The Honeyzoomers

The Honeyzoomers is the first series about the pandemic shot during the pandemic – made in the classic sitcom style, it is a show that will take you back to the present! 

​A writer from Manhattan.  An actor from Brooklyn.  Another actor from the Bronx.  A composer from New Jersey.  All working remotely and all in the service of creating the first series shot about the Coronavirus pandemic during the pandemic.  That’s what we wanted to do.  To be a testament to this point in history that we’re all living through.  And to do it in the style of the old fashioned sitcoms we love:  The Odd CoupleAll in the Family, and, of course, The Honeymooners

LINKS


Other Projects

The Wanderer

This is a musical about the life of rock & roller DION DiMUCCI, featuring all his hit songs, including Runaround Sue, Abraham, Martin & John, and The Wanderer. 


Other Projects

Stomping Ground

Growing Up on the Streets of Greenwich Village

a memoir by Dom Perruccio, with Charles Messina

The book details Perruccio’s upbringing in the rough and tumble Italian American neighborhood of the South Village in the 1970s and 80s.  Through various anecdotes and stories, focusing primarily on the influence of a criminal culture on his early life, Perruccio provides an insider’s look at the violent ways and strict codes of honor that ruled the lower Manhattan streets of his youth.  It also includes his struggles with alcohol and relationships, as well as the salvation of his mother’s love and devotion. 

The uniqueness of the co-author’s connection also makes Stomping Ground a standout of personal storytelling.  Upon commencing their collaboration, Perruccio and Messina knew that they were both from “The Neighborhood”, having grown up just blocks away from one another, albeit nearly a generation apart.  However, unbeknownst to the writers, there was another connection between the two of them that went beyond geography.  They were practically family!  Messina’s cousin and Perruccio’s brother had been married!  This unbelievable discovery and coincidence only strengthened their resolve to complete Stomping Ground.  Itmade for an even stronger, more open creative experience between the authors, the result of which is a book of greater truth and insight. 

With Messina’s guidance, Perruccio revisits his boyhood experiences, relating how bad influences threatened to destroy his life, and tracing his personal journey and transition from a wily NYC street kid to a responsible son, husband, and father, against the backdrop of a violent Mob influenced environment and an ever-changing American culture. 

Whether you’re from “The Neighborhood,” or grew up in a neighborhood, or ever grew up at allStomping Ground is a must-read memoir of misspent youth and mastered maturity. 

BOOK NOW ON SALE!

Stomping Ground is published by Beckham Publications and available from Amazon.com


Other Projects

A Room of My Own

A Room of My Own recounts the playwright’s adolescence growing up in a Greenwich Village studio apartment with his eccentric Italian-American family. Stars Ralph Macchio and Mario Cantone. Currently being developed for full stage production, tv series and feature film. 

LINKS


World Premiere Production

In 2016, Abingdon Theatre presented the world premiere coming-of-age tale by playwright Charles Messina, set in Greenwich Village during the 70s. Starring Ralph Macchio and Mario Cantone.

Charles Messina’s semi-autobiographical comedy, ‘A Room of My Own,’ revolves around a writer who grows up in a wacky Italian-American family. Set in a small tenement apartment in late 1970s Greenwich Village, the play follows in the grand tradition of playwrights like Neil Simon, who used their own early family lives as inspiration to create indelible and uniquely American Broadway hits.

Production Photos (starring Ralph Macchio)


Other Projects

MERCURY: The Afterlife & Times of a Rock God

The life and death of rock legend Freddie Mercury.

It presents Mercury in the moments just after his death, during which he is confronted with self-examination as he “seeks redemption before a God unimpressed by his celebrity.”

Played two runs in NYC (at The Sanford Mesiner Theater in 1997-1998, then again at the Triad Theater in 2004-2005), then at The Art House in Provincetown in 2006, and is currently playing in Lima, Peru. 

LINKS


Other Projects

True East

TRUE EAST is an episodic podcast produced by The Sound Lounge and narrated by Ralph Macchio. The series is based on the award-winning one acts of playwright Charles Messina.

A NY-based urban Twilight Zone set in Greenwich Village in the early 1980s, listeners are lead on a journey of interconnected characters and storylines all set in the same neighborhood. The series will also include the voices of other actors and celebrities, which will give TRUE EAST a style and a vividness that harkens back to the radio plays of yesteryear. Using the Greenwich Village of the ’80s as its canvas, the tales will be raw, authentic and humorous, drawing on the various cultures that co-existed there in those years: the Gangsters, the Gay Scene, the Downtown Art World, Muscians, and the Old Guard of Italian Americans who clung onto control of the streets. It was the crossroads of the world, a place of such unmatched diversity that if it did not exist you could not invent it.

LINKS


Other Projects

3 From the Neighborhood

Collection of 3 One Act plays, each one is centered on people living in Greenwich Village, the place where author Messina was born and raised.

In THE NEIGHBORHOOD, Messina tells the true story of the events behind the Washington Square Park Riot of 1976.

DEWEY, PHUKUM & HOWE tells the tale of three workers stuck in a dead end, debt collecting job and their wanderlust for another life.

THE WRECK is the story of a neurotic man trying to cope with his hypochondria and the recent break up with his girlfriend.

LINKS


Other Projects

Three Plays

Collected here for the first time are three major short plays: “Fugazy,” “Klepto,” and “Merging.”

Both “Klepto” and “Merging” are winners in The Players’ Theater’s Shortened Attention Span Theater Festival in Greenwich Village.

WHERE TO PURCHASE


Other Projects

Moolah

CHARLES MESSINA directs  ARJE SHAW’S new play.

MOOLAH tells the story of two con men who fall out of favor with the Mob. Ant’ny is a dandy, sharp-talking shyster and small-time bookie. His younger cousin Sonny, a gay hit man, runs a hair salon by day and moonlights as a contract killer by night. Sonny’s Salon: cut by day, clip by night! 

LINKS


Other Projects

The Accidental Pervert

One man comedy show, directed by Charles Messina, starring Andrew Goffman, about an 11 yr old boy who finds his father’s porographic video tapes and becomes addicted to porn for years, until he meets his wife and becomes a father himself.  Running for 6 years and counting to great critical and audience reviews.

LINKS


Other Projects