Colorful World is, as you will see, my take on the “superhero” genre for the stage. I suppose it differs from typical superhero tales in that it’s more concerned with the cultural and political landscape and the bruised psyches of retired crimefighters than with guys in tights and capes beating each other up (although Qui Nguyen has made sure there are some lovely fight scenes throughout).

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I also suppose it’s a little more melancholy than your average superhero story, since it speculates that discovering the existence of a Superman-like being is ultimately depressing once the novelty wears off.

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Even though I’ve been a fan of superhero movies and comics since I was a little kid, I don’t think I have it in me to write a conventional superhero tale. Once I start writing about costumed crimefighters, I start wondering what psychological problems they have or physical problems they would acquire.

I know you’re not supposed to worry about these things when you’re reading a copy of Batman, but when I’m writing a story like that on my own, I just can’t help it.

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The script started as a loose adaptation of Alan Moore & Dave Gibbon’s landmark graphic novel Watchmen (and, in a slightly less obvious way, a riff on Frank Miller & Klaus Janson’s The Dark Knight Returns and The Dark Knight Strikes Again), but ended up morphing into it’s own thing while simultaneously becoming indebted to even more sources (including Qui’s play Men of Steel and Dan Trujillo’s play Conference With the Bull).

Despite being beholden to several sources, I think the show stands on its own as its own unique story.

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Many thanks to everyone in the cast and crew for making my convoluted script come to life on the stage. And many thanks to too damn many comic book creators for me to name.

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A drunk in a cape,

James “Captain Awkward” Comtois