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On March 21st, 1947, at 8:53 a.m., the New York City police department received a phone call from a man giving the name of Charles Smith, notifying them that he believed a man was dead inside a decaying building on Fifth Avenue in Harlem. Officers arrived on the scene by 10 a.m., and removed an iron grill-covered basement door from its hinges, only to find the entrance completely sealed off by a solid mass of debris. Thus was thrust before the public one of the best-known and most mysterious compulsive-hoarding cases of all time.
Police officers, sanitation workers and firemen were dispatched over the next several weeks to clear out the house, which contained over 125 tons of junk (estimates vary), including parts of a Model T Ford, 14 pianos, human medical specimens, and tons of newspapers and magazines. It wasn't until 19 days after police discovered the body of Homer Collyer that they found his younger brother, Langley, not ten feet away. Homer, blind and crippled, had been completely dependent on Langley for his feeding and personal care for some years. But when Langley set off one of the numerous booby traps he had devised, smothering himself, he left the helpless Homer to slowly starve to death.
The Collyer brothers were famous in their time, and while certain facts are known about them, to this day no one knows just why they ended up as they did. There have been other stage versions of the Collyers' story, but "Hermitage" presents it in a unique -- even humorous -- way. We hope you'll find it as intriguing and affecting as we do.
Police officers, sanitation workers and firemen were dispatched over the next several weeks to clear out the house, which contained over 125 tons of junk (estimates vary), including parts of a Model T Ford, 14 pianos, human medical specimens, and tons of newspapers and magazines. It wasn't until 19 days after police discovered the body of Homer Collyer that they found his younger brother, Langley, not ten feet away. Homer, blind and crippled, had been completely dependent on Langley for his feeding and personal care for some years. But when Langley set off one of the numerous booby traps he had devised, smothering himself, he left the helpless Homer to slowly starve to death.
The Collyer brothers were famous in their time, and while certain facts are known about them, to this day no one knows just why they ended up as they did. There have been other stage versions of the Collyers' story, but "Hermitage" presents it in a unique -- even humorous -- way. We hope you'll find it as intriguing and affecting as we do.
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"Hermitage premiered at the 2009 Philadelphia
LiveArts/Fringe Theater Festival.
LiveArts/Fringe Theater Festival.
