GONE MISSING  /
Photos by Sheldon Noland

A cunningly constructed and charmingly performed show built on real-life interviews with people who have lost something.
— The New York Times

For videos, songs, and photos check out the show's Investigate Page and The Civilians' Media Page.

Devised by the Civilians from interviews with real-life New Yorkers, Gone Missing is a wry and whimsical documentary musical about things that go missing -- keys, personal identification, a Gucci pump...or one's mind. The show is a collection of very personal accounts of things lost and found, creating a unique tapestry of the ways in which we deal with and relate to loss in our lives.

CREATIVE TEAM  /

Created by the Company *

Directed & Written by:
Steven Cosson from interviews by the Company*

Music & Lyrics by:
Michael Friedman

Additional Text by:
Peter Morris

* Damian Baldet, Trey Lyford, Jennifer R. Morris, Brian Sgambati, Alison Weller, and Colleen Werthman

Additional interviews conducted by:
Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Matthew Francis, Winter Miller and Charlie Schroeder.

Developmental workshop participants:
Quincy Bernstine, Isaac Butler, Matthew Francis, Jonathan Spector, & Winter Miller.

PRODUCTION  /

GONE MISSING received its World Premiere by The Civilians at The Belt, New York City, October 9, 2003, directed by Steve Cosson with the following cast: Damian Baldet, Maria Dizzia, Michael Esper, Trey Lyford, Jennifer R. Morris, and Alison Weller. It was premiered in London by The Civilians at The Gate Theatre, February 5, 2004, directed by Steven Cosson, with the following cast: Damian Baldet, Maria Dizzia, Christina Kirk, Trey Lyford, Mark Saturno, and Alison Weller.

The play subsequently received its Off-Broadway Premiere, produced by Scott Morfee and Tom Wirtshafter at the Barrow Street Theatre, in association with The Civilians, June 24, 2007. It was directed by Steven Cosson, with the following cast: Emily Ackerman, Damian Baldet, Jennifer R. Morris, Stephen Plunkett, Robbie Collier Sublett, and Colleen Werthmann.

PRESS  /

Barrow Street Theatre
New York, NY, June 14, 2007 to January 6, 2008

  • New York Daily News: "Hot: Small Musicals, Big Delights"
  • The New York Sun: "smart, sad, and effortlessly tuneful"
  • The Seattle Times: "something special: a mundane and metaphysical cabaret of bereavement"
  • The Star-Ledger: "a thoughtful and sometimes loony show about forgotten wallets, missing childhood sock puppets, the lost island of Atlantis"
  • The New York Times: Profile of Damian Baldet with video clips.
  • Daily News: "uses the small and tangible - a mislaid wallet, say, or scarf - as a way to tap into yearning for what's irrevocably left us"
  • Blog Critics: "Go see this if you are in love with someone and want an evening that will bind up the little scratchy gaps you are feeling right now."
  • NY1: "director Steve Cosson displays a pitch-perfect ear for tone"
  • The Village Voice: "This bustling mosaic vibrates with energy and intelligence"
  • flavorpill: "straddles the documentary and musical genres, succeeding in both"
  • Broadway.com: "Gone Missing Extends Again at Barrow Street Theatre"
  • Broadway.com: "Fresh Face: Stephen Plunkett"
  • Courier-News: "this is painfully funny! I certainly wasn't leaving that evening without purchasing their CD"
  • Downtown Express: "A jewel in the lost and found department"
  • Epoch Times: "hilarious...very easy to emphasize with"
  • American Theater Web: "a rollicking rollercoaster where theatergoers ricochet with the stories"
  • New York Post: "Eclectic, Tuneful Production's a Real Find"
  • The New York Sun: "the Civilians have created a work to be cherished."
  • Time Out New York: "clear evidence of evolution in the world of modern theater. Miss it and weep."
  • New York Times: "fresh, breezy and very funny indeed, pretty much the perfect summer entertainment"
  • New York Press: "an affectingly off-kilter sketch-and-song revue, Gone Missing sweeps you up in a tight, clearheaded embrace"
  • The Star-Ledger: "The Civilians' cool, classy interpretation of their findings still packs quite a bit of thoughtful entertainment."
  • Daily News: "balances the funny, strange and touching. Ask me to name a show I've seen recently that I've enjoyed more: I'd be at a total loss."
  • TheaterMania: "a wildly funny and marvelously inventive meditation on things lost and sometimes found"
  • NYTheatre.com: "a thrillingly theatrical work that pivots on a thing that is lost and often what is surprisingly gained"
  • CurtainUp.com: "songs, monologues and coordinated trios, making for a vividly entertaining night out"
  • Variety: "Welcome to the bigger leagues...'Gone Missing' is engrossing and inventive. And it delivers a stunning payoff in its final scene."
  • Time Out New York: "this is a company that does really interesting work"
  • Time Out New York: "one of the city's smartest and most original troupes"
  • The Village Voice: "Happily, Gone Missing has been located and revived for a commercial run at the Barrow Street Theatre."
  • New York Sun: "silly, moving, weirdly spiritual hymn to lost things"
  • Variety: "the show could push The Civilians to a new professional peak while possibly convincing legiters that there's still life in Off Broadway yet."
  • Variety: "Company has attracted attention for productions, often with musical numbers, based on research and interviews about a particular topic."
  • TheaterMania: "The Civilians will make their official Off-Broadway debut"
  • Playbill: "the show has grown and now features a score by Friedman, which incorporates salsa, ballads, operetta and tuneful pop."
  • BroadwayWorld: "The Civilians, the acclaimed New York-based experimental theater troupe, will play a rare local summer season."

Dartmouth College — Hanover, NH, September 28-29, 2007
Yale University — Concert Version, New Haven, CT, September 26, 2007
Princeton University — Concert Version, Princeton, NJ, Septmber 23, 2007
Wesleyan University — Middletown, CT, September 20-21, 2007
Actors' Theatre of Louisville — Kentucky, Septmber, 2006

Davidson College — North Carolina, May, 2006
Pennsylvania State University — 2006
Connecticut College — 2006
Carriage House Stage — Providence, RI, 2006
Fairfield University — Connecticut, 2006
St. Ann's Warehouse — Under the Radar Festival, New York, January, 2005
HBO US Comedy Festival
University of California at Riverside
University of California at Santa Barbara
University of California at Irvine
Brown University — Providece, RI
The Gate Theatre — London
The Belt Theater — New York

  • The New York Times: "a cunningly constructed and charmingly performed show built on real-life interviews with people who have lost something."
  • The Telegraph: "the verbatim speech is accompanied by witty, tuneful and often extremely touching original songs about loss"
  • The Independent: "a startling combination executed with great panache, satirical acumen and covert tenderness"
  • The Sunday Telegraph: "It is based on real-life interviews, but they are imaginatively edited, enhanced with half-comic, half-poetic side-shows"
  • Evening Standard: "arrives on these shores from the Big Apple laden with praise, to which London audiences should hasten to add their voices"
  • The Times: "many things to lose: the will to live, the plot, a war. These and others are explored in this slick cabaret piece"
  • Time Out London: "Michael Friedman's songs are super-smart and heartfelt."
  • NY1 Television: "Best Show of 2003"
  • Time Out New York (David Cote): "10 Best of 2003; The brilliant Civilians earned more medals of honor with their brainy, touching song-and-sketch revue."
  • Time Out New York (Adam Feldman): "10 Best of 2003; The Civilians merged lost with found in this elliptic, perfectly pitched collage"
  • The New Yorker: "a surprising amount of fun and abundant moments of clear-eyed empathy"
  • New York Magazine: "As usual, they plunged into their subject with scores of interviews, and ended up with a kind of musical mockumentary so empathic it's sure to console the bereft."
  • The Village Voice: "The troupe members and director Steven Cosson have a fine ear for striking phrases and odd-ball cadences...with such linguistic virtuosity, missing Missing cannot be endorsed."
  • Time Out New York: "Gone Missing dissects the phenomenon of lost things — material and metaphysical — in a remarkably poignant and funny review of sketch and song"
  • New York Sun: "Shows That Hinted Musical Theater Might Not Be a Fussy Relic After All: The Civilians' documentary cabaret Gone Missing"
  • Utah Theatre Bloggers Association: "The second production of the evening is called The Cleverest Thief was created by the cast in response to working with associate artist Emily Ackerman of The Civilians who came to BYU and worked with the class that eventually became the cast and crew for this show."

Galapagos Art Space — New York
Joe's Pub at The Public Theater — New York

INVESTIGATE  /

Gone Missing

MP3

Lost Horizon