The Zero Club

WHEN: Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 7:30 PM
WHERE: Regent Theatre - 7 Medford St - Arlington Center
PRICE: $16 Adults / $12 Students

The Zero Club
A Concert-Style Writer’s Presentation of a Nuclear Musical Comedy
WHO: Composer/Playwright Deborah Henson-Conant narrates, with a cast starring
Gloria Hodes and other members of the original ensemble; musical direction by
Memrie Innerarity
WHAT: “The Zero Club,” A Nuclear Musical Comedy – A Concert-Style Writer’s
Presentation, narrated by the composer

WHAT IS IT? Celebrated composer/performer Deborah Henson-Conant’s bitingly satirical and
unconventionally moving award-winning musical “The Zero Club” returns in a concert performance,
narrated by the composer and featuring members of the original 1985 cast. One performance only!
In 1979, NYC activist John Breitbart created the “Ground Zero Club”– a loose group of about 400 members
engaged in guerilla theatre to explore fears of nuclear holocaust and poke holes in the political rhetoric
surrounding it. In 1985, Henson-Conant transformed Breitbart’s idea into an award-winning musical. Now,
in 2006, the story of a motley group committed to battling their fear of nuclear annihilation through the use
of humor – not to belittle the fear, but to confront it – is brought to life again! This is an unstaged writer’s
presentation of the musical narrated by the composer. For one night only, see members of the original cast
perform dialogue and songs while Henson-Conant tells the tale of an ordinary girl who infiltrates The Zero
Club and becomes caught in a web of personal ties and secret fears. Packed with music, comedy and
pathos, “The Zero Club” is reborn for a new generation. For “Megatons of Fun” --- be there!
FOR MORE INFO about the musical or composer Deborah Henson-Conant: www.HipHarp.com
OFFICE USE ONLY: filename: 061114_zeroclub_prsrls_v5.doc..gcserve Savedate: 10/23/06 2:53 PM Printdate:10/24/06 12:56 PM
(more)
PRESS RELEASE: "The Zero Club," A Nuclear Musical Comedy - Nov. 14, 2006 - 7:30 pm p. 2

What’s the Musical About?
In the late ‘70’s an eclectic group of activists in NYC banded together to form a club called the “Ground
Zero Club.” The club’s purpose was to use humor to fight the syndrome of psychic numbing rampant in
the country as people struggled to ignore their growing fear of nuclear war.
The musical “The Zero Club” is the story of Molly, one woman whose life is changed by the club. Molly’s
fiance, Ned, is a nuclear arms entrepreneur. He’s about to unveil the world’s smallest nuclear warhead
and has secretly built a luxury fallout shelter where he and Molly will hide out with “pairs of all the best
domestic pets,” to emerge after the inevitable holocaust as a newer, better combo of Adam and Eve and
the Noah’s ark family.
Ned hears that The Zero Club is planning to demonstrate at his unveiling and sends Molly to infiltrate the
club. When she does, Molly realizes the club’s founder is none other than her childhood hero, Octavia
Valentine, the former TV-star, “Space Girl.” Octavia is committed to singing and dancing about nuclear
war, holding not merely a square dance, but a “Pentagon Dance” and inviting everyone to have
“Megatons of Fun” at a “party that’s the greatest blast of all” – all in the name of combatting
complacency with confrontational comedy.
“The Zero Club” is about Molly’s struggle to find a future she can live in, torn between the people she
loves and the fears she’s afraid to look at.

What is a Writer’s Presentation?
Traditionally, a “writer’s presentation” is a chance for the writer to bring a work directly to the public –
telling the story and/or singing the music. This version of “The Zero Club” stays true to that notion,
while also marrying it with the traditional concert performance. The result is an unstaged musical with
the narration provided by the composer herself and dialogue read and songs sung by the cast.

Is Nuclear War Really Funny?
No. But in the immortal words of The Zero Club: “If we weren’t serious…we wouldn’t be laughing.”

Why Bring it Back? From the beginning, the purpose of “The Zero Club” was to break through the force Helen Caldicott calls "psychic numbing." In a post-9/11 world, Henson-Conant saw an even greater need to try and break through that numbing and find “a point of contact so we can confront the fear in ourselves in a real way.”
“You have to understand that the “Ground Zero Club” was founded more than twenty years before the
attacks of September 11th,” says composer Deborah Henson-Conant. “We produced the show in '85,
and within a few years nuclear annihilation seemed like a non-issue, passe, dated, a quaint vestige of
the cold war. Suddenly, after September 2001, the issues and emotions in the play were even more
alive for me than they were in the 70’s and 80’s. I needed the songs more than ever. For me, Ground
Zero is not a specific place. It’s the place of impact. Every heart, every life is a tiny ground zero – and
we can't afford to be frozen in that place."

“The Zero Club” is a way to look at that terrifying point of impact together; to use humor to break the
thrall of terror so we can actually do something about our fears.

Background
“The Zero Club” was first produced in 1985 with grants from the Mass Council on the Arts, WBZ and “Meet
the Composer” and won composer Henson-Conant a prestigious Massachusetts Artists Fellowship. This is
the first presentation of the script and music of "The Zero Club" in Massachusetts since its

Return to Events Calendar