The late Abbie Hoffman's high energy returns to New York City in ABBIE, a one-man show opening Off-Broadway January 6th at NYC's West End Theater. New York actor, Bern Cohen (Holy Rollers), plays Hoffman, revealing the personal life and struggles of the activist known as "The Clown Prince of The Sixties Revolution."
The ABBIE script, arranged by Cohen, is entirely drawn from the books and speeches of Abbie Hoffman in which he shares his emotional challenges, his youth and family, his take on Judaism, life underground, his mental collapse and more.
ABBIE incorporates historical footage, archived photos and the well-known VJ
Morgan Freeman's cutting edge 3D projections to create an unprecedented media-based arena for the little-known personal side of ABBIE.
While most remember Abbie Hoffman for his commitment to change and his outrageous sense of humor, the script gives us another view of Hoffman, who absorbed thousands of physical and political blows. The public comic was often in private torment.
What happened to a spotlighted, well-known public figure, who disappeared underground for over ten years, living like a hunted animal? And, when Abbie came out of hiding, how did he manage to lead a new, very public life disguised as fictitious social activist, Barry Fried?
Bern Cohen's interest in Abbie Hoffman dates back to the sixties. As a Columbia student, Cohen met Hoffman at the student protests. Several years later, when Hoffman was underground, Cohen's resemblance to Hoffman resulted in his arrest and near death when he tried to escape trigger-happy rural Ohio police. They thought they'd found the underground Hoffman when they met Cohen in a diner.
"Feeling intrinsically linked to Abbie," Cohen says, "I read his books and realized that nobody knows the real Abbie Hoffman." Cohen gather
Ed Hoffman's personal story, and, with staging input from VJ
Morgan Freeman, created a revolutionary evening for the Woodstock generation and their children, one that brings emotional reality to an historical figure in American activism.
Buy tickets here - http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=BBI
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