I found a graphic novel called "Poor Sailor" at a friend's house, and thought it was the saddest thing I had ever read. It's so quick: a man and a woman make a life together, then the man's brother come through town and entices him to run away to sea, the man abandons his commitments and sees the world. Then he loses an arm in a gruesome accident, then pirates attack and kill everyone else on board, including the man's brother, then he slowly makes his way back home to find a cross and an empty, still-unfinished house.
Poor Sailor the play is an intensely physical fever dream about kindness, cruelty, and living in the cultural shadow of white male supremacy.
Created by Eben Hoffer & Tugboat Collective
performed at The Brick, Williamsburg, NYC 2015
photos by Maria Baranova