Valhalla

parts for 4 men and 2 women. VALHALLA intertwines two stories: the life of Ludwig of Bavaria the 1880s Mad King responsible for building a series of storybook castles inspired by Wagnerian operas and the fictional adventures of James Avery a wild Texas teenager of the 1940s. These two iconoclasts are tracked from childhood through their deaths and while they embody separate eras they are ultimately revealed as time-traveling soul mates. The play explores questions of beauty and madness as both Ludwig and James pursue lives of operatic passion bringing them in contact with such diverse figures as a high-school quarterback the prettiest girl in Dainsville Texas most of the characters of Lohengrin and princess Sophie who declares herself "the loneliest humpback in Europe." VALHALLA is a comic epic confronting the price to be paid for wanting and getting everything you dream of.