his blood kin descended from several of 1620’s Mayflower Pilgrims. During subsequent research, he recalls, “I learned lots of other good and bad information about my ancestry, at the same time the nation seemed to be melting down into a nightmare of white supremacy and pseudo-Fascism. Then this climaxed with the pandemic, and the insurrection. Mortality was very much on my mind. If I had anything to say, I’d better say it quick!”
Having also lost his father in recent years and with a formerly close sibling no longer in the picture, the nuclear family was knocking on Trav’s noggin like Poe’s raven. Knowing full well how that tale turned out, Trav began to best his beastie by writing under the influence of “a people and culture and history which seemed to culminate somehow, horribly, not on a ‘City on a Hill] but on January 6 [2021]. What is this history of violence and (frankly) self-delusion all about? And so I just started writing. And writing and writing. About myself, about my nuclear family, about my ancestors, and about the history of America, just trusting that it would fit together.”
We trust that it did–and having premiered Thursday night, history knows for sure. For the rest of us, the centuries-spanning tale of Trav’s kin—and ours—has one more presentation: Saturday, November 13, 5pm. The in-person performance is at the Kraine Theater (85 E. Fourth St. btw. Second Ave. & Bowery). Tix are $20 in-person, $15 at home (sliding scale for both). To purchase, click here. Trav S.D.’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, is part of Frigid New York’s 10th Annual Gotham Storytelling Festival.
“I am very much hoping that folks who come to see my show will also read the posts at the [below] links, either before or after they see the performance, as it is very much of a piece with it,” wrote the author, in a recent entry posted to his blog, Travalanche. “I had to cut these sections out or the performance would be something like 16 hours long. Think of these not as complete essays on their subjects, but as what they are–sections of a longer work that have been excised like slices of cake to be sampled.”
“Plymouth Adventure” and Other Bad Mayflower Takes
More on Jamestown and the Fate of the Powhatans
The Dutch, Deal Making, and the Defeat of the Delaware
An Overview of the Indian Wars
The Deification of Christopher Columbus
Fort Parker, The Searchers and the Downfall of the Comanche
William Holland Thomas and the Eastern Band of Cherokee
Readings in Romanticism: From the “Noble Savage” to Buffalo Bill
On the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Shows, et al.
The Genocidal Writings of L. Frank Baum
Fess Parker and the Craze for Coonskin Caps
Pete La Farge and “The Ballad of Ira Hayes”
The Hall of Problematic Presidents
Songs of the American Indian Movement
Tobacco Road, Crack Alley, and the Path to the Celestial City
Not Part of This Piece, But Very Much Related:
A Review of Mayflower, by Nathaniel Philbrick
A Review of Saints and Strangers
Biographies of Native Americans in Show Business
IF YOU ATTEND IN PERSON: Full vaccination (two weeks past final dose of Pfizer, Moderna, or J&J) is required for all audience members, staff, and performers. You can prove your vaccination status with your vaccine card, the NY Excelsior app or NJ Docket app or a photo of your vaccine card with matching photo ID. Masking is required for audience and staff. Masks may be removed while seated in the back of the theater to enjoy drinks provided the bar is open and an empty row is left between masked and unmasked sections. Audience members seated in the front section of the theater will be fully masked at all times. Audience members and performers are required to fill out a contact tracing form upon arrival. Seating is limited to half normal capacity with space left between parties. The theater is equipped with a ventilation system capable of completely replacing the air in the space every 10 minutes. Surfaces are sanitized regularly. All in attendance (audience, staff, performers, etc.) must adhere to these polices or be asked to leave.
ABOUT | Writer/performer Trav S.D. has been making downtown theatre in NYC for over 30 years. His shows have been performed at Joe’s Pub, La Mama, the Duplex, Theater for the New City, HERE, Dixon Place, The Brick, and of course Horse Trade! He is known as one of America’s premiere vaudeville revivalists. His most recent production, Horse Play, was presented at the Ellen Stewart Theatre with Everett Quinton, Molly Pope, and Tim Cusack, who also produced. This is his sixth solo show. To visit his prolific blog, Travalanche, click here.
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