Bruce Linser, Elena Maria Garcia Photo

From: Photo Flash: Palm Beach Dramaworks Presents THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES

It's October 4, 1965, and Pope Paul VI is spending 14 hours in New York City, marking the first visit by a reigning pope to the United States. Millions line the streets to greet him and zookeeper Artie Shaughnessy, a wannabe Hollywood songwriter with big dreams and no discernible talent, joins the throngs in the hope that a papal blessing will help propel him out of Queens, away from his mentally ill wife, Bananas, and into a new life in Los Angeles with his girlfriend, Bunny Flingus.