After he became the second man to walk on the moon, reporters asked Buzz Aldrin if he wished he had been the first. "I really didn't want that," Buzz claimed, "because of the added heartache." Why is it so hard to believe him?
2019 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, and we’ve got questions: was the Apollo mission an attempt to militarize space, or was it borne of a time when public works were essential to civic life? Was the moon landing a sleight of hand to distract from civil rights crises and unjust wars or an attempt to expand and inspire human potential? When we won the space race, did we transcend competition, or enshrine it in our mythology?
A folk-rock fable for the runner-up in all of us, 1969: The Second Man explores competition and collective achievement through the story of one small man who became one giant myth. Jacob Brandt's rueful, raucous song cycle comes to theatrical life with playwright Dan Giles, director Jaki Bradley, and a seven-piece band.
