Florida Man Becomes Off-Broadway Play
"Florida Man" is the subject of a new play, written by a Florida man, and making its debut July 31 Off-Broadway at New York’s Theatre Row Studios on 42nd Street, the Gainesville Sun first reported.
“Florida Man” was written by Michael Presley Bobbitt, a commercial real estate appraiser by day and a playwright and board member at Gainesville’s Acrosstown Repertory Theatre — which will get its crack at the play in October after it completes its Off-Broadway run.
Bobbitt also “raises goats for no reason at all,” according to his website. He lives in Gainesville with his wife, Laura, and son Liam.
The play’s central character is Billy Crud, a man who loses his father before he can “resolve a laundry list of regrets and hurt feelings between the two men,” according to Bobbitt. The comedy of errors is set against a backdrop of Florida folklore.
The logo for Michael Presley Bobbitt’s play, “Florida Man.” The show will play Off-Broadway July 31-Aug. 3 and as part of the 2019-20 season at Acrosstown Repertory Theatre starting in October.
The play’s synopsis, according to National New Play Network/New Play Exchange:
“A Florida Man, racked with guilt, digs up his dead father to give him the proper Viking funeral he always wanted. Set in the wild world of the Florida Man headlines that have captured the nation’s attention, this comedic odyssey explores some of the deeper human issues that affect us all — that exploration coming partially in the form of a jelly-donged homemade sex machine.”
Bobbitt says his real estate job has him traveling across Florida’s 67 counties — “from the Keys to Pensacola” — and that certainly has exposed him to the state and all its great fodder for left field stories.
“Florida Man” was his winning submission in the Broadway Bound Theater Festival, which helped land it a stage Off-Broadway just blocks from current Tony-winning shows like “The Cher Show” and “The Ferryman.”
