Mr. Satan Goes to Wall Street is an ambitious project – a musical satire inspired by, and depicting the Occupy protests across the US. Put together by a well-known guerrilla theater company, the show, some say, could revitalize the movement.
The musical tells the story of Satan after he is laid off from Hell because humanity has become too adept at evil. Humanity, in this case, is mostly represented by former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. According to the show, Summers has been doing Satan’s work (mostly by lifting banking regulations, sending world economies into a downward spiral) for free. Hence, Satan becomes obsolete, and is consequently fired. A somewhat flummoxed Satan makes a quid pro quo deal with Summers – to get his job back, he must go to Zuccotti Park, the scene of the eight-month-long protest, and break up Occupy Wall Street by destroying the love of two young activists. Co-authors Hieronymous Bang and Sam Precario wrote the screenplay, and Precario told RT that they felt the format they chose was the best way to illustrate the multiple dimensions within the Occupy movement. “We wrote Mr. Satan Goes to Wall Street because we felt that the Occupy movement was generating a serious critique of the economic crisis that plagues America and most of the world. The media kept asking for them to simplify the message, but there were different tendencies within the movement, many of which were very valuable.” Sam Precario is certain that the lighthearted tone and humor of the show will only highlight the serious subject matter it deals with. And both authors hope the musical – which has already gathered plenty of attention – will help the Occupy movement. “We believe we have written a musical comedy that is, line for line and song for song, as entertaining and poignant as any that will be produced in 2012. The Occupy movement was full of brilliant, innovative activists, which was hardly how the American mainstream media represented it. Producing a high quality musical comedy helps establish that Occupy is not a movement of uneducated slackers.” They’re no strangers in the theater world, either. Hieronymous Bang is the writer and director of comedy smash “I’m Gonna Kill the President!” A Federal Offense, which ran for five years in well-known venues like PS122 in New York and Highways in Los Angeles, as well as in parks, parking lots, basements, warehouses, alleys, community centers and living rooms across the United States. The hit show even made it into mainstream media like the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and many others. ‘Mr Satan Goes To Wall Street’ premiered in Zuccotti Park earlier this week, with performances scheduled through August. The company will also bring the musical to both the Republican and Democrat National Conventions.