James Bard, Dampfer St. Lawrence, (1850)
Do You Need to Read the Confidence Man?
Herman Melville Descendent Elizabeth Doss “Talks Back” to Melville’s Final Novel, The Confidence Man
Friday, June 26, 2026 | 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
DOORS OPEN AT 6:30pm for the 7:00pm show
Registration Opens Soon
Performer, playwright and descendent of Herman Melville, Elizabeth Doss “talks back” to THE CONFIDENCE MAN, the last novel Melville published in his lifetime. Set on a steamboat cruising down Mississippi, Doss jumps aboard, probing this text to grapple with her own encounters with “Confidence Men”, not to mention her own flagging confidence, and what the hell Melville is really getting at in his strangest and most provocatively perplexing text. Still in its larval stage, Doss asks, “Do you need to read THE CONFIDENCE MAN?”, or does it deserve its obscurity? This solo performance (hopefully) offers a mixture of insight, ignorance and some stabs at hilarity. Come cheer her on (or boo her off) for three consecutive nights only at the Neill-Cochran House Museum.
Free parking is available behind the Museum.