THE STORY OF SAL B. AND BARBRANNE: A Mob Fantasia (Cyrano Redux) is Coming to TNC

From December 18, 2025 to January 4, 2026, Theater for the New City will present The Great American Play Series in the premiere of "The Story of Sal B. and Barbranne: A Mob Fantasia (Cyrano Redux)," written and directed by Stephan Morrow. The play, which was workshopped in TNC's Dream Up Festival this summer, re-imagines "Cyrano de Bergerac" as a high-stakes mob story.

The play imagines a time 100 years in the future, after World War III, when organized crime has merged with the military and struggles with Eastern enemies over Middle East oil. With mob intrigue, romance, and absurdist action, Edmond Rostand's classic story of eloquence, unspoken love, and heroism is transformed into a chaotic, modern, and often surreal fantasia, preserving the essence of Cyrano’s wit, heart, and valor.

We meet Sal B., a resourceful mob consigliere and horribly scarred veteran of Special Forces. He must orchestrate the heroic deeds of the impulsive and narcissistic Paul Jr., whose attempts at romance and military glory repeatedly put him--and those around him--at risk. Jr. courts a brave, irresistible, kidnapped journalist named Barbranne (also known as "B") with poetic, often ridiculous, declarations of love while Sal, unseen, guides him. Tasked with protecting the journalist, Sal faces jihadists, international intrigue, and his own messianic impulses, all while orchestrating moments of poetry and unlikely love.

The play gives us romance, mob drama, geopolitical farce, and heroic action in a tone alternating between absurdist comedy, melodrama, and poetic reflection. At its core, it is a meditation on love, loyalty, and human folly, re-conceiving Cyrano’s themes in a modern, chaotic, morally ambiguous world.

Playwright Stephan Morrow has used the setting of Ukraine and comparable themes of peace and tyranny in a selection of prior plays. "The Assassination of J. Kaisar and the Rise of Augustus" (TNC, 2019) re-told Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra" in a dystopian U.S. future. "Darkness After Night (Ukraine)" (TNC, 2022) and "The Sixth Column" (Unproduced, 2025) dealt with the conflicts of Russia and Ukraine. "The Coming Storm: the legacy of Anti-Semitism endures" (TNC Dreamup Festival, 2024) demonstrated how Germany's tyrannical government actually inhibited its own scientists in the race to master nuclear fission.

Morrow has directed seven plays by Mario Fratti at Theater for the New City. His other TNC directing credits include all of his own plays written since 2019 plus "Recovery" by Anne Lucas, "Dogmouth" by John Steppling and "My Wife in a Chador" by Claudio Angelini. He is also an active member and frequent moderator of The Playwright Directing Unit of The Actors Studio. (He was mentored for that unit by Elia Kazan.) Morrow is founding Artistic Director of The Great American Play Series, which stages neglected American classics in "performances on book." He is also a prolific actor in theater and film and a director of indie films. His cinematic adaptations of his political plays have been reaping numerous awards at festivals.

The actors are Tsahai Gilchrist, George Lugo, Joe Marshall, Mark Evan Melendez, Donata O'Neill, Aidan Peluso, Roy Rohrsetzer and Vaibhav Taparia. Lighting design is by Elijah Smith.

The Great American Play Series was founded by Stephan Morrow to present special event performances of classic American plays to the theater going public in Los Angeles and New York.