Arthur Hiou and I have been collaborating on a piece titled The First Betrayal. We’ve written it as a stage-play first and are moving on to a screenplay version. There is a second story planned. The story is about the life of a man named Constantine, who grows up on a military base in Egypt, isolated from others by his over-protective mother, after his Greek military father disappears.  Constantine’s escape from his loneliness comes from watching American gangster movies on his small TV after his mother goes to bed.

Years later, Constantine comes to Boston for college, where he meets his father’s side of the family and he struggles to fit in with their loud, over-the-top behavior. Constantine’s cousin Aristotle is just a few months younger than Constantine but much hipper to American ways. Aristotle introduces Constantine to a world of petty crime but Constantine takes to it a much deeper and much more dangerous level. The relationship of Constantine to the world around him and how he blurs fantasy into reality is the focus of The First Betrayal.

Arthur Hiou and myself became friends due to our mutual friendship with Joe Jafo Carriere . Joe was a great guy who was always pushing people in New England to collaborate on creative projects. After Joe passed away at a young age, Arthur and I become closer friends. Joe had told me about Arthur’s idea for a gangster story. After a few conversations, Arthur and I decided to pursue a writing partnership to honor both Arthur’s idea and Joe’s passion to help others. We’ve named one of the Aristotle’s henchman “Jafo” in honor of our buddy.

Arthur hosted a table read of the stage-play version of the script at his home in July, 2019, shortly before I moved out of New England. We have entered the stage-play version to several stage-play contests through Play Submissions Helper. With the world of live theater on creative pause, Arthur and I  have decided to reunite to translate the stage-play into a screenplay.  We are likely to have the screenplay version done by November, 2020 if not a bit earlier.  – MIKE MESSIER  July 20, 2020

Anyone looking to be involved with this project either as a stage-play or feature film, please contact Mike at mikemessiermoviemaker@gmail.com and/or Arthur at  arthurhiou@gmail.com .

Below are photos from our table read at Arthur’s home with special thanks to the twenty or so talented New England Actors and Actresses who joined us for the process.