In this scene, Ahab (Michael Zatir) talks with his friends (Nicholas Pantageous & Nicholas Medeiros)

Moby-Dick (played by James Muse) decides to take on the whalers.

Queequeg (Jonathan Hardy) talks to his friends (James Muse & David Wixen)

Queequeg's parents (Randal Rivet & Susan Hardy) discuss what to do about their son.

Starbuck (Travis Nunes) talks to his Uncle William (Shaun Almeida) about joining the Pequod as his mother (Erin Dalton) looks on.

The Cast

Ishmael

Mother - Ashley Duquette

Father - Jeremy Lambalot

Ishmael - Justin Thomas

Grandmother - Susan Hardy

Starbuck

Capt. William Starbuck  - Shaun Almeida

Crew - Nicholas Pantageous, Nicholas Medeiros

Isabelle Starbuck - Erin Dalton

Starbuck - Travis Nunes

Queequeg

Father - Randal Rivet

Mother - Susan Hardy

Queequeg - Johnathan Gillespie

Friend 1 - David Wixon

Friend 2 - James Muse

Ahab

Friend 1 - Nicholas Medeiros

Friend 2 - Nicholas Pantageous

Ahab - Michael Zatir

Father - Travis Nunes

Mother - Lindsay Taber

Cassidy- Kristen York

Moby Dick

Toby - Kristen York

Joey - Randal Rivet

Ralph - David Wixon

Moby - James Muse

Mother - Krystal Gillespie

Singers

Travis Nunes

Kristen York

Erin Dalton

Students from Normandin Junior High, St Mary's School, St. James St John School, the New Bedford Global Learning Charter School, Dartmouth Middle School and Old Rochester Regional Junior High had been rehearsing their parts since mid February. Their weekly rehearsal covered theater techniques, set and costume design, team building, characterization, and scene rehearsal.  Students read many parts before settling in on the characters with which they felt comfortable.  It was a great experience to see ideas on a page come to life as "real people!"

Marty Tulloch, the drama coach of Falmouth High School and long-time Ernestina volunteer, also worked with the students to build their stage presence and led them in the magic of set design.  Dillon Bustin, noted folklorist and musician, was commissioned to write music for the play.  He meet with the students several times to get a feel for the scenes and lead the them in a song writing workshop and singing rehearsals.

The vignettes of the play focus in on Ishmael, Starbuck, Queequeg, Ahab, and even Moby-Dick himself. Ishmael is the son of somewhat overprotective parents.  When his Dad sees an advertisement in the paper asking for "500 brave Americans to go whaling", Ishmael is ready to pack his bags and meet cannibals.  Starbuck lives on Nantucket and wants to go whaling despite the fact his own father and brother were killed in the business of hunting whales.  His mother pleas with his uncle, William to take him aboard his merchant vessel and spare him the whaler's life.  Starbuck feels the call of the sea but agrees to pacify his mother and sail with his Uncle William, that is until he reads his father's sea journey.  His father's images about "the anticipation of their first kill filling his veins" was too much for Starbuck to deny.  He too wanted to follow in the steps of those who had gone before him. Queequeg on the other hand, is bound and determined to be his own man.  Get tattoos and body-piercings?  Rule an island like his father?  No...  To prove his manhood, Queequeg wants to find a Yankee whaler and kill big whales.  His parents, the king and queen of the island, try their best to convince him to remain on the island and "just get his tattoos and body-piercings like everybody else!"  They also questioned why he had to think for himself.  Ahab starts out as a mild-mannered sailor, singing and talking with his friends.  That is, until his father meets up with him.  Obadiah Ahab is a Bible quoting man who is filled with anger and doubt about his son's choice to be a whaler.  His mother is the peace maker in the family and tries very hard to have her husband and son understand each other.  And finally, there's Moby himself.  We discover through his brother Toby, that their father was the whale that sunk the whaler, Essex.  Moby, the white whale, is afraid of everything and his brother and friends take great delight in teasing him about how strange he is.  When Mama shows up on the scene after eating a giant squid, Toby is scolded and told to leave "without another grunt, groan, or echolocation sound wave!"  Moby feels his calling too and ends the show vowing to "get those whalers, just like my Dad!"

After four months of practice, singing, and construction, it became time for the "Big Shows." The Whaling Museum Theater was filled to near capacity for both performances. The actors and singers performed like they'd be doing live theater for years.  Lines were hit, songs were beautiful, the audience got the jokes woven through the script, and the shows went off without a hitch other than Moby getting trapped like a fish in a gill net behind the video screen.  Thankfully, a kind whaler rescued him before disaster or drowning took place!

Schooner Ernestina gratefully acknowledges the funding support of Mayor Fred Kalisz and the City of New Bedford's Invest-In-Kids Program and the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.

Erin, Kristen and Travis perform several of the musical numbers during the performance.

Jim Bean and Dillon Bustin provide the musical accompaniment.

Jim Bean is on guitar with his son, Nate, on percussion.