Barbara Ligeti & Jeffrey Altshuler
present

RIDING THE MIDNIGHT EXPRESS

Written & Performed by BILLY HAYES
Directed by JEFFREY ALTSHULER

Lighting Design: STEPHEN ARNOLD, SARNOLDESIGN
Graphic Design: ALAN BUTTAR, MUSE DESIGN LTD.

Barrow Street Theatre
27 Barrow Street
New York, NY 10014
(212) 868-4444 or www.Smarttix.com
October 2 through November 30, 2014

Billy Hayes. A name that sounds like the boy next door. Which he was, until he became a multi-media news headliner in 1970. Something about getting arrested in Istanbul with two kilos of hash taped to his body. The Turkish government doesn’t play around. Life sentence, young man, in a Turkish prison. Not the future mom, dad, or son had envisioned.

His notoriety morphed into fame with the publication of his best-seller, Midnight Express, in 1976. That was followed by the release of the Oscar-winning movie in 1978. Now Hayes has created an electrifying one-man recounting of his youthful stupidity, his existence in prison, and the coup de grace: his hair-raising escape. He reveals aspects of his experiences never before told, elaborates on many instances portrayed in the film, and corrects some plot-lines and scenes that were fictionalized for the movie. Most especially he takes us through the incredible drama surrounding his white-knuckle escape. His is an epic journey of personal growth, fortitude, survival, and spiritual discovery. He definitely learned his lesson.

He had smuggled hash from Istanbul before. He sold it in the U.S. for $5,000 and could live a life of ease on that. Every six months he did it again. Easy money. Then Nixon declared his “war on drugs”. Hayes didn’t do his homework and slipped-up. Next stop, a nasty jail with a hole in the floor for a toilet. He went on to learn Turkish, be transferred from jail to jail, and employ the power of bribing everyone. His parents continued to send him money, standing by him although broken-hearted. Hayes admits this is his biggest regret: he caused so much suffering to his parents.

HAYES has a gift for acting, that’s for sure. You find yourself tensing up and leaning forward as he goes through each step of his terrifying night, rowing through a storm, hoping to reach the right spot on the opposite shore. Bloody and wet, he continued his petrifying trek on land, always looking over his shoulder for fear the Turks would track him. He is absolutely transfixing. It is so real, you are there with him, riding the midnight express.

-Karen D’Onofrio-