110 COLUMBIA HEIGHTS

by Germaine Shames

In the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, three extraordinary individuals, living and dead, probe the sprawling steel colossus in search of the American soul.

In the 1870s, Emily Warren Roebling, wife of the bridge’s paralyzed chief engineer, moved to 110 Columbia Heights to take over the day-to-day supervision and diplomacy needed to complete the project. A half century later, Jazz Age poet, Hart Crane, occupied...

In the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, three extraordinary individuals, living and dead, probe the sprawling steel colossus in search of the American soul.

In the 1870s, Emily Warren Roebling, wife of the bridge’s paralyzed chief engineer, moved to 110 Columbia Heights to take over the day-to-day supervision and diplomacy needed to complete the project. A half century later, Jazz Age poet, Hart Crane, occupied this same apartment as he labored on his seminal poem, The Bridge. Peggy Baird Cowley, a free-spirited painter and Hart’s one heterosexual lover, often visited the poet there. In 110 COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, a comi-tragic marriage of fact and fantasy, their lives intersect as they grapple for a toehold in an age of frayed morals and accelerating flux.

Part love letter, part indictment, 110 COLUMBIA HEIGHTS plumbs the dark recesses and soaring heights of a country still struggling to live up to its own rhetoric, and whose future, now as then, hangs in the balance.

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110 COLUMBIA HEIGHTS

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  • Ky Weeks: 110 COLUMBIA HEIGHTS by Germaine Shames
    “

    Much like the Bridge itself is a wonder of engineering, mechanisms and innovations building up something at once mind-bogglingly complex yet also intensely direct, so too this play builds something grand from poetry, history, fate, love, optimism, and the idea that the true spirit of America is something that can stay solid throughout such turbulent times. But between the 1870s, the 1920s, and our own current decade, what times haven't been turbulent?

    Much like the Bridge itself is a wonder of engineering, mechanisms and innovations building up something at once mind-bogglingly complex yet also intensely direct, so too this play builds something grand from poetry, history, fate, love, optimism, and the idea that the true spirit of America is something that can stay solid throughout such turbulent times. But between the 1870s, the 1920s, and our own current decade, what times haven't been turbulent?

    ”
  • Greg Jones Ellis: 110 COLUMBIA HEIGHTS by Germaine Shames
    “

    This play manages to combine the lyricism of Hart Crane’s poetry with the harsh realities of his troubled life. By juxtaposing the rhythms of the Jazz Age with the Gilded Age gentility of Crane’s ghostly visitor, the author provides the audience with a vivid and compelling look at the price of American ambition.

    This play manages to combine the lyricism of Hart Crane’s poetry with the harsh realities of his troubled life. By juxtaposing the rhythms of the Jazz Age with the Gilded Age gentility of Crane’s ghostly visitor, the author provides the audience with a vivid and compelling look at the price of American ambition.

    ”
  • Rachael Powles: 110 COLUMBIA HEIGHTS by Germaine Shames
    “

    What an incredible play! Rich in history, vibrant characters, and a heartfelt yet funny story. It inspired me to immediately go read more about Roebling and Crane. High recommended.

    What an incredible play! Rich in history, vibrant characters, and a heartfelt yet funny story. It inspired me to immediately go read more about Roebling and Crane. High recommended.

    ”
View all 4 recommendations
2F, 1 LGBTQ M, intergenerational cast, strong women's roles

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