Marriage, Faith, and a Pirate at Sea
In the early 1920s, a young F. Scott Fitzgerald — of Great Gatsby fame — was writing short stories for the Saturday Evening Post. These wildly popular tales brought the young author recognition and enough financial merit to marry golden-girl Zelda Sayre.
Several of these stories including, “Head and Shoulders,” “Benediction,” and “The Off-Shore Pirate” would later be published together in his debut collection, Flappers and Philosophers.
A century later, bored with the temporary lack of in-person theater (🦠) & grateful for the public domain, I began adapting stories from this collection for the stage. With friends willing to workshop the material over Zoom, I arrived at a one-act play, composed of three vignettes.
Last year, we mounted a portion of the show at a local Fringe festival under the title Aboard Narcissus. This year, we’re back with the full piece!
Fringe is a great way to test what works with an audience; I’m excited to bring that response back into the process as we share the full script!
The production will feature an incredibly talented (& good-looking) cast, including:
Ava Stevenson as Lois
Cassidy Joy Watkinson as Ardita
Gabrielle Bauman (hi!) as Marcia
Griffith Melton as Anton, Keith, & Farnam
Vincent J. Harrill II as Horace, Howard, & the Pirate
Flappers and Philosophers is an apt title for Fitzgerald’s collection. Each of the eight stories tells, in its own way, the tale of a “flapper” and a “philosopher.”
In “Head and Shoulders,” a showgirl, Marcia Meadow, is hired to razz a studious prodigy, Horace Tarbox. A simple “rap on the door” sets both of their lives on a new course, for better or worse.
In “Benediction,” an upper class young woman, Lois, visits her estranged brother, Keith, at seminary. A priest, Keith has left behind his family’s status after a supernatural calling. Meanwhile, on the verge of a life changing decision, Lois questions her upbringing, Catholic faith, and the expectations of her family.
In “The Offshore Pirate,” Fitzgerald introduces heiress, Ardita Farnam. If this was Taming of the Shrew, Ardita would be our Kate. Our type-of-Petruchio philosopher enters in the form of a run-away robber who takes control of the Farnam yacht. Like Kate, we wonder: can Ardita be tamed?
Though rooted in the Jazz Age, Fitzgerald explores themes that feel strikingly modern: the fragility of the American Dream, the pressures of class and social expectation, the complexities of love and desire, and the pursuit of beauty and meaning.
A century later, their questions feel urgently our own.
Flappers & Philosophers is performing one show ONLY at The Z Fringe Festival in Virginia Beach on April 11th, 2026.
For ticket information, please visit https://www.zfringe.org/tickets
