Urbanite returns with Modern Works Festival Audience Favorite Ahoy-Hoy

Urbanite Theatre returns for its 2026-27 season on Oct. 30 with Jenny Stafford's Ahoy-Hoy, a story about the 150-year-old rivalry over the invention of the telephone, based on the true story of its creation.

It’s 1876, and Elisha Gray (Amber McNew) is this close to inventing the telephone. Elisha is brilliant, anxious, and ready to make history if Alexander Graham Bell (Casey Murphy) doesn’t beat him to it.

The story is about more than technology, exploring themes of ego, American ambition, and the quest for legacy: who gets credit for an idea, who gets remembered, and what some will do to secure their place in history.

Elisha’s assistant, Cornelius (Ben Williamson), desperately tries to help his mentor, even if it means some breaking and entering. Each inventor works feverishly to complete their patent applications and race over to Wilbur (Ariel Blue) at the patent office. If you’ve never heard of Elisha Gray, you can probably guess who got there first.

Winner of the 2025 Modern Works Festival “Audience Favorite” award, Ahoy-Hoy began at Urbanite as a staged reading.

“The play’s journey from a Modern Works Festival reading to a fully realized Rolling World Premiere is exactly the kind of new-play development the Modern Works Festival was created to support,” said Urbanite Producing Artistic Director Summer Dawn Wallace.

Ahoy-Hoy opens Oct. 30 and runs through Nov. 29 (with a preview on Oct. 29). The show will continue its run with productions at Alleyway Theatre, New Jersey Repertory Theatre, and Theatre Nova. Visit the Urbanite website for ticketing and scheduling information.