NEW YORK—The next time you discard a piece of paper containing a half-written love poem, thoughts about your obnoxious next-door neighbor, or musings on the end of the world, know that these thoughts just might end up in print. This is the premise behind the joyful new off-Broadway musical Found (book by Hunter Bell and Lee Overtree, music and original lyrics by Eli Bolin).
The piece is based on the “Found” books and magazines by Davy Rothbart (additional material created in collaboration with Story Pirates) and is presented by the Atlantic Theater Company.
Davy (Nick Blaemire) is having a bad day. He’s been fired from his job, gets mugged on the way home, and finds what appears to be a traffic ticket on his car. However, Davy quickly discovers that the piece of paper is a note, placed on his car by mistake, from an irate woman to her boyfriend.
Intrigued, Davy begins noticing numerous other paper messages strewn about the city. Some are funny, some serious, some angry, but all offer brief insights into the people who wrote them, with one’s imagination filling in the blanks as needed.
Bringing a bunch of these papers back to the apartment he shares with roommates Mikey D (Daniel Everidge) and Denise (Barrett Wilbert Weed), Davy proposes creating a magazine filled with the messages he found. Needing money to pay the rent and quickly excited by the idea in general, the two agree.
Denise uses her contacts as a bartender to help them get a couple of bookings at performance spaces where they read some of the notes aloud and invite audience members to read any they happen to come across themselves.
