Action takes place in a boardroom where at one end rests a dead
figure slumped under a photo enlarger, blood and bricks surrounding him. This
is Duane. There are screens of children writing graffiti/preparing for a
luncheon, and also a screen of a high-diving board above a pool
Booster�s Dream Voice: There
are quite a few parts to it
And a cast of hundreds
And several old, dear friends.
Duane�s
True name
Is revealed when his head is bashed by bricks below
The dumb eye of the photographic enlarger.
It�s graphic and stark,
Beautiful and gritty at the same time.
The name that emerges.
Although it�s taken the deth of Duane
To reveal this.
CharliE. rests at my feet
Next to Tess, who teases him
About favors to be exchanged of the sexual kind.
�You�ll give me one, then I�ll give you one�
She says, or something like it.
(Has Charlie risen to my best/worst
fears & aspirations? Apparently
he is both a professor of semiotics
and a drug dealer, and near the high end
of both professions.)
Charlie E. rests at my feet
And has placed his shoes atop his folded shirts.
�You going somewhere? You�re already packed� I say.
He gets an immense charge out of this.
Everybody�s laughing.
But I know the clothes
Is really Gary�s.
We all gather at the huge oak table
In the board room.
My partner in crime (or is it art
Or philosophical physics?)
Will be running the meeting.
Call him, I don�t know, Ismael.
Duane�s there, as are stylish
Male identical twins dressed in gay colors
With hats.
The Don is there, the weighty drug lord
Who�s Charlie�s boss.
Or dean
Or brother.
We get started; we have much to cover
First order of business: the nature of eternity.
�Shouldn�t we start with a definition of eternity� I hazard,
always the officious one.
I�m filming distorted images of the alter
In warm, iconic colors.
Rich reds, yellows, and golds.
But Ishmael and company have already decided
To define eternity as any span of time
Lived totally in the moment.
�That�s pure rubbish!� I yell.
I haul camera and lights
to another part of the auditorium.
Where the children are
preparing
To paint graffiti on the walls
And have a pot-luck dinner
At the same time.
I set my camera low
To meet the childrens� point of view.
A few shots, and I�m out of there.
Another wave of preparation for the meeting
Was a lot of electronic equipment
Packed on a big mobile cart.
Music equipment.
But Charlie�s packing, too.
His electric bass and a synth or two.
Did I forget to mention
He�s also a rock star?
We push our gear
Into the meeting room.
Prior to the meeting,
Was the mandatory high-diving
Into a tiny pool so far below.
I opted for a delay in my jump.
And got it.
Lucky me, for now.
Scene
1
Booster
the artist is talking to CharliE. They�re on treadmills, with video-panning
behind them so it looks like they�re walking in a park or an industrial dead
zone, or among the microchips.
Tess
and Tess�s Girlfriend are on the right side of the stage, probably in a caf� or
building a evil shiny monster robot with a supercute face and big ears.
Motion graphics overlay to screen on stage: 10,000 WERDZ, ZERO
KALOREEZ!�
|
Booster: let's start with what we know. CharliE: Which is: Booster: we know that I don't have the idea. The central idea of
our age, the one that changes everything, and everybody and everything. CharliE: We know this. Booster: The idea that transforms all, changes all, defines the
very age we inhabit and populate. CharliE: We know this all, yes, yes. Booster: but that's not all. CharliE: Such was my suspicion. Booster: not only do I not have the idea of our age, I also am
woefully not up to the task of expressing it, enfolding it, encapsulating it. CharliE: Caressing it, licking, rubbing, fondling it. Committing
acts of reckless frottage with it. Booster: Simply to state it, unadorned, naked, shivering, would
be enough. CharliE: Pressing eager dirty fingers into it, holding ones
mouth against it and muttering unmentionable truths to it. Booster: To simply have lunch with it, or coffee. That would be
enough. CharliE: Or tea. Ideas like tea. Booster: But really, it is hopeless to want this. CharliE: I agree. Pointless. Booster: This has all been said or sung in far better ways by
far greater men. CharliE: And women. Let's not forget the ladies. Booster: Wait, I hear something. CharliE: Inner voices are so neat. Time for more brain
chemicals. Voice of God: (God is a big toothbrush with limbs and lips,
appearing through the clouds. This may simply appear on the screen behind the
performers. The voice is an electronically fucked-up voice. Not at all
booming or commanding in, say, an Old Testament way.) . . . the visceral
mechanism goes there. And, you two. Keep talking for a while and then do
something else. Booster: OK. CharliE: Ok. Voice of God: And keep it up for 30 or 40 more years, and then
die, ok? Booster: OK. CharliE: OK. (to Booster) He tries too hard to, you know, do stuff. Booster: I'm tired. CharliE: As am I.
Let's go. Booster: Wait, now I hafta tell you about the time I came close
to having the idea. The central idea of our age, the one that changes
everything, and everybody and everything. CharliE (with ambiguous sincerity or maybe not): How can you
talk about ideas like this when our people are suffering so, and under
oppression, et cetera. Booster: Ideas are more important than people and things. CharliE: because of the �people don�t change people, ideas
change people� thingy. Booster: Not people, guns. (one loud note
here, maybe a C#) |
Tess: Here�s what he told me. He said, here�s my little mid-life
crisis, or rather, what is my little mid-life crisis? Girlfriend: And why should we care? Tess: Exactly. Anyway, I told him, well, it�s obvious, isn�t it?
You�re nearing fifty, and - whuh
� you really haven�t, you know, �done� anything, have you? Girlfriend: He doesn�t get it. Tess: He thinks he has, but now he realizes he hasn�t, and so
that�s his little mid-life crisis. Girlfriend: As if we care about that. Tess: Well, he needs a little drama in his life, at least to
commemorate his lack of accomplishment. Girlfriend: But he�s done a lot of stuff, right? I mean, all
that stuff he�s, like, you know, �done�. Tess: Oh, I don�t know that it really �counts�, I mean look at
what he hasn�t done. Girlfriend: Hasn�t written a book, shot a movie, traveled and
talked about his stuff. Things that you�ve already done, and you�re fifteen
years younger than him. Tess: So that�s sorta the issue. Kinda sorta. Girlfriend: So this puts lotsa pressure on you to, like, be
there for him. Tess: Exactly. I hafta be little Miss Lithium for him. Girlfriend: His medication is � he�s still on his medication,
right? Tess: Yes, but that doesn�t really make my job easier. Girfriend: You could leave him. Tess: Yes, I could leave him. Girlfriend: You don�t hafta fix everything that�s broken in the
world. Tess: Yeah, I guess.
But people are more important than things or ideas. Girlfriend: You really believe that? Tess: We�ll see. Girlfriend: Still, I think he�s not as tight as he yoosta be. Tess: By tight, you mean? Girfriend: Skin�s not as tight. And as goes the skin, so goes
the mind. Tess: Gotcha. Not much in the hair department either. Girlfriend: Hair is so . . . |
|
Booster: Something like that. (Medical personnel
rush in to perform an invasive, emergency scraping of asbestos from the lung
walls of CharliE. But this is a
free procedure, so he should be glad about that, rather than upset about the
invasive nature of the procedure.) (Booster: How did they get your name? CharliE: It was on the work schedule. Booster: But we don�t sign that kind of work schedule. CharliE: Then it was because I signed up to be an experimental
procedure donor. They find you wherever you are. Booster: Why didn�t you tell me this? CharliE: Sometimes it�s easier if your friends don�t know. Booster: I appreciate your supplying some spontaneous drama to
our lives! CharliE: I thought you might. Consider it a birthday present. Booster: Or one of those mindless occasions when humans exchange
gifts. Like sex. CharliE: Sex is boring. Booster: Do people still do that? CharliE: I guess. |
Tess: Important. Girlfriend: Seminal. Tess: Influential. Girlfriend: The basis of significance. Tess: The core of maintaining in polite society. Girlfriend: Werd. Tess: Trooth. Girlfriend: We should talk about me more. I�m not the one who�ll
succeed in life �cuz I don�t kiss ass to idiots. Tess: At least you didn�t ignore her. Gfriend: I wasn�t that bad, was I? Tess: Do you think she�ll send you an irate email? Gfriend: I don�t know, I looked right at her. But he - - Tess: But he shows so much contempt for, like, Girlfriend: For craft, and tradition, and meaning. Tess: Werd. Girfriend: Trooth. |
Scene
2: [Booster, Tess]
Booster
the Artist in bed with his lover, Tess. Tess is an undercover, I don't know,
bad person. Tess is also pretty ambiguous, gender-wise
Tess:
I thought this was gonna be about sex, but instead it's about madness.
Booster: OK, I
am sooo relevant?
Tess: OK, I�m soooo gonna nymph out now!
Booster: OK,
give her drugs, give her drugs!
Tess: OK, now, like, are you using sexuality to manufacture
meaning, or as a replacement for meaning?
Booster: OK, I like this idea, that objects of meaning can
be created by a machine programming language like sexuality.
Tess: OK, so we have a few simple algorhythms to produce
meaning from a matrix of sexual configurations modified by chemical and
psychological orientations � you�re bored with me aren�t you?
Booster: OK, and perhaps preoccupied, distracted, seduced by
worlds of ideas and accomplishments, and you�re seeing someone else, anyway,
aren�t you?
Tess: OK, so now that we know we�re simply passion-shells
filled of larger, more incandescent beings, perhaps we should retreat to work
and money-gathering.
Booster: Ok, like, I hate it sooo much when I can�t see
what�s right in front of me, in terms of people and idea and money and desire
connections.
Tess: OK, and I hate that too, and I�m not a monopolist on
supersavvy superconnected meaning, in terms of ideas and people, although as a
Number 14 SuperCyberWoman I have a certain knack at reading situations and
responding superaccordingly in a way that draws smiles of gushing admiration
from the Number 74 Established Crones.
Booster: OK, and you need to bring me up to velocity on that
gender matrix you�re working on.
Tess: Ok, but it�s probably too sophisticated for your
penile brain.
Booster: Ok, but I�m not the one who declared the
over�alled- rural-female-action-figure the paradigm of the New Woman-imity,
Prada, apparently, notwithstanding.
Tess: OK, so we�ve all had moments of
incomprehensible-don�t-question-me-ality, but at least my zenith of personal
drama is not my cat daily vomiting!
Booster: Ok, and touche� and whatever.
Tess: OK, and you�ve always been building fantasorial
fantasies about holding me in thrall, in conversation, in bed.
Booster: OK, in denial.
A big
scaffold filled with loud, partying people is pushed fast across the stage,
they are all yelling and whooping it up!
Tess:
Whoa, intense!
Booster: OK, let�s eat.
Tess: Don�t you like those metal-flavored
sensible food capsules?
Booster: What, those poison-flavored ones that
taste of deth? No, I don�t. When I was a kid, we would smear that on the poor
before we would fuck, kill, and eat them.
Tess: See, why don�t you take me out for
poor-smearing? You�re not too old
to, are you?
Booster: I�m glad I�m not your age. I don�t
think I could go through all the suffering, and disappointment, and heartbreak
of youth.
Tess:
That�s �cuz you�re not as flexible, and optimistic, and strong as you were
then.
Booster:.
And na�ve, and innocent, and gullible.
Tess:
Yeah, yeah right, whatever. You know what? I tire of you. We're over. Don't
call again.
Booster:
So, you�re dumping me?
Tess:
Yup. Not like you�re superinterested in continuing this.
Booster:
I don�t know why I maybe expected this to be different.
Tess:
Yeah, that�s how it goes.
Booster:
Truly, this is that which bums one out.
Tess:
Yeah. Don�t go making this the template for all human sexual relationships,
because it�s not.
Booster:
I know. I�m not.
Tess:
One-EightySeven.
Booster:
Are you calling me a one-eighty seven?
Tess:
Yes: you are gender type one-eighty seven in my gender taxonomy. You see,
there�s two hundred and fifty six gender types, not the usually accepted four
or five.
Booster:
I know that. And remind me again what a one-eighty seven is?
Tess: Hetero, white Euro male with orientation toward infidelity and expression, attracted to the aesthetic and spiritual foundations of sexual experimentation, manifesting in such as commonplaces as virtual & cybersex and illicit robot-love, but also more traditional family-based elements of cross dressing, homoerotica, incest, and self-mutilation, so in other words, normal and boring.
Booster:
Ew, I�m sick! (he vomits)
INTERMEZZO I. [Booster�s Dreem Voice]
Wandering lush green fields in Germany,
but with a toxi-colored lake, shielded on one side by big plastic
walls
I watch swimmers in the nearby odd-shaped pools
practice their endurance under water.
Blond German boys facing each other but inverted
and holding each other by the knees, submerge themselves
While shouting rhythmically, about once a second.
One girl, topless but with stylish goggles, also practices.
A she-bear wanders toward the pool, and falls in.
Toxicity strips her of her hair, and she, too
Becomes a German swimmer-boy.
Scene
3 Ensemble. Booster and his Brain Chemicals.
Booster
the Artist talking to his brain chemicals, they could be big pills or capsules,
with nice legs.
Booster:
It's true I have lots of problems. Or is it just chemical imbalances? (This
is a micro-aria, highly melismatic and lasting much longer than the usual
intoning of text up to now. Enter Brain Chemicals.)
Chemicals:
It's nothing we can't adjust.
Booster:
But you guys are so, you take away my personality. I don't know who I am when
I'm on you, and I don't always like the way I think.
Chemicals:
Like, what personality? Like, who are you anyway? Like, how do you think, and
so how superneat and special is that anyway?
Booster:
I'm only saying, it's like I don't exist when I'm on you, or I'm not who I
really am.
Chemicals:
Like, you're still in love with the idea that you're original, or superneat, or
special wonderfulness.
Booster:
I'm not like ready to abandon the idea of my ego, or my super specialness, even
in the context of a really big universe that I am a tiny, and insignificant
part of.
Chemicals:
It's not your size, it's what you do with it.
Booster:
See, now there you go with that special spiritual soul - neatness thing. What
are you doing? One minute, I'm a speck of dust in the universe, the next I'm a
superneat special soul thingy. Which is it?
Chemicals:
It's, like, both, at the same time, particle and wave, insignificance and
specialness. Like, that's how we work, like you didn't already know this.
Booster:
You guys are pretty amusing, though. I gotta admit.
People
carrying large cardboard metaphors (like, a heart, a dollar sign, lightning, an
eye�I guess like the icons that surround Jim and Shannon in AmSock) run about
and hit each other AND Booster AND the Brain Chemical Chorus with these
carboard(and I guess, parts could be latex or rubber - the contact points)
metaphors, and drive Booster and Brain Chemicals from the stage.
Booster's
name changes to, variously, "Bruiser", "Beg-Whole",
"Bagboy", and "Bug-Hole". The audience may not be aware of
this while it's happening.
This
needs more tapdancing or maybe violence.
Booster:
(pt.3 section 2; pg.145) The virgin's gone, and I am gone, she's gone, she's
gone, and what shall I do? Where shall I seek her, where shall I find her, whom
shall I ask? What way, what course shall I take? What will become of me?
Chorus:
Neque virgo est usquam, neque ego, qui e conspectu illam amisi meo. Ubi quaram,
ubi investigem, quem percuncter, quam insistam viam?
CharliE:
He was weary of his life, sick, mad and desperate.
Chorus:
Vitales auras invitus agebat
Booster:
Would there were some precipice here down which I might throw myself.
Chorus:
Utinam mihi esset aliquid hic, quo nunc me praecipitem darem.
CharliE:
'Tis not Booster's case this alone, but his, and his, and every Tess's in the
like state. If he hear ill news, have bad success in his suit, she frown upon
him, or that his mistress in his presence respect another more . . . he is
instantly tormented, none so dejected as he is. Utterly undone, a castaway, a
dead man, the scorn of fortune, a monster of fortune, worse than naught, the
loss of a kingdom had been less.
Chorus:
In quem fortuna omnia odiorum suorum crudelissima tela exonerat
Tess:
For when I made some of my suitors believe I would betake myself to a nunnery,
they took on as if they had lost father and mother, because they were for ever
after to want my company.
Booster:
All other labour was light: but this might not be endured
Chorus:
Tui carendum quod erat
Booster:
. . . for I cannot be without thy company.
CharliE:
Mournful Booster, painful Booster, careful Booster. Better a metropolitan city
were sacked, a royal army overcome, an invincible armada sunk, and twenty
thousand kings should perish, than her little finger ache, so zealous are they
and so tender of her good.
Tess:
They would all turn friars for my sake in hope by that means to meet or see me
again, as my confessors, at stool-ball or at barley-break.
INTERMEZZO II.
Walking with your mom, in bathrobe,
Inside the 3-story home
To the third floor, with its sharp drop
At least eight feet straight down
To the second floor.
You leave Mom on that sad height,
As you turn away to find the other way
Of course, she falls.
You see a flash of sleeve, her dark hair
And the awful thud.
She�s face down on the floor, in the reception area.
�I�m OK, I�m OK!� she cries, not really moving.
As you make it to her side
The three young thugs break into the office before you.
They take things, then notice you and mom and the other woman
Sitting, lotus-legged
One thug comes by and knifes your leg,
Deeper than simply to draw blood
A signal that you can�t tell this
To anyone.
But to seal the deal, he mimes slapping you,
His hand stopping short each time,
He laughs, taunting you,
Then gets very close to your face
His arms around your shoulders
And puts something under your thigh.
�This is really gonna hurt� he whispers.
(The scene floods with light
As you begin to scream. )
ACT 2
Booster
enters heaven, which is actually a gymnasium with kids running around,
screaming, and vomiting. They wear rubber animal masks and are constantly
rolling bowling balls toward one another, some of which will hit each other.
NOTE:
If this scene is performed by 2 CharliEs and 2 Tess�s, they are identically
dressed.
The
scene can be performed by a minimum of 4 vocalists: Booster (tenor), CharliEs 1
and 2 (bass/baritone), Tess 1 and 2 (mezzo soprano), and Alligator/Elephant/Pig/Fish/Octopus
(alto). So, there could be as many as 10 individual parts for this one scene.
|
Tess in Rooster Mask: Remember, long time ago, he was asked to
look at this. CharliE in Dog Mask: He produced a document. Tess: He produced a document of a detached, separate process. Booster: What the goals were, what the problems were relative to
the goals, the processes you would go through to achieve those goals. Tess: Our discussion started with the idea of function, and what
is needed to make that work. Child in Elephant mask: He looked at some kind of gathering that
created a sense of community. Tess: Informally, on a weekly basis. That idea was identified. Booster: I have no social identity as a result. I need a
critical mass of people around me to implement the procedures. Tess: He runs a staff meeting, it�s definitely not a seminar.
Definitely not theoretical. Child in Pig mask: What are the needs to create a structurally
viable organization? Tess: This is the issue we need to address. Pig: Then what? Child in Alligator mask: Then it would be really nice to have a
really rich set of offerings, without reaching a point of total insanity. Booster: Well, to serve this function, you could squeeze
together some things, and reduce some things, which are not administratively
mandated. Tess: There might be community meetings, and structural
meetings, but not every week. Booster: What if we put those three things together in a sort of
schematic sequence? Tess: It would be easier to administer a multiple structure with
functional settings. Pig: Well, that�s what I�ve held all along. Alligator: We aren�t changing things, we are only changing what
they�re called. Elephant: It�s a different way of naming what we already do. Tess: Correct. We are already doing this, but could we organize
them in a different way. Pig: Correct. But remember, we are talking about 51
opportunities, which is . . . a lot. Tess: If we can think about it this way, the vision is that the
logistics would be more possible. Booster: But this is still happening at the critique level, but
not at the social level. Tess: There was discussion on this, but no action. Booster: Correct. Yes, regrettably this was an outcome of my
discretion. Tess: Correct. CharliE: We could be excitedly engaged in the work, if we don�t
propose things that don�t already exist, but in addition to the structure, if
we think of the function behind it. Tess: These things have not yet interfaced. Booster: That�s a lot of people involved in the process. Tess: And the topics are to address everyone. That�s a lot of
excitement! CharliE: We said, OK, what if we offered two opportunities per
period. It provides an important function. Tess: There�s a different and important criticism that replaces
the conversation. CharliE: Plus, you might not need as many local critique
sections, if you look at is as part of the total load you need to take on. Pig: If that were a one person area, then spreading it out over
three periods, I�d only be meeting with them an hour and a half per week. Booster: You�d still be spread out the same way, but wait, we�re
not done. Tess: Correct. CharliE: The other part of it is the interdepartmental options.
I�m guessing this would not be clear to everyone. Tess: We were thinking of it as an alternative proposal. CharliE: For clarity�s sake, it�s a different model, based on
how we spend our resources. Can we think of the program in a more inclusive
way? Booster: The fundamental vision here is to change. CharliE: Correct. Booster: It means your obligations would need to be reduced. CharliE: We�re already doing a lot of this. Tess: Correct. CharliE: How we are structuring it is different. Tess: Yes, we are just slicing the pie differently, we are
vivisecting the body differently, or whatever grisly metaphor you employ. Elephant: I think we need a very frank suspended judgment
discussion. We need to weigh the pros and cons of what this means in a big,
general way. Tess: If I could
paint a little picture, If I could blue-sky for a moment, let�s say we have
someone assigned to the task. CharliE: Yes, go on. Tess: I could reduce my involvement because I don�t need to
create everything. Alligator: I like the suggestions you�ve made, I think they�re
just great. But I need to stay connected to them, they need to be connected
to each other. Booster: I think it doesn�t negate that interaction. CharliE: It could, though. The media-specific stuff is not built
into this model. Booster: Right now, I�m spending more time on this. Elephant: Right now, there are mechanisms for maintaining the
structure of an area. Suppose I could ditch the structure. Tess: These are the primary pros and cons. Pig: We may be nervous about losing that contact. Tess: Maybe it�s a matter of realigning our priorities. Booster: Maybe so, I�m not so sure anymore.. Tess: The more formalized offerings would decrease my time
obligations. We are still maintaining my contact time. Booster: It�s important for me to maintain this. Tess: The nice thing is that it does demonstrate teamwork. CharliE: Teamwork is key. Tess: Our people could learn more from your people. CharliE: Correct. Another benefit I see is more opportunities in
which to participate. Tess: In a paradoxical way, If I knew my people were having
these discussions, I could spend more time addressing them. I spend much time
fabricating a structure that may already be in place. CharliE: One element that came up was what the mechanisms of the
functioning of an area are. What would be interesting would be setting up a
practicum. Booster: Time management practicum. Pig: Time management practicum, that was actually an element of
the structure. Am I hearing a consensus along the idea of a structure like
this happening? Tess: I think the idea is fantastic, but I think we need to
address additional time constraints. CharliE: Now we must come up with some strategies to address. We
must take on this structure, while we are creating a new one, but I want to
suggest what we would need to replace parts of the structure with something
that is functionally similar, but strategically aligned to the joint
enterprise. Pig: Correct. The time management practicum. CharliE: Are you saying you�d be out sourcing one period out of
the three? Booster: Possibly. But I don�t think it would replace the area. CharliE: In some ways we�re going into this critique. Tess: It doesn�t make sense to resolve this until we have their
critique. I think this movement makes a lot of sense. CharliE: We should look at our own productivity, but overall I
think it is fabulous. Booster: But there needs to be that balance. CharliE: Are there any other strategies coming to mind? First,
putting this structure within the existing one, and two, to realize the
possible. . . |
CharliE2: . . . impact on our people? Are there any other ideas
out there? Booster: You could actually reduce the number of structures to
function. CharliE2: You would be optimizing the function. Tess2: One thing that comes up is that we have committed to a
model that formalizes the procedure. Alligator: Correct. Tess:2 I know that our people are engaged in this open model. Elephant: How does that extrapolate across areas? Booster: I see it as a temporary model, but presenting a whole
lot of choices. CharliE2: That all the meetings be open? Tess2: I wouldn�t want to be CharliEmatic and say all be open. CharliE2: Should we set up a matrix, since we are all formalized
at this point? Tess2: It�s always been interesting to me. But it just doesn�t
happen, so I don�t think someone should be particularly forced into something
like this. Alligator: It seems both structurally and conceptually different
from the way it has been run in the past. Tess2: These different formats, these frameworks are different
in fundamentally different ways. Fish: I am excited by how this shifts our language, our culture. Tess2: I still believe in what can happen in that context. They
start to learn how to do this, and then it�s over. CharliE2: Correct. They could teach each other how to do this. Tess2: Presumably, each area could craft a way of what they
would let go of. CharliE2: In what way? Tess2: In what manner? Booster: I would be much more interested in how it�s done. Tess2: Exactly. We have committed to a flexible model. We have
identified it as a need for a larger sense of community. Booster: Another thing we discussed was the idea of rotating. Tess2: But not everyone is equally interested. CharliE2: It needs to be driven by their interests. Playing off
collective strengths rather than individual contributions. More people equals
more flexibility. Pig: But what if those people do want to participate, and be
dedicated? CharliE2: It would require committing six for each period. Fish: That would be up in the air. To me it�s more than cutting back, it�s a real opportunity to get involved. That appeals to me a lot. I don�t think it would be problematic at all! Alligator: It seems the primary goal is to provide choices. Tess2: But they must first have the opportunity. CharliE2: One does not mutually exclude the other. There are
more traditional ways of thinking about this. The debate is invested in the
core, the essence. Tess2: I think you�re pointing at the contemporary scene, which
is part of the choice. CharliE2: It is choice between these two ways of operating. Tess2: But we�re thinking of only fiscal requirement models. CharliE2: That�s more of a house-keeping issue. Tess2: It�s more of a big decision. CharliE2: We would be making more of a commitment. Tess2: Right now, what we require is really kind of slippery. It
seems like the advanced components are by choice. CharliE2: I would argue that we might want to do this. Tess2: But we need to do the math. CharliE2: Definitely. I think it�s a great idea. Tess2: This plan was predicated on the notion of structurally
solving the problems of the assumption that we can come up with the
strategies that would help us solve the problems. CharliE2: It was an interesting point of the conversation, that
we came down to number crunching. Tess2: It would be interesting to look at it on a chart. CharliE2: Uhm- hum! Tess2: But I think we will have to pursue this on another level
at another time. CharliE2: I am sensing some consensus. Tess2: What we need
to do is to ask the committee to go away and summarize the conversation, and
to set some discussion points for the next level. CharliE2: I think we need to balance some things, but these are
the questions and the possibilities. Can you do that? Tess2: I thought we were done. CharliE2: Apparently not. What are the additional benefits? Tess2: The merging of proposals would be the next conversation. CharliE2: That�s what the consensus is. Tess2: Could we map this out? CharliE2: I�m a little confused. Tess2: It would be good to know that we�ve come this far. If you
could map it out into an outsource strategy. I think we need to do numbers. CharliE2: Do we need data from each of the committees? Tess2: Yes, I like to see things on paper. CharliE2: If you do the math. Tess2: I do think it would be useful. CharliE2: It would take more time, of course. Tess2: Of course. CharliE2: But if you do, that�s another issue that could be
addressed in this report you forward for the next meeting. Tess2: How will it break down? CharliE2: I think there�s some urgency in addressing this,
because we�re making schedules for next year. Tess2: We really don�t have time to do this for next year. There
are too many issues to iron out. Octopus : I don�t know. I only got three or four hours of sleep
last night. What were the expectations of the committee? Tess2: A substantial amount of unsettled questions were discussed. CharliE2: The concern was before we institutionalize it, could
we think about the structure, and make it work before we formalize the new
one? Tess2: I think we should make a model that includes the
institutionalized version of the structure, prior to the next window of
opportunity. Octopus: If we could have more data, it would be extremely
timely. Tess2: The model gets blurry. Octopus: I think Robert�s rules of order has completely broken
down. Tess2: I think it sounds great, but right now we can�t balance
the structure against the outsource opportunities. CharliE2: Exactly. Tess2: Right. Love it. Fish: It�s an indulgence, and it�s terrific. But we don�t have a
language to talk about it. But it�s impossible to build a language around a
structure based on these indulgences. Octopus: But if
there are standards and expectations. . Fish: I want it to stop being exciting. I want it to be boring.
So it�s not a token. Octopus: We need to talk. Fish: I want it to stop being exciting. I want it to be boring.
So it�s not a token Octopus: Having our cake and eating it too has always appealed
to me. Okay, thank you very much! |
Motion
graphics overlay to screen on stage: GURL JEZUZ: BE NOT - BE!
INTERMEZZO III.
big, solid, white man in white
must be 6�5�, 300 pounds,
stocky, well built, short blonde hair
knocks at your door
�can I use your phone? I�m placing my order
for my cell phone
Making my final selection for a cell phone.�
You point him to the phone on the wall.
He dials, starts talking right away.
Ordering phones of many colors,
And telling what the colors mean.
�And I want a pink one, which signifies
my own impotence�
You console your lovely young wife with
�He�ll be done in a minute, then I can go.�
�Can I come along?�
We discuss domestic duties
Of a corporeal nature,
But we have no words
For subtlety or finesse.
And thus we must refer
To iconic imagery from the past,
Particularly, the domestic, commonplace,
Celebrations in cartoon form
Of Copulating Pigs,
�Makin� Bacon�.
Did I mention this all takes place
In our trailer?
But this was preceded by
The talk in your brother�s studio
His book of his artist friends
And samples of their work
Including tame abstracts made of pencils
Or some acrylic resin molded to look like pencils
Barbara K. points this out to you.
But this was preceded by
The episode of hauling a big box of books
For your sister�fortunately
You were able to digitize them
And shrink them drastically
In size and weight.
But they still asked your permission
(Which you gave easily)
to throw away your old desk.
But this was preceded by
A visit to the museum.
You are asked to escort
Mao
Through the exhibits of modern art.
Two young museum attendant girls
From Taiwan, watch us
They beam and giggle
In admiration, awe
He�s quiet, slightly frail, amiable.
Bald.
�I gotta get a picture of this� I tell myself.
The camera I use
Is one of those disposable ones
But you hafta lick
And breathe on the film after you snap the shot
And rub the film with another sticky blue film
I am confused by the instructions.
And give up.
Instead, I lead Mao
To an installation for a beautiful dark
Abstract film my friend Paul B. made
Using just that awkward camera � amazing!
Against the dark background, a lovely blonde woman
Opens her mouth
Dissolve to a big, hairy egg that peels opens to reveal a normal
egg
(The eggs match cut the woman and her mouth)
This is followed by images of sticks, then bugs
In scattered, random arrangements.
It is all
Too beautiful for words.
Why didn�t I think of that?
I could kick myself sometimes.
But all this is preceded by
Your task, and you told Dad
You�d do it an hour earlier,
That means, you can only sleep till 6,
Or is it 5?
But it takes an hour to drive there,
So that makes it 4.
But it�s 2 now.
This is the part that�s worrying you.
Booster
talking with CharliE, his colleague.
CharliE:
My research is moribund, all my research is leading nowhere, I have no
connection with my work.
Booster:
Tell me about it. Even if I had time, I can�t seem to get an idea.
CharliE:
Tell me about that.
Booster:
Everybody�s doing biological computing and personality granulization
CharliE:
I hear about it all the time. Ever since they discovered the gene responsible
for the human soul . . . .
Booster:
Tell me about that. And all those
virtual reality shows - - do you have VTV at home?
CharliE:
I can�t afford it, I mean, I can�t afford plugging in. I know I would become an
addictio virtualis mentis addict. That show has made art and culture irrelevant!
Booster:
Yeah, and life and meaning! But I�m not interested in that. I simply want to
continue my funny anatomical studies.
CharliE: You�ve had favorable reviews of it,
haven�t you?
Booster:
Yes, but not the kind of adulation that leads to big things, great things.
CharliE:
So, in other words, nobody is even remotely interested in anything you�re
doing, eh?
Booster: Yeah.
A
bunch of young boys and girls, aged, oh maybe 11 to 15, carrying garden hoses.,
detergent in handy spray dispensers, and washcloths, carrying signs that say
�Free Sex! Free Sex!� crowd onto the stage and surround C and B. The atmosphere
is jolly, circus-like, and gay! (NOTE: if no additional players, CharliE and
Booster react/respond to kid scene on the screen.)
Kids:
hey mister, hey mister!!
Booster:
(to kids) Get thee lost! Run off, thou! (to CharliE) I�m so weary of this
National Pedophile Celebration Month aren�t you?
Kids
exit. (If no kids, CharliE and Booster resume talking to eachother.)
CharliE:
And they�ve lost the subtly which was their great initial distinction, too. But getting back to your thing, my
esteemed colleague, if you were into biological computing, what would you do?
Booster:
Oh, I don�t know. Probably make an implant that induces
spiritual-nirvana-enlightenment-epiphanys when you play certain pitches.
CharliE.
B-flat has always done it for me, big time! (They both laugh).
Booster:
And I�d make millions telling rock stars which pitches to use.
CharliE:
That�s a good one! And, like, you�d mention that to me in joking, and I�d take
it . . .
Booster:
And you�d take it and actually develop it and make it happen! Ha, ha, ha, ha!
(They both laugh)
CharliE:
Ho ho! You are a mad genius! Then I�d make it work, and totally transform
culture, spiritual quest, and history!
Booster:
Yes, yes! - - Oh, this is too much! And we would become bitter enemies! Ha ha!
CharliE:
And then, when I�d be receiving the Nobel Prize in virtual reality implant
literature, you�d be watching me on TV, cursing me bitterly! (Peals of laughter
from both)
Booster:
�That bastard!� I�d say, �He�s stolen my idea, my idea!� Ho, ho, that�s rich!
(more laughter)
CharliE:
Ha ha ha ha ha! This is too much! You are a comic madman, my friend!
Booster:
Ah, ha, yes, well, that�s great! We need to work it into a sketch for the
annual departmental passion play!
CharliE:
Ha ha! Yes, we must!
Booster:
Oh, blast � I was sposta meet my AntagoMate�!
CharliE:
And the question is always, �where would we be without our AntagoMate�s?�
Booster:
And the answer is always, �much further!� (they laugh)
CharliE:
Very well then - - see you later, you wild spiritual-nirvana-enlightenment-epiphany
inducer!
Booster:
See you soon, good dude!
CharliE:
Later, dude!
INTERMEZZO IV.
The New Roman Coliseum
Has both roman and christian relics in
Its altar, garishly lit and tripped by motion sensors.
I do some trippy dancing
Heels to the floor
Like the Charleston or Lindy hop
Or some other extinct dance
Of generations now under Erth.
As I dance, the acolytes return.
I try to convince one,
a handsome, clean-cut lad,
to further develop
his bowling-moves
into legit
high
art
(�you know what �legit� is?� he asks)
ACT 3
INTERMEZZO V.
Flying over Manhattania
In a grand, wooden jet
At sunset, or is it sunrise?
Anyway,
sharp angular shadows
Define It; as we pivot
Around the huge compass
Atop a central skyscraper,
I look to where the fallen Twins
Once left their double-mark.
We land with unreal suddenness
And I disembark
To the Urban Mountain
Climbers Club,
Where one, graceful in her climb,
Shows me the ropes.
(There�s something further
engaging about her,
But what we do,
Our story and her story,
Whole histories of brave fights
And rage, and love
Among the new generation
Of captivating characters
Unsketched and unimagined
remains hidden
In memory dimmed
By alarm clocks
And answering machines.)
Obviously
CharliE goes off to his laboratory and develops the
spiritual-nirvana-enlightenment-epiphany-inducing substance � liquid porn!.
Tess:
How�s it going?
CharliE: Great! I only need to mix a few things
together � wait, that�s not it, A little more aquavit (is that right?). Yes !
That�s it! Now, I�ve done it!
Tess:
Whatcha� got there?
CharliE:
Liquid Porn!
Tess:
Yippee!
CharliE:
Just think of the support industries I�ve created! Ennui, and so many ruined
trousers!
Tess:
Way to go, Mr. 257!
Booster
(enters): Hey, what�s all the racket? Can I join the party?
Tess
(to Booster): Now, go ahead and have your cute little nervous breakdown.
(opera version of exhibition/installation/performance.14 minutes prior to scene 2b, just music�that motelhaus file with the electrical poping sounds and the disembodied voices from the porno soundtrack, you know which one I mean, and the hooded figure playing the violin with electronic enhancements via toe-activated Kaos pad, plus the random video of the dude bashing his head against the wall. SkyRon� PowerRangerActionFigure in a Mask, lies in the bed. Booster, Tess, and CharliE are clumped together in a dark pile on the stage, in darkness during the musical interlude)
Scene
2b Lights
up on Booster,
Tess, and CharliE. They are hangin� out, getting wasted, maybe on Liquid Porn,
but probably on something else that people get wasted on.
Tess:
The chemical company I worked for in the �40�s, innuendo toothpaste, that was
my last assistant (huge stain on the ceiling)
CharliE:
I had a mad boss once, who kept telling me �don�t nod, don�t nod!�.
Tess:
He had to, do you remember the funny thing I said about my uterus?
Booster:
Downward mobility homogenizes the field.
CharliE: Yes, there are moments, but can you articulate them (and
articulate about them, verbalate, criticalize, exoJeZuZify) more than most, or
more than many, or more than any?
Tess: You've seen women act like that�idiot cows but phoney?
Sometimes their self-esteems are just so low. They're threatened by intelligent
women like me. I look like a dyke vampire. Don't they see how they clomp in,
like they're electroshock cows? They're just so unconscious.
Booster: I was trying to listen, but I just couldn't. My brain
just wasn't on. Does that ever happen to you? My brain has a mind of its own.
CharliE:
We�re now a profession, not a vocation. It�s easier to condemn them for having
power.
Tess:
Now I lost my train of thought.
Booster:
But there was this idea about �I have this idea, and these friends that say
it�s really great, and in my own little world, I�m just incredible god-dude.�
CharliE:
That would be a self-generated ecstasy, and really super indulgent.
Tess:
But we live in this place where there are millions and millions of people all
around you, and they�re all nobodies, and we are nobodies.
CharliE:
So we have these huge groups of who we are among, among whom we are no one, and
we get into our little groups,
Booster:
And we are the big dood.
CharliE:
And they are the big dood. Fisher�s Pooner is the current big dood. Super big
dood group. Jacksmith, too.
Booster:
So they are.
CharliE:
We should Optimize the Function.
Tess::
I am so very there.
Booster:
It is time! It is now!
(They
present ornate vials of their body fluids to each other with great ceremony, which
is apparently the Optimize the Function Ceremony. How pleasant!)
INTERMEZZO
VI.
I see
Barbara K. again
This
time, receiving chemo,
We see
blue organs and purple veins
Through
transparent skin
All held
within
A once
magnificent frame.
Again, we
don�t know how much use it is to the authorities,
But we
felt we did our part, discovering the terrorist�s plot
To
smuggle explosives into the luggage of the ferry
And
detonate it, or the highway bridge. No matter.
He chased
us in the yellow stairwell, shot several times,
The
bullets ricocheting what seemed like forever
In a red
ring of certain danger.
A few
others escape with me, so he throws a canister
That
emits thick, sparkly orange smoke.
I get the
fuck out of there.
Now
outside the building, I watch the ferry
Lyrically,
gracefully fall apart, in not too deep water.
Several
people crawl to shore, I give them a hand.
The toned
bodies of the trained swimmers (hairless, again)
Dive back
to rescue others.
I can see
under the water, from above it, dozens of people
Just
sitting at the bottom in the flooded subway car,
returning
my stare as if to say, �what are you looking at?�
Remember
this was all in Paris, or Germany, or New York
Or all
three, at once. I really don�t know what I see.
I just
report it.
Scene
3c: Convenient Action.
Tess:
Here�s another wheelbarrow full of money from selling Liquid Porn�.
CharliE: Cool. Just dump it in the corner with
the rest of the money.
Tess: And
here�s your Nobel Prize in Porn, and your Pulitzer in Controlled Substance.
CharliE: In the corner, with the rest of it all
�such emerdement grande!
Booster:
This is so neat, but I wish I had been the one to think it up!
Man in
Neat Fancy Suit bursts in with severe police-looking men.
Man in
Neat Fancy Suit: OK, who invented this Liquid Porn�?
Booster:
I did! I did!
CharliE:
No, he didn�t. (pointing to Tess) She
did.
Man in
Neat Fancy Suit: OK, boys, take
�er away! Liquid Porn� is bad for people. She�s gonna pay for this with her
life!
Booster:
Heavy!
Scene
4: On Trial.
Man in neat fancy suit stands next to dude (looks a lot like CharliE, but with a big beard. In actual performance, it probably is the same guy who plays CharliE, but looking like another character) tied and bound to chair he�s sitting in.
Man
in neat, fancy suit: Do any of you have anything to say before I sentence this
poor disgusting, creature to a hideous, slow, painful deth?
Booster:
Yes, your honor. Just this film I made when I was a teenager:
FILM
WITHIN OPERA is projected:
(Moving,
synchronized lips superimposed on various objects and animals - - like in �Film Dog� or the
God-Toothbrush in the first scene of Act One - - explain how multiple
dimensions occur at the same time and holes of various size permit things we
can�t explain into the dimension we understand. Like aliens, and such. But the
fabric of the seen and unseen goes on and on. But the little film should
somehow articulate a model of the universe that includes everything known,
unknown, and weird. And how quality can be expressed in terms of perhaps one
key item at a liquor store, like some kind of Dominican brandy sanctioned by
the Church, that distinguishes it from other, lesser liquor stores, but then
Booster argues that independence from the long arm of Rome might be a higher
indication of quality than carrying the damn brandy.
This
film might very well mention the well-known fact that the so-called ecstatic
states, i.e., orgasm, drug-high, runner�s-high, artistic epiphany,
psycho�s-high, etc. are all portals to this non-temporal dimension. He would
say something like that. (Who�s he?) Party-high, dance, mystic poetry, disco,
all these things. And deth, too, gets you there, so we should not fear deth! So
there�s your positive, hallmarky thought behind this whole fiasco!)
IMMOOTUHBULL
TROOTHZ (sung by Booster, CharliE, Tess, and Gurlfrend in home version; could
be sung by multiple voices synched to the lips that appear on all sorts of
things, in the full and cinematic versions).
this would be part of the list of IMMOOTABLE TROOTHZ that is revealed toward the end of the
show. In no particular order or SIG NIFFA KUNTZ
there is that which we C'n'NO (that is, SPACE'n'TIME'n'MIND),
(which we REELY kant FOOLY NO) and there is that which is BEEYOND, the TRANS ZEN DANCE.
that which we call TRANS ZEN DANCE is simply GITTING WUT WE WANT.
TrZd = gWWW (SINZ we are OWN LEE smelly, DURTEE, WANTING MUSHEENS,
we FILTER the TRANS ZEN DANCE throo our DEZYERZ, thus REDOOSING the TRANS ZEN
DANCE of TRANS ZEN DANCE - SO EVERYTHING SHRINKZ)
that which we want is simply TRANS ZEN DANCE, but SINZ WUT WE WANT
is, there 4 GITTING WUT WE WANT, we WOOD GIT STUK in an IN FIN UT LOOP, so
INSTED, WE think we want that which is THUH NEXT KLOSEST neat THINGS to the
TRANS ZEN DANCE, suCHAZZ neat things, neat JAHBZ, neat Peepole brushing up next
to us to MAKE BAEBEEZ, or PHAME. Some PeePole will FIGGER OUT neat WAEZ to DOO
this, like 4 INstuntz, PEPPYGURL does this by planning 2 KRE-8 the SWURLY VORTEX(t) of pop KALCHER, Zite GuySt,
hey-that's-excellent-like-robots, whatever. (eQWULZ FUNSTUFF).
WWW= 2K8[SWRLVRTX(popK + z + robots + etc.)]
all thingz of TRANS ZEN DANCE are RE DOO SIBBLE to eQWASHUNS
involving the MUNDANE:
LUUV={sEX + POWer) X MUNNY
X-duh SEE = neet things open
UP-2-U
happiness=momentary reprieve from fear & desire
TIME= (loss +/- dark {sEX} MAJIk)X DETH
ART = busTAH dOORZ DOWN now
the porTULZ of TRANs ZEN DANCE are the 5iVE GAZMz: SEXgazm,
ARTgazm, MUNNYgazm, TIMEgazm, DETHgazm. DREEMgazm is SUMTIMEz KON FLA TED with
TIMEgazm, so let's just call it DREEMgazm. GAWDgazm is a more adVANZD form of
MUNNYgazm, or also it substitutes for MUNNYgazm if like you don't have MUNNY,
like if you're DURT-POR. DETHgazm, well, we don't git to tell about that WUN.
Aliens, space robots, ghosts, freaky freaky things, and creepy
sexy guys can travel through SPACE'n'TIME'n'MIND (S-T-M kunTINYOO umm) using
those porTULZ of TRANs ZEN DANCE. That's why we have unexplained things
happening, and things break down, and people get hurt and BEET up, and we LOOZ
things like KEEZ, to reMIND us that we ARNT in kunTROLL.
DIFF RUNSEZ are all ILL LOOZshUNs. They KUMUP bekuz of IN UBILLY
TEES to PER SEEVE porTULZ. Like, as in WOR, HAETTERS, BITCHES + BASTURDS, MEEN
STOOPIDz and STOOPID STOOPIDz. PEEpole holding TITE onto other PEEpole, neet
THINGz or IDEEUZ will never perSEEZE the porTULZ.
the PERPUS of the porTULZ, the 5iVE GAZMz, all that, is to
momentarily SQWEEZ all SPACE'n'TIME'n'MIND into WUN.
AWL IZ WUN,
and then it splitZ up into MENNY and whoa, U gotta git BAK TO
WERK, U LAZEE ASS!
(unless, UVKORS, U -DI, N-WITCH-KASE U BEEKUM the WUN. Bye bye,
bODD EE!)
Man
in Neat, Fancy Suit: That was problematic. OK, prisoner will die, as is the
custom. And also will die, our guest artist, according to the Cultural Equality
Act. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Brother.
Tess, naked, bound, gagged and struggling fiercely, is placed in seat next to bearded madman. Tall, rectangular aluminum paper bags are placed over their heads, they begin screaming, and urinating. The bags are lighted with fire, then Man with Fancy Suit very deliberately shoots Madman and Tess in the head.
Booster
(waking up on futon nest to action that�s been taking place): Oh, good. It was only a
dreem. Or was it? (he screams as he sees the blood, carnage, and mess on the
stage.)
INTERMEZZO
VII.
�We�re
changing over to the Absolut product line
in the
break-room vending machines,� says my boss.
�But only
Senior Management getsta use the Vodka.�
�God is
gonna be marketing himself differently next season,� he continues
As the
ultimate reality gameshow host.�
�And you
know that �History� stuff?
It�s being
written without you in it!�
Just
another day at the office.
B�s
name is now Ball-Pig or Rasper Rafter Rapture Dirt Dick The Abject One.
Probably Baal, because it�s shorter and more evocative. Again, the audience
doesn�t know his name has changed. B. is kneeling in front of Tess, but
actually, it�s Girlfriend from Act One made up to look like Tess, although the
character is Tess. Are you with me?
Tess:
Now, it�s all over, and you haven�t said anything significant, or original, or
new, or interesting.
Baal:
I had my one chance at life, at love, at greatness, And now all is lost.
Tess:
All is lost, boo-hoo. So, I have a cocktail party to go to.
Baal:
Can . . . can I come along?
Tess:
Uhm, I don�t think so. Bye-bye now. (She exits)
Baal:
I don�t know why I even try. And yet I do. And having thus attained the courage
to live my life, I shall hereby end it! (He is about to take a plastic fork
to his eye)
Space Alien: Wait, Earthling!
Do not destroy yourself!
Baal: Huh? What the�! (He
pauses)
Space Alien: I�m just
kidding. Here, let me help you with that. (Space Alien attaches gizmos to plastic fork, turning it
into a laser fork, turns it on, and slices through B�s skull).
Baal: Gaak!
The top part of B�s skull
falls to the floor, where monkeys in shiny metallic clothes run to scoop up and
eat the brain material, and the monkeys morph into tall, majestic pine trees
with fake noses, mustaches, and dark-rimmed glasses. The chorus of woodland
fairies encircle the skull, while singing a happy song and opening champagne
bottles held near in their crotches, pointing up, like sports teams in locker
room victory celebrations.
Happy song of chorus of
woodland fairies: Rocks and frogs/ Woodland bogs/ We all die someday-OK!/Off to
space/ Here we go/Certain feelings endure.
But the really neat thing
is that a silver plastic mechanized baby head (probably the same one that TESS
and GIRLFRIEND were working on in Act 1 Scene 1) rises from the split skull,
with silvery ribbons of silky material attached to it, and it rises, bright and
cool!
Motion graphics overlay to
screen on stage: �DETH + RAYDEEANCE�
FINAL CURTAIN