From Bushwick to Broadway, musician and actor Adrian Blake Enscoe is inspired to create

Adrian Blake Enscoe is an actor and musician starring in “Swept Away,” a Broadway musical about a group of four whalers stranded at sea. Enscoe is also working on developing a Broadway production of “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” with Peter Hedges, a writer and filmmaker known for “Dan in Real Life,” “About a Boy” and “Ben is Back.”  

“Swept Away” is inspired by an Avett Brothers Band album, “Mignonette,” which is inspired by the historic case R v Dudley and Stevens. The case was the last trial in Britain for cannibalism at sea and set a precedent for maritime law, establishing a moral code in an otherwise lawless portion of the world. 

“The case of the mignonette, that the original Avett Brothers album was inspired by, was the beginning of maritime law,” noted Enscoe. “Before that, the seas were no man’s land, where there was no country that really ruled, and that’s why you had privateers and buccaneers and even state-sponsored pirates, because there was no law out there. It’s kind of the perfect place for a tale about morality and what really makes us human when there’s nothing else in the world to tell us who we are.”

Enscoe is also a musician, and is a third of the band Bandits on the Run. Enscoe noted that his experience with Bandits on the Run influenced his approach to performing in a musical based on a folk-rock album by the Avetts Brothers. 

“Working on ‘Swept Away’ has given me the opportunity to open a little window into another person’s authentic voice and see what’s on the other side of that, and maybe take some imagery, some stylistic qualities, and add them to my own repertoire, which I’ve really liked,” said Enscoe.