A Faustian tale, set in Boston’s high tech world and New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, in which a frustrated publishing executive gets it all, loses it, and wins it back by falling in love with the man she discovered she loved all along.

SYNOPSIS:

NOTES FROM HELL’S KITCHEN By Julie M. Wood (julie.wood@post.harvard.edu) Synopsis Media executive Johanna Lucky has invented a type of immersive television viewing experience, “Thrill TV,” that she believes will rock the entertainment world. The problem is, none of the executives at the Boston-based Agency where she works, Celestial Media, will listen. Through her assistant, Johanna discovers she can get what she wants by striking a Faustian deal with the Devil. She will become the Media Diva she has always longed to be—in exchange for her soul—if she still has one. In Act I we find a scheming Johanna, thwarted by “the suits,” including her arch-rival Nigel, headed for Hell’s Kitchen where M. Devil resides in an overheated basement apartment. Far from the terrifying Satan Johanna pictures, M. Devil loves Broadway theatre and gossip. M. Devil drive a hard bargain and soon a boiling hot, inebriated Johanna signs a contract that will allow Thrill TV, and her of course, to achieve international fame. Just one thing. In giving up her soul, she is also forbidden to fall in love. Easy, since she does not realize she is in love with Barney, the man in her life. She signs, has second thoughts, but it’s too late. In Act II Johanna emerges with a different persona altogether. The MIT scientist who is her collaborator on Thrill TV has suddenly figured out the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics. The technology works! Johanna is suddenly rich. She loses weight. She has voice lessons. She is a media diva. Thrill TV is the biggest hit since the iPod—even more so. But is it too immersive? The Suits are ecstatic, but at what cost to an addicted, credit-card-maxed-out society? Even Times Square is deserted, with everyone immersed in their own fantasy worlds. Also, Johanna is not giving her all to her foundation (Books4Kids). Her guilt leads her to a meeting with God in Fenway Park. God tells Johanna the way out of her contract is right under her nose. Johanna bolts for NYC. Act III begins with Johanna’s meeting with M. Devil. He is furious when Johanna lets it slip that she met with God, and banishes her to Purgatory, essentially one long, dull board meeting. Johanna escapes, determined to undo the technological apparatus of Thrill TV, housed under Boston’s CITCO sign. With a thunderstorm brewing and only 23 minutes to disconnect wires, God steps in and helps Johanna. When the reality of no more Thrill TV hits, those who were addicted to it (including the principals) are completely disoriented. An emotionally stripped-down Johanna aims to win back Barney, the man she realizes she loved all along. Although she has little material wealth, she does have her integrity and a renewed passion for her foundation. In the final scene, she and Barney find there’s nothing on TV. It’s fine. They make up for lost time.

NOTES FROM HELL'S KITCHEN