The Ballad of Bimini Baths

Tom Jacobson

Note

This bundle consisting of three books is sold at 20% off the regular price for its individual titles.

$37.95

Original price was: $47.85.Current price is: $37.95.

Book — Plunge

Part One, PLUNGE: Dark secrets bubble to the surface as two strangers — one a priest, the other a noted art historian — share a surreal confession at the "exclusive" Bimini Baths, circa 1918. Years before, a young immigrant drowned under mysterious circumstances.

Book — Tar

Part Two, TAR: On the night in 1939 when Count Basie is to be the first black performer at the Palomar Ballroom next door, a pair of Bimini Baths attendants are tasked with cleaning up a stranger fished out of the La Brea Tar Pits.

Book — Mexican Day

Part Three, MEXICAN DAY: In 1948, Los Angeles Tribune reporter Hisaye Yamamoto puts her job at risk when she joins forces with civil rights pioneer Bayard Rustin to desegregate Bimini Baths.

Description

Tom Jacobson brings his formal inventiveness and vivid imagination to THE BALLAD OF BIMINI BATHS, a trilogy of plays following the ripples of a hushed-up crime across 32 years of Los Angeles history. Inspired by real people and events, the stories center on the celebrated/notorious bath house that once stood on Bimini Place to illuminate larger themes of race and identity, individual failings and communal reconciliation in the City of Angels.

Categories: ,
Reviews

Press Quotes

THE BALLAD OF BIMINI BATHS

“Water is a vivid metaphor in Los Angeles. We live in a desert beside an ocean, an existence of simultaneous want and plenitude. Another, lesser-known water source inspires The Ballad of Bimini Baths, a trio of plays by local playwright Tom Jacobson. Bimini was a popular swimming and spa complex at the site of hot springs one block east of Vermont Avenue between 1st and 2nd streets, operated from 1903 to 1951. Jacobson makes this the nexus of a wide-ranging tale that pulls together events in LA history, some of which occurred at the baths, others not. His theme is sins in need of being washed away — racism as well as other moral failings. The intriguing result is being staged by three small theaters, all running different plays ranging from 55 minutes to 1 1/2 hours. The final play is an inspiring tale of people working together to try to redeem the past and re-chart the future. The first two, though, take on disturbing topics that can be difficult to watch and aren’t easily resolved in brief, short-story-like formats … Jacobson’s fascination with mercurial/chameleonic human nature — seen in such plays as TAINTED BLOOD, OUROBOROS and THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY WAY — takes daring forms in these first two Bimini plays. The introductory piece, PLUNGE, introduces [Everett C] Maxwell [a historical figure: the first art curator at what was initially known as the Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science and Art] on a night of triumph in his curatorial career in 1916 … he is brainy, inquisitive and flirtatious as he encounters a priest in a quiet corner at a garden party. Sensing a shared attraction, Maxwell suggests they retire to a private spa room at Bimini, but after he’s eagerly swapped his tuxedo for bathing togs, a chill sets in as the priest hints at a dark event. Here is another historical figure, Father EV Reynolds, who disappeared after the 1908 drowning of a 15-year-old boy at the baths. Reynolds was suspected of having propositioned the youth … his calm, ministerial demeanor turns cold and slippery … a taut sense of mystery … Reynolds’ identity eventually comes into doubt, and reality keeps shifting. As dark memories replay, the actors slip into character as the young victims. After witnessing what’s perpetrated on the boys, the audience feels in need of cleansing — but that relief is withheld.” —Daryl H Miller, Los Angeles Times

PART I: PLUNGE

“Long-buried secrets of power, passion, and perversion propel PLUNGE, the first installment of Tom Jacobson’s concurrently running Bimini Baths Trilogy, as provocative a World Premiere play as you’re likely to experience any time soon.” —Stage Scene LA

“Jacobson has created an intricate puzzle of a play, a matryoshka doll where one truth lays nested within another, only to find another nested within that.” —Stage Raw

PART II: TAR

“It’s Los Angeles in 1939. Count Basie and his band are scheduled to play at the Palomar Ballroom — one of the first African-American groups to perform there. Next door, at Bimini Baths, two employees, African-American Amen and Mexican-American Zenobio have been given the onerous job of cleaning up the tar-covered body of a drunken white man who has tumbled into the La Brea Tar Pits. Playwright Tom Jacobson has laid the groundwork for a host of racial conflicts before a word is spoken. As the two men scrub the tar-covered figure down with kerosene, they discuss ways of getting in to see Basie at the Palomar, which does not admit blacks or Latinos. Slowly the man, whose name is Donald, regains consciousness. A xenophobic German-American, he immediately proves intransigent. Amen, a former Pullman Porter turned actor, enjoys baiting him, whereas Zenobio tries to play peacemaker. Eventually they learn that Donald’s wife has died that very day, and their suspicions are aroused. Did he kill his wife? Was she unfaithful? And was it with a black man? When Zenobio finds a shocking piece of evidence in the pocket of Donald’s tar-covered pants, these suspicions seem confirmed. And as the conflicts mount, there may be dark secrets in Amen’s past as well.” —Neal Weaver, Stage Raw

PART III: MEXICAN DAY

“Only a playwright as daring and talented as Tom Jacobson could imagine and achieve a project as mind-blowing as his fascinating, informative Ballad of Bimini Baths trilogy. MEXICAN DAY is the most accessibly crowd-pleasing of the bunch.” —Stage Scene LA

“Highly effective. This is a thought-provoking and powerful play … humor alternates with seriousness.” —LA Splash

“Tom Jacobson’s insightful script intimately, intricately interweaves ethnicity, class, sexuality and more in his story depicting a landmark Civil Rights struggle in late 1940s Los Angeles.” —Hollywood Progressive

About the Author

Author

  • Tom Jacobson

    Tom Jacobson has had more than 100 productions of his plays, including PLUNGE at Son of Semele, TAR at Playwrights Arena, MEXICAN DAY at Rogue Machine Theatre Company, SPERM at Circle X Theatre Company, THE ORANGE GROVE at Playwrights Arena, and the award-winning BUNBURY, TAINTED BLOOD, OUROBOROS and THE FRIENDLY HOUR at The Road Theatre Company. THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY WAY premiered at The Theatre @ Boston Court (five Ovation Award nominations, four Los Angeles Drama Critics' Circle nominations, one GLAAD Award nomination, Fringe Festival Award for Outstanding Production of a Play, PEN Center Award for Drama) and moved Off Broadway to Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre. MAKING PARADISE: THE WEST HOLLYWOOD MUSICAL was produced by Cornerstone Theater Company (Critic's Choice in Back Stage West). He has been a co-literary manager of Boston Court, a founding member of Playwrights Ink, and a board member of Cornerstone and Boston Court. Recent productions include the world premieres of THE CHINESE MASSACRE (ANNOTATED) at Circle X and HOUSE OF THE RISING SON at Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA (Critic's Choice in Back Stage West and Los Angeles Times, nominated for a GLAAD Award and winner of two Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards), CAPTAIN OF THE BIBLE QUIZ TEAM at Rogue Machine (Top Ten Stage Raw, Drama Critic’s Circle Award), THE DEVIL’S WIFE at Skylight Theatre, and WALKING TO BUCHENWALD and THE BAUHAUS PROJECT at Open Fist. Film: PRAIRIE SONATA (based on THE FRIENDLY HOUR). Opera: HOPSCOTCH, commissioned by The Industry. Most recently, CREVASSE was produced by Son of Semele at the Victory Theatre.