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Theater for the New
City
Historical Inspiration for Pyrates! Pyrates! The CourtShip Chronicles is a musical about lesbian and gay pirates in the tradition of Three-Penny Opera or Oliver! My initial research into the lives of Anne Bonny and Mary Read reinforced my choice of subject matter. The facts of their lives are few, but they support the assumption that they indeed had an intimate relationship while serving as mates on a pirate crew. Yet I read material going back as far as 1724 that protested too much and followed convoluted logic to attempt to disprove the real nature of their relationship. This has happened repeatedly to lesbians in recorded history and has almost succeeded in burying the truth of our lives. In Pyrates! I am creating a new legend about two women who lived 300 years ago, a legend based on facts. Joining the two women on their final pirate venture are a crew that reflects the population of 1720 Jamaica: Anne's friend Pierre, a gay man; Luis, a Sephardic Jewish refugee from the European Inquisition; Agibo, an escaped African slave; Belinda, a multi-racial tavern owner; and Calico Jack Rackham, a notorious pirate captain.
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