Move over, Jack London and Eugene O’Neill. Writing about the sea helped make you famous, but now you will need to make room for John Cox, whose first play, The Money Fish, is in its world-premiere run at a small theater in Hollywood.
Ex-army ranger Cox spent three years aboard a fishing boat in the Bering Sea, braving some of the roughest waters in the world to make a living, first as a fish-sorter, then as a deck-hand and, finally, as an able-bodied seaman. In The Money Fish, which he wrote as an acting vehicle for himself, Cox re-creates his time at sea–a time filled with danger, cold, sickness, stench and death. Aided by John Iacovelli’s hulking set, Leigh Allen’s moody lighting, and, above all, by Michael Arabian’s expert direction, Cox vividly conveys what it takes to survive in a brutal, unforgiving world. Man, not just nature, is another one of the enemies out there, as Cox soon learns. The sailors he shares close quarters with were, for the most part, a tough, foul-mouthed, violent bunch, quick to anger (especially at a greenhorn’s mistakes) and argument. They are led by an even more quarrelsome and despicable captain, a man who forces Cox to keep working even though he knows the latter is suffering from a life-threatening lung disease. Money is the driving force of Cox’s play. The boat he worked on was owned by a Japanese corporation desperate for profits. The captain, who spent eleven months at sea, could make as much as $300,000 a year if he brought home enough fish. The crew, almost all of whom were working-class misfits, could earn from 20 to 30 thousand dollars for six months’ work. For the sake of a buck, these poor blasted souls daily risked limb and life. There are flashes of light amid all the darkness, though: Cox does manage to forge a strong friendship with one of the crew, Junior–only to see him get killed when, in the midst of a storm, a winch breaks and slams into him. Cox also meets Kim, a wise, warm-hearted microbiologist attached to the boat. Their tender love affair comes as a welcome counter-balance to the dog-eat-dog aspect of the drama. Today, Cox drives cranes on the docks of San Pedro and Long Beach, when he isn’t pursuing his acting career. A graduate of the South Coast Repertory Acting Intensive Program, Cox has also studied with acting coach Larry Moss, who encouraged him to write his own story. After working for five years on his solo, Cox finally decided to mount The Money Fish. In this, he was greatly helped by director Michael Arabian, whose credits include a production of Waiting for Godot at the Mark Taper Forum, which won five Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards.
“Even though Cox hasn’t had a lot of acting experience, he has had good training, and his instincts are really powerful both as a writer and as an actor,” Arabian has said. “I think he’s a real discovery.” This critic agrees whole-heartedly.
