Mauritius “Post Office” Stamps Onstage

I have been a stamp collector for fifty of my fifty-six years and I have also been involved in Theatre for forty years.

In my collection I have many Theatre themed stamps and covers but only on a few rare occasions have I been able to use my knowledge of philately while working in Theatre.

I have provided copies of old stamps and covers for use on the stage only a handful of times.

I teach classes in Theatre Design and Technology at The College at Brockport and this fall our second production will be Mauritius by Theresa Rebeck.

For the first time ever I will be working on a play in which valuable stamps are a major part of the plot in which action revolves.

The two stars of the play are the one penny and two pence “Post Office” stamps printed in Mauritius 1847.

Some of the “Co-stars” are the US Zeppelin issues of 1930, the high value Columbians of 1893 and of course what play about famous stamps would be complete without a guest appearance of the Inverted Jenny of 1918.

There are references to most of the other of the great valuable stamps of the world in the play.

As a long time stamp collector it seems to me that the play almost writes it’s self: A person dies and leaves the stamps to heirs who are not sure about their value and tries to sell them without being ripped off.

There is a stamp dealer of dubious ethics, fighting relatives and greedy others. Lies, plotting and fights; an excellent evening of Theatre.

I write this in August the play is still months away as but we have already had early production meetings to start work on the play.

In addition to being the Technical Director in charge of building the set I also serve as the philatelic advisor trying to explain the world of stamp collecting to the rest of the production team and the actors cast in the play.

Many collectors will never see or own those super valuable of the stamps in the play but if we are lucky we may see them at a major stamp show or in a museum.

I know some collectors who do have some very nice and expensive stamps in their collections but I know of no one with either of the Mauritius stamps or the Inverted Jenny, although I do have a nice reproduction of the C3a that I got on Ebay for $10.

So what happens in the play?

Who gets the stamps?

You can find out for yourself  December 30 – December 8, 2012.

Details and ticket info; http://www.brockport.edu/theatre/current.html.