Montpellier’s Electric Circus

In 1943 Hell’s Kitchen is a rough place.

Thomas Doyle is on his own at nine years old, mother dead and father unknown. He earns his keep running errands for the Mulligan gang along the waterfront. When young Tom is witness to a shakedown that ends in murder, Mulligan whisks him away to Montpellier’s Electric Circus on Long Island, set up among the ruins of Nicola Tesla’s failed Wardenclyffe Tower. Mulligan makes a deal with the mysterious Marquis de Montpellier to take Thomas on as an apprentice wirewalker, for a price.

Calin Dudgeon sits in the same seat every night, right in front, close enough to touch the ring. The electric spectacle and magical performers provide a momentary escape from her sorrows. Even so, she often weeps for her father, killed in the war. Her silent mother sits next to her and hands her a kerchief for her tears. One night, a new performer, a boy her age, reaches across the ring during the final bow and hands her a note. 

Meet me behind the tent after the show

Calin and Tom begin a friendship and begin to heal the wounds of grief. Then one day the circus is gone without a trace. Calin is frantic, but there is no one at Wardenclyffe except Mulligan’s workmen, packing crates into the mysterious tunnels rumored to lie beneath Tesla’s deserted laboratory.

The war ends and time moves forward for Calin. She has a wonderful life, full of love and family. On a golden summer afternoon in 1994, Calin is taking her nine year old granddaughter to get ice cream after a day at the beach. She drives by the old Wardenclyffe building, just to see it again, maybe tell her grandchild the story of the disappearing boy. As she turns up the road she sees a stripped tent set up on the grounds. Electric lights flicker to life. Montpellier’s Electric Circus has returned. Calin and her granddaughter decide to attend the evening’s performance.

When the performers parade out to start the show Calin catches her breath. Tom is there, in the same costume he wore fifty years ago. He hasn’t aged a day.

CS Peterson is currently seeking representation (formerly represented by Martha Millard - now retired - at Sterling Lord Literistic)