Eddie the Marvelous,
Who will save the world

Reggie D. White is Eddie - photo courtesy of Theatreworks Silicon Valley / Photos by Kevin Berne

Reggie D. White is Eddie - photo courtesy of Theatreworks Silicon Valley / Photos by Kevin Berne

 

Eddie's life is in crisis...

Eddie the Marvelous, Who Will Save the World is a glam-rock space opera embedded inside a living room drama. An original story written and conceived by The Kilbanes, Eddie began his journey at Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor program in 2014, continued development at Theatreworks' New Works Festival in 2016 and further workshopped at the O’Neill National Music Theater Conference in 2018.

Eddie’s life is in crisis: a jobless high school dropout in his mid-twenties who still lives with his mom, he suffers from crippling social deficiencies that rarely let him leave the house. So when Eddie’s mom informs him that her new boyfriend will be moving in with them, she threatens the one place in the world where he feels safe. To cope with his panic, Eddie retreats to his imagination and envisions himself as the charismatic frontman of a glam-rock band, just like his idol, David Bowie. His bedroom transforms into a bandstand, and Eddie the Marvelous is born, telling the story of an evil overlord invading his galaxy. The two plots -- Eddie's actual life as a hermit and his imagined life as a rock star/intergalactic hero -- then unfold in parallel, as he tries to cope with the fact that his life must change. But as Eddie loses his grip on his real life, his imaginary world begins to take over, and he must find a heroism he didn't know he had to save both worlds from falling apart.

 

Eddie is written for a cast of five and a four-piece band.

 

All the photos below were taken during the August 2016 showing of Eddie the Marvelous at Theatreworks, directed by Becca Wolff.