During an unspecified "government transition" in the near future, the young scholar Alejandra Cortez (no relation to AOC) returns home from Rhinebeck on an extremely rainy night and stumbles into a West Village café where she was once a regular during the Second Trump Administration. But aside from the rowdy RPG players, what happened to all the colorful eccentrics? Why does nobody remember the history of Café Gluck aside from an overworked barista named Sporschill? Who is the strange new owner claiming to be a "crypto king"? And why doesn't anybody remember the charming and eccentric old bookseller Jaime Abrego Mendel who set up shop in the adjacent card room every day? This full-cast 332 track standalone epic examines the true human cost of removing vital figures from American life. (Running time: 54 minutes)

Written, produced, and directed by Edward Champion

Adapted from the short story "Buchmendel" by Stefan Zweig

Original music soundtrack by Edward Champion (You can listen to the soundtrack on YouTube. Subscribe to @finnegansache.)

CAST:

Alejandra: Belgys Felix Mendel: Wolf Reigns Florian: Zack Glassman Standhartner: Sally Maitland Sporschill: Julie Chapin Ramirez: Melissa Medina Dirks: Luvelle Pierre Tallis: Jack Ward Becky: Emily Carding ICE Officer: Will Billingsley ICE Officer #2: Frank Romeo Felicia/The Radio: Samantha Jo Clueless Customer: Glenn Kenny The New Yorkers: Heath Martin and Pauly Sinatra Boris: Pete Lutz DM: Dr. Implausible The Staffers: Ella Gans and Jay Silver Victim: Zoraya Christian Exuberant Customer: Lokia Rockwell Café Patron: Laura Spear and Edward Champion as The Assassin.

This is a co-production of The Sonic Society and The Gray Area.

Café songs licensed through Epidemic Audio

Editing, sound design, mixing, foley recording, engineering, and mastering courtesy of an eccentric bald man in Brooklyn who buys and reads far too many books

Special thanks to Jack Ward, Russ Marshalek, Laura Spear, Spacebar Recording, and Penny House Café for their incredible generosity and support during the making of this production.

This production is dedicated to the many innocent and hardworking immigrants in the United States who are presently facing some of the most disturbing authoritarianism in this nation's history, as well as the late beloved bookseller Michael Siedenberg.