I got an e-mail from Ron Mason of Bay Bridge Productions about a new show, BILL W. AND DR. BOB, playing off-Broadway at New World Stages. I hope I can get to see it because it sounds really interesting.

Bill W. and Dr. Bob was written by Stephen Bergman & Janet Surrey, and is directed by Rick Lombardo. The play "...tells the incredible and often funny story of the men who founded Alcoholics Anonymous."

Here is the synopsis from the e-mail:

In 1935, famous New York stockbroker Bill Wilson crashes with the stock market and becomes a hopeless drunk. Dr. Bob Smith, a surgeon from Ohio, has also been an alcoholic for thirty years, often going into the operating room with a hangover. Through an astonishing series of events, Bill and Bob meet and form a relationship, each helping to keep the other sober. This is the amazing and often humorous story of the two men who pioneered Alcoholics Anonymous, as well as the story of their wives, who founded Al Anon.

As soon as I read that synopsis I was interested. It seems that AA has been around forever and I never really thought about how it got started. But obviously, it had to start somewhere and by someone (in this case, more than one).

The Web site has a cool video of the authors (who also happened to be married!) talking about why they wanted to tell this story, and why they thought live theatre was the perfect medium to tell it in. They both had experiences with alcoholics in their lives, and wanted to tell the founder's story to demonstrate the healing powers of good human connections. And live theatre gave the audience a chance for us to experience an AA meeting. They also felt it was important to portray the key roles the wives contribution to the beginning of AA.

There are also personal stories of people who are members of AA who talk about the impact of the play, as well as a chance for you to send them your story.

Sounds like a compelling night of theatre!

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