Dialogue with Three Chords debuts new play pitting Woman Woman against censorship

NEW YORK - March 28, 2013 - PRLog -- Dialogue with Three Chords stages an imagined conversation between William Marston, creator of the DC Comics heroine Wonder Woman and Dr. Frederic Wertham, champion of comic book censorship in “The Last Days of The Brave & Bold” from playwright Stephen Gracia. The short play is directed by Michael LoPorto as is the curtain raiser monologue, “A People’s History of Super Heroism.” The performance is on March 28 at 8pm downstairs at Mr. Dennehy’s pub on 63 Carmine Street in Manhattan. Admission is free with $3 suggested donation.

“The Last Days of The Brave & Bold” uses the backdrop of early McCarthyism as the setting for a debate about censorship, employing two notorious figures in the comic book world. It is set shortly before Dr. Frederic Wetham would release his infamous book “Seduction of the Innocent” where he claimed comic books were eroding the moral compass of at-risk youths. William Marton takes the opposing view on freedom of speech. He vociferously defends his depiction of Wonder Woman as a force for good, showing readers an empowered yet feminine ideal of a woman. “I am, telling a comic book story about real people, and it’s intimate. Two men in a room, arguing about which one is the villain.I am telling a comic book story about real people, and it’s intimate. Two men in a room, arguing about which one is the villain,” explains Gracia, “both are trying to do good. Each is destructive in the other’s eyes.”

The play is presented with the curtain-raiser monologue “A People’s History of Super heroism” which is a part of Gracia’s ongoing series of monologues which deal with real or imagined experiences of alien abduction.  “All the monologues are spoken by the abductees, and it’s important to understand that they completely believe these stories,” says Gracia. “They wake up knowing that some kind of malicious presence waits just beyond our stars. Or, in a life where they are miserable, abused, neglected…someone out there knows they are special and visits them as a comfort and a validation.”

More information on Dialogue with Three Chords can be found at: www.dthreec.org (http://stephengracia.org/).

‘The Last Days of The Brave & Bold” features Larry Greenbush as Dr. Frederic Wertham and Steven Weinblatt as William Marston.
‘When I Dream I See Strange Men: A People’s History of Super Heroism’ features Sean Meehan

Dialogue with Three Chords was founded in 2011 by Stephen Gracia and Michael LoPorto and applies the do-it-yourself philosophy of punk to the stage and features short plays and live music. Their work has also been produced at Sargent Theatre, Makor Theater, DUMBO Theatre Exchange, Levenson Hall at Brooklyn College, and the Theaters at 45 Bleecker.