Back to Babylon Show Info

Back to Babylon is a one-person, one-act, comedic-drama set in the New York suburban town of Babylon, Long Island. It is based on people Gregg Tomé  was affected by and actual events he experienced while living there in his teens during the late 1970s.

The scene is set by the character, Donny, entering the neighborhood bar after work. He chats with the bartender and learns it is the eve of his tenth-year high school reunion. When the jukebox starts playing a familiar song, he finds himself reminiscing about his past. The scene shifts back in time, and through nine different character monologues, a story unfolds about a group of young friends struggling to define themselves within a haze of partying and a close-knit circle of townies.

Each young character that follows further reveals the close connections to each other and the developing narrative. They are Billy-B, a bong-smoking high school genius who is misunderstood by his family; Nanzo K’nanzo, who plans an Evil Knievel style bicycle stunt to declare his individuality; Furaha, a gifted wrestler who uses his own popularity to hide his sexual preference; and Vito, a macho motor head whose obsession with machines and need for speed leads him and his friends toward disaster.

The adults in the play serve as mentors, for better or worse, to these young characters. They are Old Man Hi-Hello, a crazy yet wise seer of the town, prophesying about the similarities of the hedonistic ancient city of Babylon to that of Babylon, Long Island, and prophetically begging the young guys to heed the history of the past; Coach, a pep-talker who channels aggression into life lessons; Cesspool Man, who holds the installation of Babylon’s sewer system responsible for his father’s death and the demise of the ancient City of Babylon; and Manny (Furaha’s father), a happy-go-lucky Manhattan transplant who sells drugs to all the neighborhood kids.

After a partying binge between several of the friends (four characters enacted simultaneously by Gregg Tomé), Donny passes out, narrowly escaping a tragedy that destroys this circle of friends. A multimedia combination of images seen previously, sound and lighting, propels the scene back to the present day, with Donny still sitting at his neighborhood bar.

Another of the surviving high school friends, Furaha, enters the bar and through their ensuing conversation about the past, Donny admits the guilt he has been harboring for the past ten years while unknowingly revealing the permanent connections that the characters have to each other as well to both ancient Babylon and Babylon, Long Island.

Gregg Tomé: Writer/Director/Performer

Kenny 5 (aka Kenneth Greenbaum): Imagery/Sound

Kenny is a film and multimedia artist whose recent sound collaboration, Purge of Dissidents, can be found on Amazon.com. He is also nearing completion of his first film, a documentary entitled Ghosts, Strippers, and Rubber Spiders, which was just screened at MOCA Miami. He runs Majik Robot Films in Lake Worth, Florida. He has worked with Kid Rock, Time Stereo, and The Melvins and is a founding member of Detroit’s infamous sound band Princess Dragon Mouth/Mog Stunt Team.