All the Fame of Lofty Deeds

Featuring the music and visuals of Jon Langford (The Mekons, Waco Brothers).

“There are very few good, serious, enjoyable theater pieces about country music — especially if you nix all those melodramatic Branson and Pigeon Forge homages — and this show could well fill a void in New York and beyond.”
– Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

“All the Fame of Lofty Deeds” explores what that means, in all its swaggering ambition and self-destructive complexity. It’s a work befitting a singer-songwriter-artist who has spent his adult life merging art, music and politics. “It’s my curse,” Langford says with a laugh. Guarino’s play makes it a highly entertaining and thought-provoking one.”
– Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune

“Playwright/rock journalist Mark Guarino hit on a gold mine of ideas when he partnered with Chicago musician-artist Jon Langford to create this show … There also is hilarity that sometimes sits uncomfortably alongside a palpable sadness … “All the Fame of Lofty Deeds” works pretty darn well. It’s a show for anyone who loves good music, good art and good storytelling.”
– Mary Houlihan, Chicago Sun-Times

ALL THE FAME OF LOFTY DEEDS is a theatrical exploration of a discarded America expressed in country and western music from the early to mid century. Inspired by the images, music and lyrics of Welsh-born musician and painter Jon Langford (Mekons, Waco Brothers), the play follows the story of Lofty Deeds, a former country star of the Grand Ole Opry era now struggling to re-engage a past that led to his unfortunate present. He is a forgotten footnote of his times in a cultural slagheap that is a shadow of his glory years. The play seamlessly rotates between the past and present, following Lofty’s attempts to patch back together his life story from fragments far and wide. Not a biography, the play instead is the story of the disintegration of a time when regionalism organically fed a culture instead of the cynical market drivers that control it today.

Full-length with music.
Versatile cast of about four men, at least two women.
Opportunities for doubling.