Moby Dick: the sermon by Herman Melville

Yes, it was the famous Father Mapple, so called by the whalemen, among whom he was a very great favorite. He had been a sailor and a harpooneer in his youth, but for many years past had dedicated his life to the ministry. At the time I now write of, Father Mapple was in the hardy winter of a healthy old age; that sort of old age which seems merging into a second flowering youth, for among all the fissures of his wrinkles, there shone certain mild gleams of a newly developing bloom --the spring verdure peeping forth even beneath February's snow. No one having previously heard his history, could for the first time behold Father Mapple without the utmost interest, because there were certain engrafted clerical peculiarities about him, imputable to that adventurous maritime life he had led.
- Moby Dick, Chapter 8 - The Pulpit

The character of Father Mapple in Mellville's classic novel "Moby Dick" only appears momentarily at the beginning of the novel. Above is a description of him at the start of Chapter 8. The following chapter (the sermon) is the core of our production. The chapel at Green-wood is an ideal location, deep inside the cemetery, away from the noises of the city. A layman will meet you at the Green-wood archway at 25th Street and 5th Ave and take you down to the chapel with a lantern. Once inside, you are part of a congregation in early 1800s Nantucket Massachusetts, singing hymns and experiencing a sermon the way God intended!