Riding the Wave.com

The Piti Theatre Company presents Riding the Wave.com, written/performed by Jonathan Mirin.

In case you were wondering how to make your first million without any money, Jonathan Mirin has an answer: credit. Riding the Wave.com is the autobiographical story of his investment in Lee, MA tech company Wave Systems from the giddy heights of the Internet bubble in New York City to falling in love in Switzerland to an overland journey towards India in search of spiritual wisdom.

It’s 1998 and Mirin receives a stock tip from a Brooklyn high school teacher who is also a "Wavoid" – a group of investors connected via Internet chat-rooms whose fanaticism propels Wave Systems’ stock from less than a dollar to fifty. Unlike most Wavoids, Mirin is a partially employed actor with no money to start with. He elects to use credit cards to amass a small fortune – on paper.

The market crash in April, 2000 leaves him asking: now what? An escape attempt takes him to a meditation center in Switzerland, a ferry from Venice to Greece, a train from Bombay to North India and 20 days of silent meditation in Kathmandu where he finally decides to return to the U.S., face his financial woes, and . . . get married.

Riding the Wave.com is an individual tale of the greed, fear and hope which drove the tech boom and its aftermath. The story also weaves together quests for spiritual understanding and romantic love as the audience is guided through multiple settings with the aid of two benches, a stool, and their imaginations.

Opening Act: Little Journeys
Choreographed/Performed by Godeliève Richard
Music by Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash, Carrie Ferguson

Godeliève Richard is a Swiss choreographer, dancer and Co-Artistic Director of the Piti Theatre Company. Little Journeys features contemporary choreography set to "Girl From the North Country" made famous by Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan as well as "Small White Rock" a ballad by Northampton-based singer/songwriter Carrie Ferguson. In her native country, Ms. Richard has performed in Revue de Cuche et Barbezat, Alice in Wonderland, and The Swiss National Exposition among others.

Riding the Wave.com Press Clips

“Mirin . . . could be Silicon Valley’s poet laureate .”
– Mike Harris, San Jose Mercury News

“. . . a manic primer on the old saws of investing.”
– Danny Hakim, The New York Times

“Very funny . . . Mirin is a performer with energy to burn.”
– nytheatre.com