Chasing The New White Whale—Harpooning Addiction

03/24/2026

Join us for a FREE screening of A PHANTOM SONG.

Sunday, March 29 @ 3pm at The Center Theatre, Dover-Foxcroft, ME.

This screening is presented by Points North (Camden International Film Festival) Recovery in Maine program.
Also screening: Recovery in Maine: Wabanaki Voices

Discussion to follow!

03/03/2026

02/28/2026

Check out the NEW Sizzler/Trailer for THE MOBY DICK BLUES—An Opera! (from our June 2025 theatrical run at The Ellen Stewart Theater at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club)

Sizzler/Trailer for The Moby Dick Blues. A Working Class Opera—For Our Planet, For Our Times. Written & Created by Michael Gorman. Produced by The Forty…

10/14/2025

A PHANTOM SONG at University of Southern Maine, Portland!

Join us for a screening in partnership with USM Recovery Oriented Campus Center (ROCC).

WHERE: Talbot Lecture Hall, 60 Falmouth St., Portland, ME
(USM Portland Campus)

WHEN: Thursday, October 16th at 6pm. (Coffee/Snacks at 5:30)
FREE and open to the public!

More info about ROCC here: https://usm.maine.edu/recovery-oriented-campus-center/

10/09/2025

Don’t Miss A PHANTOM SONG!
TONIGHT! One show only.

7pm. Strand Theater, Rockland, Me.

Documentary | 45 minutes | ME USA
A Forty Hour Club Production

TICKETS & INFO https://www.rocklandstrand.com/event/a-phantom-song/

10/03/2025

Come see what The Portland Press Herald called "A SPELLBINDING AND NECESSARY FILM EVENT".

A PHANTOM SONG will screen at The Strand Theatre - Rockland, Maine on Thursday, October 9th at 7pm. Talk-Back to follow.

Tickets and info: https://www.rocklandstrand.com/event/a-phantom-song/

09/23/2025

PORTLAND, MAINE SCREENING!

A Phantom Song—by filmmakers and theater producers Michael Gorman and Donna Daly of Rockland-based The Forty Hour Club—combines the raw energy and emotional power of live theater and documentary film to address the plight of those living in the shadows of the op**te crisis in the State Capital of Augusta, Maine.

In the film, first-time theatrical performers from the recovery, reentry, and unhoused community in Augusta who participated in a developmental performance of an experimental blues/rock opera create an inspiring chorus of faces and voices that are often unseen and unheard to confront the bias and resistance that can lead to the destructive power of stigma.

Filmed in Augusta at a long-abandoned theater in need of rehabilitation, the film also serves as a companion piece to “The Moby Dick Blues”—a blues/rock opera created by The Forty Hour Club that recently had its world premiere in The Ellen Stewart Theater at the famed La MaMa Experimental Theater Club in New York City in June, 2025.

Both the film “A Phantom Song”, and the opera “The Moby Dick Blues” evolved from The Forty Hour Club’s on-going project “Chasing The New White Whale” (Harpooning Addiction)—a performance art & advocacy model dedicated to bringing awareness to the issue of op**te addiction in the commercial fishing community of New England.

09/19/2025

A PHANTOM SONG TO SCREEN IN MAINE!

Don't miss your chance to see our documentary film A PHANTOM SONG in Portland and Rockland.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26TH @ 7:00pm—SPACE, Portland
THURDAY, OCTOBER 9TH @ 7:00pm—Strand Theater, Rockland

A Q&A/Talk-Back to follow the screenings, as well as a clip from our recent NYC production The Moby Dick Blues!

Advance tickets on sale NOW at both venues:
https://space538.org/event/a-phantom-song/
https://www.rocklandstrand.com/event/a-phantom-song/

We hope to see you at a screening!

08/07/2025

R.I.P a.b.n

It is with a heavy heart, and yet burning everlasting inspiration that I share the news of the tragic passing of La MaMa legend and Forty Hour Club leading man, brother and partner in crime Alan Barnes Netherton. Alan didn't mess around. Whether performing in a staged reading in The Commercial Fish Exchange in Portland, Maine, or an epic production of "Chasing the New White Whale" in The Ellen Stewart Theater at La MaMa in NYC, Alan wanted to do one thing—"melt your face off". And time and time again I saw him do that just that. He left his mark. For his combination of intellect and raw talent, as well as passion and compassion, you'll be hard pressed to find another like him. An Okie by birth but a true New York City man as well. A high-seas cowboy that always had my back and helped me wrangle an unwieldy trilogy of plays into a scintillating, synthesized single piece ... your heart, your dedication, your loyalty and your legacy remain with me. I/we will be sharing more of Alan's enduring impact and legacy, including a tribute at a memorial planned for Alan this fall in NYC. Several photos of Alan performing with The Forty Hour Club in Maine, and a short video of him performing in "Chasing the New White Whale"—(Harpooning Addiction) in The Ellen Stewart Theater in 2018 included below.

08/01/2025

We are happy to announce that our documentary film A PHANTOM SONG was selected to screen at the Mystic Film Festival in Mystic Connecticut in early October! (Oct 2-5, 2025). We hope to see you there!

https://mysticfilmfestival.com/

07/20/2025

Check out some incredible images, reviews, and more from our recent epic production of THE MOBY DICK BLUES at La MaMa in New York City (June 7-22, 2025). More soon...!

The Ellen Stewart Theater at La MaMa, NYC. 2025