The Time Project

Welcome to the website

2006-03-20T13:17:00.000-05:00

So you've seen the play (or maybe not) and found your way to the website which created Heterotopia (code-named The Time Project). I'm going to just give you a quick tour so you can find your way around. On the side bar, you can find your way around to related websites, including rehearsal photos. Lower, you can find previous posts and archive pages, which can be grouped like so:

Final Posts (Script, Press Releases, etc.)
Administrative Stuff
The Polylogue (wherein most of the play was written)
Character Pages (where we brainstormed for each character, some of which did not make it into the play)
Notes from each Writing Session (interesting stuff)

I really suggest you check out the brainstorm posts, they are very interesting and alot of the original motivations for the play can be seen. They may be hard to find, so I suggest you click on the archive pages November 2005 - September 2005, on the lower left.

Also, you saw the play! What did you think about it? Comment on it on the post by clicking on the comment link below!

Press Release

2006-03-06T22:11:00.000-05:00

Critical Stage Company’s latest production, “Heterotopia”, will launch in mid-March. This innovative and collaborative creation began with the themes of education, social progress and time, and was work-shopped with award-winning local playwright Ned Dickens.

In Heterotopia, the audience encounters seven seemingly unconnected characters who are brought together for a moment of shared consciousness. The collection of characters offer a wide range of experiences, inter-relationships and stories, and each of them asks whether or not they may leave. We learn that every character in the play is an aspect of the people we know, and the person we are.

The play is directed by Caroline Baillie, Director of the Critical
Stage Company and last year’s production of Copenhagen (coproduced with
Theatre Kingston) and a professor of Applied Science at Queen’s University. Original music is composed for the piece.

Heterotopia will be playing Tuesday March 14th until Saturday March 18th at 8pm, with a matinee on the 18th at 2pm, in the Atrium of the Integrated Learning Centre (Beamish-Munro Hall) at the Corner of Division and Union. Tickets are $15 for adults, $8 for students.

Tickets are available from either
- The Integrated Learning Centre Office: phone: (613) 533-3130 email: sharpel@post.queensu.ca
- Destinations: the Queen’s student ticket office in the John Deutsch University Centre (JDUC) at the corner of University and Union.

More information:
http://appsci.queensu.ca/ilc/art/
http://www.criticalstage.co.uk/

Credits and Finally, a Title

2006-02-01T22:43:00.000-05:00

The title of the play was decided as...HETEROTOPIA

Credits for the play are as follows:

Director:
Caroline Baillie

Assistant Director:
Shawn Northwood

Writing Facilitator:
Ned Dickens

Production Manager:
Dustin Freeman

Cast:
Rebecca Legg
Adam Rysanek
Liam Karry
Daniel-Ryan Spaulding
Caitlin Raftis
Dustin Freeman
Talia Acker

Fall Team Writers:
Adam Rysanek
Caitlin Raftis
Dustin Freeman
Kelsey Benning
Grase Soo
Shawn Northwood
Caroline Baillie
Ned Dickens
Joanne Williams
Chris Beeman

Advertising:
Kelsey Benning

Music:
Christos Smirnios
Mike Perlin

Set Design:
Shawn Northwood

Set Build:
Dan Rider

Tech:
Thomas Tyers

Rehearsal Times

2006-01-28T19:40:00.000-05:00

Click on "read more" to see rehearsal times.

Figures in brackets indicate parts of text to be rehearsed. You need only show up if you are acting in that part.

Part 1 page 2-19 (all characters)
Part 2 page 19-30 (all except Dean)
Part 3 page 30-46 (all except Dean)
Part 4 page 46-54 (all except Dean and Jack)

Rehearsal Locations
Monday, January 30: Dupuis 217 (read through and 1)
Wednesday, February: ILC, Rm 313 a and b (2)
NOTE: here rehearsals start on Tuesdays as well.
Monday, February 6: Dupuis 217 (3) Tuesday, February 7: Looking for a room (4)
Wednesday, February 8: ILC, Rm 313 a and b (1)
Monday, February 13: Dupuis 215 (2)
Tuesday, February 14: Goodwin 254 (3)
Wednesday, February 15: ILC, Rm 313 a and b (4)
Monday, February 20: Dupuis 215
Tuesday, February 21: Dupuis 215
Wednesday, February 22: ILC, Rm 313 a and b
Monday, February 27: Dupuis 215 (all)
Tuesday, February 28: Dupuis 215 (all)
Wednesday, March 1: ILC, Rm 313 a and b (all)
Thursday, March 2: Dupuis 217 (all)
Friday, March 3: Dupuis 215
Monday, March 6: WLH, Rm 210 (all)
Tuesday, March 7: Goodwin 254 (all)
Wednesday, March 8: ILC, Rm 313 a and b (all)
Thursday, March 9: Miller Hall 201(all)
Friday, March 10: Miller Hall 201 (all)

Production week
11th build set and all (please keep day free – exact timings to be announced)
12th tech (please keep day free – exact timings to be announced)

13th 8pm dress rehearsal
14th 8pm opening
15th 8pm
16th 8pm
17th 8pm
18th 2pm, 8pm and strike

The Script

2006-01-12T01:14:00.000-05:00

[updated February 28th, 2006]

Heterotopia
Dean Works in the office. Doesn’t want to move on, is escaping something

Jeffery A bully. Stuck in his ways. Cant go anywhere because he’s moving in circles – bullied becomes the bully

Sarah Young woman. Depressed, has lost her love

Jack Teenager – represents uncertain potential – could go either way – end up as Jeffery or as Felicity

Mike Kind. Lost. Has lost memory. Could be Sarah’s lost partner

Mary-Jane Lively, frustrated. Little manic, probably a drug addict

Felicity Is wise but not perfect. Is the only one who knows whats going on

SPOILER WARNING: This is, obviously, the script of the play. If you are going to see the play, it is recommended that you wait to read the script until at least afterwards.

Heterotopia
A One act play
A framed room which could be an office. Several chairs and tables scattered randomnly.
FELICITY (sits front of stage and speaks to the audience)
You must understand that anyone in my place would have done the same thing.
When my closest friend told me I was wasting away, that was the first time I had been told I was doing something wrong with my life. I was silenced. It rescued me. I went to a place I can only describe in my dreams.

It felt like forever before I found out what was going on in there.
(FELICITY watches the action for a while and then walks into the office scene before her first line)
Dean You probably have to move on with this one. We don’t have the opportunity anymore. The efficiency model is the last resort but we have no choice. Our hands are tied.
Sarah I’m sorry?
Dean Get a move on – we haven’t got all day. I have to clear at least another five rooms
Sarah Why?
JACK What?
Sarah Why clear the rooms? Of what? There’s nothing in them
Jeffery Oh you are really quite stupid aren’t you honey?
Sarah Don’t ‘honey’ me. You don’t know why they want the rooms cleared.
JACK: Can anyone hear me? I’m sure I can hear voices
Jeffery (to Dean) Why don’t you stop pretending you’re having a normal day. It wont do you any good.
Dean You havent had a normal day in your life
Jeffrey Youre not working here. You know that. Leave it alone. It helps no-one. Especially not you.
JACK I can hear you but only in my head
(M enters)
M Damn. Not here again. I hate this place.
Mike Who are you?
Jeffery I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO EXISTS - you are a whisper in the darkness that has been forgotten
Mike What the hell is going on? (pause). This is nuts.
M peanuts? or walnuts? or squirrels?...Funny, I just remembered the taste of walnuts.
I am a squirrel and every year I bury my nuts in the yard and every year I lose them. I am looking for my nuts, have you seen them?
Jeffery Funny. I just remembered the taste of squirrel.

Fuck off
FELICITY Everyone quiet down. I can't hear the background over the din.
M Lets move closer.
Jeffery Whether we move closer or further away is irrelevant.
Mike Why does nothing seem familiar here? I remember that I was just in my car. Fast asleep. I don’t remember anything else.
JACK (whispers to FELICITY) Can I ask you a question?

FELICITY Sure thing

JACK I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing here
(pause)
Do you know?

FELICITY Don’t worry – you’ll get used to it – we’ll work it out together

JACK I don’t actually recognize anything or anyone

FELICITY But you know who you are and that’s a start.

JACK I don’t remember asking for this. I can’t stand it. I can’t feel anything. I’m a puppet.

Jeffery I hold the strings. Fancy that, you didn’t even feel me tugging. Can you feel me now?

Mike I don’t feel you tugging me. I don’t even know who you are. Or who I am for that matter.
(pause)
How do I know you aren’t me?

Jeffery Well I know you aren’t me cos you’re clearly not talking from my mouth.
(pause)
How do I know you aren’t me?
Mike God help me if I am

Jeffery Fuck off

Mike What makes me not you?
Sarah Wet leaves. soft moss. the smell of wet cedar bark.

Mike What?
Sarah Nothing.
Jeffery Let me out of here. You’re all the same. I don’t know who you are and I don’t care who you are. That’s the difference between us.

M Oh leave him alone. What’s your name?

Mike That’s the point. I have no idea.

M Oh I see.

Mike Do you?

Jeffery Oh shut up! You idiot. Does ANYONE SPEAK SENSE AROUND HERE? No obviously not.

FELICITY Stop shouting.

Jeffery Don’t tell me to stop.
Mike I don’t know where we are either, or why. But we are here. We are together somehow. And you’re not helping.

JACK Are we trapped?
Dean Yes you are
JACK starts to move towards the door. Jeffrey moves into his path.

Jeffery Look around you. What do you see? Nothing but emptiness. Everything has been gouged out of here.
Only in your dreams can you escape. And sometimes not even then. (Moves to block the door)
JACK Let me out
Mike Move out of the way
JACK Is it locked?
Dean Yes it is
(FELICITY moves forward to challenge Jeffery)
Mike What the hell is going on?
Jeffery Who do you think you are?
(reluctantly moves away from door under FELICITY’s gaze)
(Mike tries the door calmly – JACK in a panic)
JACK He’s locked it
Jeffery It was already locked, moron
Mike You came in that way – do you have the key?
M The key to what?
Mike The door
M The door… Oh the door!
Mike (to Dean) You say you work here. You must know how she came in.
Dean Coming in is easy. Its leaving that’s the problem
Jeffrey He doesn’t work here. Hes the same as the rest of us.
Sarah Which is what?
Mike Come on, you have to know. I came in that way too. But how to get out?
Dean Yes, that’s it. Teamwork! That's the key. There has never been teamwork before. Those who were smarter have come and gone.

Fixed their problems but didn't help the rest of us before they left....

All I know is that I want to get back to my life. My real life....
not this shit, not this undefinable nothing.

M Understand your fucking irony, people. You can leave this place. Jesus. I am stuck here.

FELICITY You can’t force others to see whatever you choose to see.

M No. I can if they think to listen to me.

FELICITY Some of them think too, when they are want to.

M If only I wasn’t trapped, I could tell them that here they are showing things that are buried in their past because it is safe.

FELICITY I understand. Look….

M I can’t. I am too mad.

FELICITY What you are seeing is your own brain whirling out of control.

M I am trapped here.

FELICITY No one is trapped. People escape from this place.

M But I just want to help them do that. I know how. Jesus. You are hiding pain. Look at how mean the jerk over there is. They are all self-serving. They are so simple… I am confused.

FELICITY You should be. All the mad thoughts going through your head. They are talking nonsense, you are talking confusion.

M Why don’t you explain to them. You can say it as I can’t…

FELICITY No. They have to do it on their own.
You all hold the solution. The mind is a small camera that can capture images and give them a voice. I urge you to take some snapshots and maybe they will stimulate your senses
Dean I am spinning on the inside and I can't find it. I know I left it around here somewhere. Id seen this book in one of the rooms and somehow I knew it held the answer for me. Where the fuck is it?

Jeffery Everything you’ve been doing has been done already. Nothing is new. You are trapped between a history already made and the future that you choose to make.
Dean Tucked in amongst two montrous books was a blue box. The box was a protective envelope to keep this book's pages, cover and fragile spine from becoming lost and broken forever.
(Psychodrama)

M You unfolded each flap of the box carefully until, there it lay. The tattered cover beautifully faded with the same image of random motion, marked by points of convergence, that we had decided was the construct of coincidence.
Dean I was running out of time and I had to place the book back in its case and decide to come back another day.

Jeffery When you went back you had forgotten where amidst the maze that room was. You felt very stupid didn’t you.
M But once you found it you knew that you had to share this little miracle with everyone.

Jeffery That was two days ago. Now there is no sign of it.

Dean I had proof that history is repetition

Jeffery And you let it go.

Dean I hate mysteries. I just want to know where it went. Books don't just damn well disappear.
M Books try to capture the moment so that life can extend into eternity. They are a reminder but like memory they can be misplaced, forgotten, burned, lost.
(Out of psychodrama)

Jeffery By the way. Ive been meaning to tell you. That blue book. That would be the one that I threw away a few days ago.
Dean Really? At least one of you has seen it. It exists. Did you happen to read the title? I don't speak German but maybe you do.
Jeffery Look .I did not say that to make you feel better. I said it to make you feel worse. Moron God eveyone around here is so pathetic. I THREW it AWAY. Get it!!!!!!!! Trash - ripped up - covered in tomato seeds.

Maybe I didnt see it! Ha! maybe I just imagined it! Anything can happen here cant it? Who knows when you saw it or even if you did. perhaps you dreamt it? Wanting attention.
M I hate this. Just sitting here waiting.
JACK How long do you have to wait?
Sarah Are we waiting?
Jeffery I’m not fucking waiting for anything
JACK Waiting for what?
Sarah Are we waiting for things to get worse or better?
M Oh definitely better. I’m not coming back here again. I'd rather die.
JACK Wait! Are we dead?You said you were in the car then you couldn’t remember anything…
Mike I don’t think I died….What does it feel like to be dead?
JACK Its like, you look on your life and for the first time you’re that person.
Mike I’ve removed myself but I don’t know who I am. I don’t think that’s being dead. I don’t feel dead.
FELICITY What do you feel?
Mike Scared and sad
Sarah The dead don’t feel anything
JACK ARGH! Just shut up. You all speak and speak. I can't stand it. I don't remember asking for this. If you can hear me, get me out.
I can't feel anything. I'm a puppet.
Jeffery I hold the strings.

Fancy that, you didn't even feel me tugging.

Can you feel me now?
JACK (ignoring Jeffrey and pursuing Mike) You must know if you are dead or not
Mike Do you? I think that you people are just going crazy. Thinking that we are puppets? Or dead? Dead puppets?
Sarah Tell us about what happened in the car
(Psychodrama) many voices join – Sarah and JACK, more and more extreme
Tell us about the car, the car…..
Mike (becomes more and more distant) I don’t remember….

Sarah He doesn’t remember. (angry) Why don’t you remember?
FELICITY I think we should get back to our minds images. That was helping us. (to Mike) Do you have a story to tell? Any story – doesn’t have to be about cars.
Mike Did I miss a story? A bedtime story? What's it about?
Oh, all right, I'll tell a story.

Once upon a time, there was a very blue planet. This planet had other sister and brother planets that liked to revolve around it. And as one year passed on the blue planet, several hundred years passed on its brothers' and sisters' surfaces.

And what else was there in the story? ... Oh yes.

The end.
Jeffery nice story..
Let me tell you a little story about Copernicus. He discovered that our Universe is not geocentred (blue-planet centred) but is in fact heliocentered.
Translation: "brother and sister" planets don't revolve around blue planet they all revolve around the sun. Everything revolves around the sun. Idiot.

Please tell stories that are relevant and try to remember what happens at the end.
FELICITY Who has other memories? What about this place? Who has been here the longest?
Dean He has. (to Jeffrey) He was always here. (Jeffrey storms off)
Dean There isn't much to say for the people that stay here. They are here for only a few nights, sometimes more, sometimes less but they always leave. I can rarely tell who stayed in which room, I guess it doesn't matter, after a while they all look the same. I always get the sense that what they leave behind is important ; you know like when You are travelling and you forget a piece of clothing or an earing or the telephone number of the person you were supposed to call.

These little fragments I filter and sometimes, just sometimes, I keep them.

These little items are what breaks the monotony of my days.
JACK How do you know they’re not coming back? What makes you so sure?
M The cat came back though we thought he was a gonna
Dean Well, Ive never seen anyone except her come back
Sarah I remember the first time I was able to open my eyes in here. How many days has it been now for you? I always thought you'd be among the first to go

Days? Weeks? Months? Who can tell in here?

I've started pulling my hairs out and leaving them on the floor for every time someone comes and goes...

... Nearly 2,000 hairs as I count them. That's a feat, isn't it? Heh, eventually it'll take me so long to count them that I'll need to pull another hair out before I finish counting. Wouldn't that be great!? Counting such a large number of days that it takes days to do it!

It's funny, though. I have no sense of time anymore..... it's all just another day.

M I have been here before so I know what we are supposed to do. Its ok, we have to work together and sort our problems out. Ok, I think its time to begin, everyone sit in a circle. (Tries to get everyone to sit down).
Dean We don’t have time for this right now
FELICITY What else do you have to do?
(Dean glares at her but does not react)
Jeffery Im not going to join in
M Do you want to tell us why you don’t want to sit in a circle?

Mike Come on lets just do it

JACK I don’t know….

M How does that make you feel (to Mike)?

Mike Im freaked out

M How do you feel (Dean)?
Dean I don't know about you but I work here. Any job will seem like it keeps you against your will but at least I have a purpose. I have plans though. I am not going to work here forever.

I am here a lot but I don't see much of any of you. But you are here.

I would love a cup of coffee.
Jeffrey You don’t work here. How many times do I have to tell you.
M I told you to sit down. We go through this every time.
JACK You two know each other?
M Of course we do. (Jeffrey sits)
(to Dean) How about you? How are you feeling?
Dean I have a girlfriend. I call her every night. I don't know why sometimes but I know that I have to. If I don't hear her voice she is lost. Somehow the way that she forms the words, wraps her tongue around tricky syllables assuages my guilt. Sometimes I think the phone calls are too regular. Too much the same.

I phone every day because I must try and mend what I have sown. For me each ring is a reminder.
Jeffery You phone everyday? God, don't you have anything better to do?

What morons some people can be
Mike Shut up, you jerk.

M Can we stay away from judgements please?

Mike You phone everyday? That's so sweet... I've been waiting for someone to call. I've been waiting for forever.

If they don't call, is it because I'm the big mistake?

(long pause)

Jeffrey Theres no way anoyone can call you here. He doesn’t call anyone every day. You are just off your head.
Felicity Stop it now. That doesn’t help.
M Quite right. Thank you.
Sarah I wish somebody would call me.
He used to call, everyday. He'd be so happy just to hear my voice.

"I just called to say I love you"

What is the point in that?
If you love me, then you love me. And I know that you love me. Why call to reassure it? to validate it? Just incase I forgot? Just in case you forget?

You love me.

Then you leave me.

It must not have ever been love at all. I think we were both too afraid of it to actually get it.

But then...why does it hurt so bad? That loss, him not around. It's like a part of me is missing.

That must be love.
(phone rings)
Jeffery I’m getting it

(M is angry that Jeffery gets the phone)

(on the phone) yes. No. No you cant just come here. That pretty fucking obvious isn't it. Where are you? You cant just call here. No Dean is not here. Go away.

Sarah (takes receiver from Jeffrey’s hand and listens)
No one there
(Puts phone down. She walks away. Phone rings again, Jeffrey picks it up )

Jeffrey What.

No he’s not here I told you already.
Dean Stop answering my fucking phone calls

Jeffery Moron.

Sarah Why do you do that? Who was it? Can we get calls here?

Jeffery (to Dean) Well, can we?

M Private calls are not allowed.

Jeffery No, we can’t. He’s fixed the system so it looks like someone cares. But no-one does.
Sarah Of course they do. Someone must. Doesn’t anyone ever visit us here? When are the visiting hours?
Felicity We’re not in a hospital
Jeffery You should be though (to Dean)
Dean Oh shut up.
Felicity Where do you think we are? Do you have some idea? (to Dean)
Dean I don’t know where we are or why. But I know we are here. And Ive tried to stay sane. That’s why I made the phone ring.
Jeffrey That makes you more insane, not less
Felicity Well you really are a great example to follow. (to Dean) Please carry on.
Dean Everyone is here for different lengths of time and they all have their way of dealing with it. Some count. I collect things. I figure once the things I collect amount to a story then I will leave here.

Each item I collect is a missing piece of the puzzle. Like those hairs on the floor. They’re part the puzzle aren't they?

Or memories. Here, the discarded and forgotten become the constellations of a new universe.

(DEAN PSYCHODRAMA: Dean, friend (Mary-Jane) and father (Jeffery) – voices in head)

J: Are you hearing what I'm saying?

D: Didn't you tell me to try really hard, to be the best? You made it sound important. (cheerfully)

J: It is important. Your head is in the clouds. Get back! You've got a family! You've got a career! You've got a job and a boss!

D: I'm shit. (still cheerful)

J: You're shit.

D: I'm compressed shit. I'm what people walk on all day. I'm what covers sidewalks. I am the sidewalk.

J: You're boring, you know that? You're broken. You've run out of oil.

D: Fuck you, I'm fine!

M: No you aren't. You're going to die, and there's nothing you can do about it.

J: Bang!

M: Just like that, you're lost.

J: And all those people with open mouths, waiting for you.

D: I am going to die.

J: Beep! Beep! Beep! There is a fire in the building, proceed to the nearest exit.

D: I'm not going to die.

M: You can't die because you're already dead.

J: Oh no, you're alive. Alive and well. They're dead. They're all dead. Your mother and brothers are dead you reckless bastard! How do expect to make up for that? You've got to live four times the life! And what are you? Shit.

D: I'm shit. Dead shit.

M: Delicious. Wake up Dean. What happened to you? We spent our days getting high, eating ice cream and watching cars go by until their lights were the brightest thing. Now you just work. Your infamous robot dance is you 24/7.

D: I just want to be...reliable.

J: You're a failure.

M: Come with me to happyland again. The big pie in the sky. Mmmmm burgers.

D: I just want to be...solid. Sure. I imagine a place where I wouldn't have to be...I guess that would be heaven, or whatever. But if I'm dead shouldn't I already be there?

M and J: Snap out of it!

D: I'm lost. and dead. lost. dead. shit. I'm breaking out.

M: I don't see you moving.

D: I am

M: Move!

D: Move!

(out of psychodrama)

(Dean to Felicity):
Im not going to forget anything when I leave this place.

He asked me how long I thought I would last. How long have I been here?

(silence)

Long enough to know I can leave.
(Dean exits)
JACK and Mike try the door immediately after he leaves. It is locked.
JACK I can't believe that he just up and left without hardly saying goodbye.

There is something invigorating about him just LEAVING; leaving us, leaving everything. trust. intact. a mess. organized.

Did you even notice which way he went? I don't think that we could even follow if we knew the way.

I hate goodbyes anyway
Jeffery I didn't see anyone leave. What the fuck are you talking about?

No one ever leaves.
Mike (to JACK) That guy did just leave

JACK Yes he did. People do seem to come and go here. How long has he been here?
M I come and go
Mike Have you been here before?
M Im always trying to get out of here and then I do
Mike How do you go? How long are you here for each time?
M Depends on the number of doors (moves out of one of the doors to the inside)
Mike (to Jack) How long have you been here?
JACK I don’t remember you coming.
Mike We must have come at the same time (to Jeffery) How long have you been here?
JACK Yeah. How long?

Silence
Mike How long? We’re asking everyone. Please tell us.

Jeffery Can you hear me? Can you hear ME? Don't come back. Don't think about returning. Don't you dare tell anyone else about us.
Silence

Mike What is that saying: "They can't hear anything for the silence?" Or is it "but the silence?"

What a useless waste of time.

Sarah I can't hear the background over the din. Someone said that a minute ago didn't they?
M (re-enters the room) Does anyone want a cup of coffee? I found some in one of the rooms. Some milk. Seemed fresh. That means someone put it there.
JACK I’ll have some. (takes the coffee) I quite like it here.
Jeffery LOOK around you... What do you see?

I see only emptiness.
Sarah (to Mike)

Once upon a time, there was a very blue planet. This planet had other sister and brother planets that liked to revolve around it. And as one year passed on the blue planet, several hundred years passed on its brothers' and sisters' surfaces.
Mike How do you know that story?
Sarah You just told it
Mike Oh. I did…Wait – The Blue Planet was their rock. The force that kept their family of planets
together. The other planets took the Blue Pllanet for granted, never
realizing how much strength it took for him to keep the others grounded.
More and more the Blue Planet began to feel drained, tired, unloved. It
started to turn darker until it was completely black. The other planets
could no longer see their brother and without him they drifted, spinning out
of control into the void of space. The Blue Planet began to realize how much
his brother and sisters needed and depended upon him. He had to save them.
So with all his might, he grew brighter and hotter and bigger and stronger
pulling all of his siblings out of the void. And he did. Every one of them.
They they never took him for granted again. The end.
Sarah I cannot fall asleep. I cannot dream.
I dream of being separate, of being part of everything. there is nothing like a mischievious dream that fades away as the sunshine washes into your head.

I dream of being asleep while I am awake and awake while I am dreaming.
Mike I fall asleep when I'm awake, though. I did that today.

Do people really come and go? Inside and outside?
There was a wall…a garden wall. Outside. Wet moss and leaves….. cedar bark?
Sarah Cedar bark…I want dreams of magical places, I want out of body dreams, timeless dreams.
The dreams I’m having now remind me. I don’t want to remember.
Mike I think we are being toyed with. How can we tell we are all here for the same reason? (to Felicity). How do you know so much? You seem to know what to do. But if you do, why are you here?
Felicity Good question. You are here because you cant see the reason for being here and I am here because I can.
JACK Oh God does no-one speak straight around here? When I blink an eternity passes. Should I not blink?
M Hickory Dickory Dock. The mouse ran up the clock.
...a ten minute bus ride and a five minute walk...

...a five minute walk and a ten minute bus ride...

...a fifteen minute walk...

...a fifteen minute bus ride...

...about 4 minutes to hail a cab, 9 minutes there, 2 minutes to pay...

that's all it would take to escape...

JACK Riddles? Is this what we're supposed to revert to because we can't find explanations?
Just tell me I'm not the only one that feels like this?
(Jack exits into interior)
FELICITY Remind me of that story you were telling?
Jeffery Shut up
Mike Who are you talking to? Which story?
FELICITY I only heard the first part of your story. I want you to tell me the end before you forget. Continue.
Mike What story?

I dreamed... blackness.

This is silly. Blackness? What a dream.
Sarah Everything is black
Felicity Not everything is black.
M No. People wear different coloured coats.
Sarah I love blackness. It covers up the whole face of the world and shuts you in, holds you, and lulls you to sleep.
Entrapment. You feel that right in your chest, the tightness.

I cannot sleep because my dreams destroy me. They force me to remember.
Felicity You are trapped in a dream. What happens when dreams blur with consciousness? Don’t stay trapped. There is a way out. What can you see? Dreams are stories.

Sarah I love stories. Please tell us a pretty bedtime story. Tell us a story about fragrant wild roses after rain.

FELICITY Yes please do (to Mike). Something about a blue planet?

Mike Oh allright.Once upon a time. There was a very blue planet……Then there was blackness… But before that there were trees…..
Sarah You used to put your head on my shoulder. I would be reading. Pretending it was nothing. I loved having you nested in the crook of my shoulder. And now that you are gone. I can’t cast away this image that I have of you without losing something of myself.
Mike That’s lovely. He’s a lucky guy.
(pause)
I’m not comfortable anymore. I never was. I want to get out. There’s something wrong about being here.

Sarah No, it’s nice.
Felicity Can you remember anything else? Before the blue planet?
Sarah He cant remember. He doesn’t want to remember and nor do I.
Mike Do I know you?
Sarah It seems not
Mike I don’t remember.
Felcity Never apologize for forgetting. It’s not your fault that you can’t remember.

Sarah I wish I could forget. I want to twist my body inside out and become completely new. No connections, no attachments, to anything, anyplace or anyone.

FELICITY Why do you want to forget? Have you done things you regret? Regret is a gift, don’t give it away.

Sarah No one just forgets for no reason. There has to be a reason.

I stood with my back against the wall. His breath choking me. Words secreted. I can’t get away. Fuck off, I say. He moves closer. I smell the sweet stench of his sweat. I want to extinguish it. A single bead of his sweat falls on me and I start crying. His laughter fills my ears. I say it again. His whole presence invades me. For a second I lose my grasp.
He never came home that day. I would imagine seeing him. Leaping into his arms. But afraid. Afraid that he wouldn’t want me to touch him. That his arms would be limp in mine. That I repulsed him. Better to forget. He wouldn’t want me now, anyway.

Jeffery Oooooh ooohh that’s good - Ha ha ha.
FELICITY Stop it.
Jeffery (to Felicity) Don’t tell me to stop. Who do you think you are? (to Sarah) So you think your bloke wont touch you now? I see your point. You probably led the other guy on.
(Felicity tries to stop Jeffrey who lunges at her and pulls her to the ground
The others haul him off.)
Felicity (recovers and embraces Sarah. Jeffrey moves away)
Sarah Too many questions. I want to forget, and I want to start again.
He left me six weeks ago. Well its used to be six weeks ago. Now I don’t know anymore.

I stayed inside, devastated, alone. Every move I made reminded me of him.

I stopped answering the phone, didn't open the blinds. I laid in bed holding on to the smell of him. It was still in the sheets. I didn't check my mail during that time; the letters and bills piled under the door. I suppose I could have, would have stayed that way, if my sister didn't threaten to come and break the door down. When I emerged, there was a letter. Many letters. But yes, a letter.
Who was it from? I should have opened it earlier. I didn’t dare reach for it.
Do you know how it feels to be tied down? To be locked in; heart, body and soul?
FELICITY In the end everyone is free. Darkness and silence bring the ability to hear time move. To see yourself. Only those who know themselves can move on.
Jeffrey (to M) Who is she trying to impress, spouting off like that. Everyone is trying to ignore her, can’t you tell? Jesus, some people are so full of themselves.
M Stop it!. Face your fears in your fucking subconscious. Face them here.

Jeffery Face what? Christ. Everyone’s just begging, like driveling dimwits, “Hear me, hear me, talk to me, I’m scared, I’m lonely, I want to talk to someone.” Everyone in here is so full of themselves that they can’t hear anything else. Shut up everyone!
Felicity She;s right. It is important to face your fears. You just have to know what they are.
Jack (re-enters during last speech) . This place is huge. Why do we choose this room to be in? I cant find the way out. I got lost. Would rather be with people. Im sick of it. What are we supposed to do?
Felicity First you have to imagine. The worst and then much more. The loss so unspeakable I cant describe it further. Then, take what you fear losing about yourself and tear it to shreds. Let it go. When it comes back to you it has changed, morphed into something beautiful but if you never let it go and keep it in its cocoon. no beauty will come of it.
M
There was a crow, or a picture of one. The last time I dreamed...which was a month or a day ago...can't tell in the dark well I was here, but...no...I was on my way somewhere, but, it was LIKE here. Nowhere, like here, only it was open, not closed. Not all black but all light, so light all white, and just...bright you had to squeeze your eyes just to see more white - it is weird having a dream with your eyes closed about your eyes straining wide open ...so weird...I was walking, and someone was behind me, they were supposed to be leading the way but they were just too slow. I tried to wait but the slower I went, the slower they went, but we had to keep moving, right? So I led as best I could, I kept asking for guidence as I pushed forward, but I couldn't speak the language - I couldn't pick words, or they could understand. It began to grow darker and I grew afraid. I descided that I liked the light better then the dark, so I turned back, but it didn't change. But the light was gone, and I missed it. In the dark I was afraid to move, in the light I was searching.

It was then that I noticed my guide was gone. I felt guilty almost, never noticing, not caring. he must have been as lonely, searching, like me. So I sat down...and cried. When all my tears were gone, and the blackness complete...I began painting pictures in my head and slowly I began to feel my guide was back, but curious and offended. He didn't like me anymore but he liked my pictures. I drew everything I could picutre. But I was never happy with my paintings, but then I painted a final picture for him...of the light I remembered.

It was a crow, dancing...My guide, My silent spectator, had given something to me. A crow...(laugh) a fucking dancing crow...back and forth...left to right...like that fucking hamster...only left right left right… And I just suddenly felt the urge to dance. I danced into a frenzy...and the light came on...and I began to run with excitement. and my guide was leading from behind again. Only in the light the dark isn't so scary. It is kind of comforting.

Felicity A dancing crow. Where I've heard it, a crow means death.
Jack How does this help us?
Felicity I don’t know but it might help her.

Mike I think the Blue planet is in the Zoo.
Sarah What did you say?
Felicity Why is the Blue planet in the zoo?
Mike I don’t know. I just remember birds and animals had something to do with the blue planet story. Children. I think it was a planetarium. Yes that’s what it was. The Blue planet is in the planetarium.
Felicity Next to the zoo!
M My cousin likes hamsters. He had a pair, and they rapidly multiplied into 10, 30,...

But he was bad at caring for them... He over-cared, if there's such a word. After he bathed them, he was worried that they would catch a cold.

He used a hairdryer to dry them.

He had 7 left after awhile.

Jeffery Squawk Squawk...You crows in the blackness. The crowing of Liars! What? Are you all going to crow some more imaginings now. HA! And to think, nothing better to do then blab about nothing..
Silence

M Why do you have to be so angry all the time? Talk to me

Jeffery Why? Youre just crazy. A fucked up, washed up user
Silence
(M cries. Jeffery moves away abruptly)

FELICITY (to Jeffery) Why don’t you apologise?
Jeffery Why don’t you stop trying to talk to me?
FELICITY Fine. Someone tell another story. We have to move on from this.
Blackout
JACK Alright. I will. Here goes. I was just driving by and heard the shots. I could see two men with guns and a whole group of people scattering. And. I. Don't know why. But. I stopped and got out.

Jeffery Are you stupid? Most normal people aren't drawn to gunfire.

JACK You weren't there. There was desperation in those shots. A far cry from humanity. A plea.

Jeffery It's all in your head.

JACK Am I telling this story or are you?
Someone was bargaining with the killers. (pause) Fourteen shots. Seven dead.

Jeffery And it is such a tragedy because/

FELICITY Because they were human beings. With potential.

Jeffery Potential for what?

JACK- Anything.

JACK- No one deserved to die like that.

Jeffery- Not even ruthless criminals? Why?

You clearly haven't thought this through/

JACK- well then why don't you say/

Jeffery- They have equal potential at every point for good and evil. Why is one greater than the other?

JACK- Because they were taken without having the opportunity to decide.

Jeffery- And of course the papers and their friends will say that they were on the honour roll, and that they volunteered at

the local food drive, etc, etc. (pause) Such a tragedy. Why is it that their deaths inflate what they did and mask their

ugliness?

FELICITY Why don’t you let him finish?

Jeffery- Why don’t you stay out of it?
If I died I would hate to be remembered as a sweet and caring soul whose love extended, bla bla bla.

M Ha ha ha

Jeffery- Why do we have to make things more than what they are? So that we can blubber and carry on? Nothing more than this.

JACK- Yeah, well, I think we do it to make the world make a little more sense. Who gives a fuck if we are lying to ourselves?

(Silence)

A little lie can make the truth so much more bearable.

(pause)

Jeffery- I would like to think that I would leave them there to be killed. Not the other way around 'cause you know why?

JACK- Why?

Jeffery- Because fuck them, thats why.
Felicity: Why can’t you just let him tell his story? All you can do is leak poison all over them. I’m sick of it. I’m tired of you. Can you tell me what is wrong with you?

Jeffery: Why can’t you just stay the hell out of everyone’s business?

Felicity: Can you answer me? Can you tell me what is wrong with you?

Jeffery: What is wrong with you? If you are so fucking knowledgable why don’t you help yourself and get the fuck out of here?

Felicity: I don’t need to be here. I’m surprised at how little you know after so long.. I’m surprised by how little you can change... Are you the smallest person here?

Jeffery: (non vocal cue of dismissal)

Felicity: (finally loses her temper and becomes vicious): I will leave you here.

(Jeffery storms off)

Silence

Felicity Sorry. Please continue.
JACK Every time you turn on the TV and watch someone die in your favourite movie what do you do? Do you tell the person next to you in the film house to call the police?

Everything is being held in such a fine, fragile balance. It takes only a second for things to change. Those moments come more often now.

I don't seek them out anymore. They find me.

FELICITY The way you told us the story it, it was as if it had really happened. Not on TV

Next time, you should be clearer about what you're talking about and stop misleading people.

JACK The only person I misled was you. Can't I make up anything that I want? When dreams blur with consciousness, what have you then?
Mike That was a terrible thing to make up. You haven’t lived it. Inhuman. Sick.
JACK And you are just so full of action. What have you been able to accomplish? Nothing. I least I have been looking for something. A way out perhaps.

Maybe thats all you are, all talk and no action. Is that what you are?
Felicity Why did you need to make up a story. To pretend something horrific like that?
Jeffery I remember the days where we would string people up by the wrists, and hang them in the dungeons all week, whipping them with hooked strips of leather. Those were glorious days.
You, see, understand him. Its fun.
Sarah You are sick
Jack Im not like you. Don’t think I did it for the same reasons you would
Felicity Why then? Why not tell a real story?
Jack No-one would be interested. Nothing happened in my life.
Felicity Sometimes telling stories is no more than remembering the tune you wake with - that you know you've been singing in your sleep?
Mike Have I been singing?
JACK I used to count time by singing songs. Of course, I have no way of knowing how long the songs I am humming in my head are, but when I thought I was alone here, it helped me to keep going. Singing into my head - although sometimes I know I was singing out into the darkness. I used to imagine people were here but silent because they were listening...
Jeffery There is no one here except me. You are all figments of my imagination.
Silence

Mike Excuse me, you're... you're...you're such a tyrant. Im going to sleep.

Jeffery Hahaha, there's no need to go to sleep. You're already asleep. Half your mind is asleep. You don't know anything. You don't remember anything.
Mike It's not as if I have a choice. I'm trying to remember. You can't bear it if anyone makes more sense than you do.
JACK There is always a choice or are you going to tell me that I was fated to be here?

M The sense we make of anything is a construction. Patterns in nature are only patterns because we see them as such; if you think someone is making more sense than another its because you identify with them and not the other.

Sense is a sensibility that makes no sense. If you can make sense of this it's because you have forgotten to use your senses. What sense can come of no sense?
Nonsense
One thousand and one. one thousand and two. one thousand and three. one thousand and five. one thousand sixteen. one thousand one hundred. one thousand two hundred. one thousand one hundred forty. one thousand seven hundred fifty. two thousand and one. two thousand and two. two thousand four hundred and seven. three thousand. and one.
Jeffrey Ok, you can stop that now because its very annoying
M
There once was a man from Nantucket,
Who kept all his marbles in a bucket,
But his daughter, named Nan,
Ran away with a man,
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.

Mike I've heard that somewhere before...
Jeffery It is a limerick you blumbering fool. They are instantly identifiable. Perfectly planned pentad anapestic poetry, as my teacher used to say. Da da da-da-da (hums out a lymric)
JACK It was a bad limerick. Who kept all his marbles in a bucket...there is one too many. And on the second one. Ignorance
Mike I'm not supposed to be here.

There's so many better things to do with my time. Why should I be here? I should get out soon. I'm going to get out soon.
Everyone around here seems to revel in the comfortable quiet. Comfortable darkness. And here I am struggling with a reality that is unbearable. My life is like a word that is always on the tip of your tongue. It has a shape and sound in my mind but when it trys to emerge. Silence.
Sarah Somehow I forget his name. I swore I would never forget it. Not after what happened.
Mike The darkness was strange, for me, right from the start.

I'm not comfortable anymore. I want to get out of here. There's something wrong about being here.
FELICITY Look. Instead of something you saw on the television, instead of trying to impress, why don’t you tell us something real. Something true

JACK- Who cares? Nothing is true.

(pause)

FELICITY-. Right. Who does? But you want to get out of here. You want to know about where we are. You want to know that truth.

JACK Of course

FELICITY Well, listen then. I’ll give you a clue. This place functions at full capacity when everyone arrives at a sort of break with traditional time

JACK- Ok. I can see that.

FELICITY – What else do you know about this place?

JACK Well not just everyone can come here, like any public place. To get in you must have a sort of permission or it’s a punishment. Dunno what it is. And I don’t know how you get out.
FELICITY What sort of permission do you need? What are you being punished for?

JACK- I don’t know. It just feels that way.
What use is all this?

FELICITY- There are laws of nature, knowable to us/

JACK- Laws, bla-bla-bla. Why don’t you talk straight? Why should I listen to you?

FELICITY- I am older than you. I have studied these ideas endlessly.

JACK- Whats the point in ideas when it doesn’t get us anywhere. Thinking is just standing still.

FELICITY- What reason do you have not to trust me?

JACK- I don't trust anyone.

FELICITY Why not?

JACK- Lets talk about something else. This is boring.

FELICITY- It's important. Everything you see around you is somehow connected to the understanding that I am trying to teach you. You must learn these things or else be doomed to/

JACK- To what? I was never going to do any good.

(FELICITY moves towards JACK)

JACK- DON'T COME ANY CLOSER. Back off. You think you know what I should learn, and do. You don't know shit.

(silence)

FELICITY- I am only trying to help you.

JACK- How? Why?
FELICITY You have so much potential
JACK Ive heard that before
FELICITY And its true
JACK What are you supposed to do with potential?

(JACK PSYCHODRAMA - JACK’s Mother played by Felicity – depressed, reading a letter to JACK)
The best thing for me to do is leave. You will understand when youre older. You have so much potential and Im the one who is dragging you back. I want to remove myself from you so you have no more excuses. I know you will do great things. No-one else is likely to come close. It will hurt you if I go but I am useless to you. I am obsolete. You must forget me.
(out of psychodrama)
JACK This is utter crap. I wont be what you want. I don’t care what you want. Im going to do what I want.
(JACK exits)
Jeffery Why are you staring at me like that?
Mike Because you know someone else just left and each time it freaks you out because its not you. And you don’t know why or how they leave.
Sarah And you’ve been here for years. Havent you?
M Leave him alone
Mike Why defend him. He’s awful to you.
M He doesn’t mean it – do you? (to Jeffrey). It takes me all the time Im in here to make him listen and then I leave and he stays here.
Felicity Take him with you this time
M Whats wrong with you? Why wont you talk to anyone. It has to be boring.
Jeffrey You never did get it. But youre alright. The only one that ever was. Youre ok now arent you?
M I guess
Jeffrey I mean youre making sense now. You work it all out each time. Why do you come back again?
M God, they all ask that. If I knew I don’t suppose Id be here. If you know what I mean.
Jeffery You really are very funny when youre nuts though. Take some more stuff and come back soon wont you?
M No. Never again. Im not coming back. I don’t want to stop time again. Its like a cemetary. The only point is disappearance and dissolution.
FELICITY That’s not the only point.
M For some of us, its what we want at the time. Time to stop.

Mike I remember when time stopped. I was walking in the park with my love. It was as if... everything slowed down just for us.
But then, I don't remember anything that happened after the car…
(Sarah and Mike PSYCHODRAMA)

Sarah: walking. feeling dirt. sun warmed dirt.

Mike: my turn. wet leaves. soft moss. smell of wet cedar bark.

Sarah. fragrant wild rose after rain

Mike. Stop. no floweryness, literally or figuratively. My turn. More dirt. This time between toes. The feeling on the backs of my eyes as the sun flickers.

Sarah. that's flowery too.

Mike. no it's not. it's exactly like that. That's one of my favourite things in the park domain.

Sarah. well, how about this. your wet lips. [kiss]

Mike. Yeah, that's alright.

Sarah. Alright? How about this?

Mike not bad. What do you think of this?

Sarah. s'alright. Your hair tickles.

Mike:come on, let's get out of here;it's really pouring.

Sarah: I wanna stay. I like the rain. What a perfect moment this is..

Mike: you can't keep it. It was there, now it's gone. Let's go.
Sarah: What do you mean let’s go?
Mike: we’ve had a nice time. It’s been beautiful all day, but now it’s raining, so let’s go.
Sarah: I know it’s been nice. It’s still nice. I’m just asking to stay a bit longer, what difference does it make now? We’re already soaked.
Mike: this difference that it makes is that I’m ready to get out of here.
Sarah: ready to get out of where?
Mike: don’t take it there, you know what I mean.
Sarah: No I don’t know what you mean. Why don’t you explain it to me? you want to leave. What is it you want to leave? What could you possibly need that you don’t have right now?
Mike: I’m not getting into this with you again. I’m tired. I’m wet. I’m cold. I want to go home. C’mon. wet lips? (embraces her against a garden wall in park, tries to kiss)
Sarah: fuck off. (gently)
Mike: (laughs) then how bout just fuck? Another reason to get out of this rain.
[she is not amused, doesn’t want to leave, bit of a struggle]
Sarah: fuck off
Mike: Why not fuck? Why. Do. We. Never. Fuck?
(out of psychodrama)
Mike her. leaving. STOP. the car. the park. Buddy? Glass. the park. black.
blackness. "Sir, can you hear me?" "Sir?" wet. blood. "Sir?" glass. Oh. her.
"You've just been in an accident." where? "Sir?" the car. time. still
raining. sleep. I'm tired. Buddy? soaked. I'm soaked. blue. and black. my
head. I can't hear you. "Sir?" in the park. in the black. on the street.
near the lake. blood in the glass. Stop. Buddy. stop. stop.
(Blackout)
(Reads letter which has been with her all the time)
I want to read you this letter. After weeks of being in that room I found it. But it wasn’t from my love. It was from him.

I hate to be the one to tell you but everything you feared has come true. I have tried calling to no avail and when I went by your place everything was neat and tidy but I couldn't find you. Do you think that I would forget about you and stop looking for you?
He doesn’t remember you, anymore. But I do.

Mike The Blue planet…..
Sarah What are you saying?
Mike I went to the Blue planet in the planetarium. After the park. To make me feel better. To escape. It was raining. Then the car crash. Then blackness….. Its you.
Sarah Yes, its me.
Mike Why didn’t you say so?
Sarah Because you wouldn’t recognise me if I did. Like a stranger. That’s colder than empty.
Mike And because of the guy
Its not your fault
(Mike and Sarah exit)

M Well, they’ve gone. Not many of us left. And no new ones. For a while anyway. Sometimes its easy to figure out who is toying with you and sometimes not.

Anything can happen in here. Its always different.
Did the cat come back and get your tongue. Foolish to think that your idle utterings could silence people in the dark.

Although I must say it has been rather quiet in here lately.

Who wants attention the child that is silent or the child that yells at the others, calls them morons, and puts their nose where it doesn't belong?

If only you knew what I dream about. That would shut you up. By the way, wipe the sweat off your brow, and for god sake cover your arms around here. We don't want anyone mistaking you for a raving loon.
Jeffery I just want to sit quietly. Will you just go away?

M You just don't see it, do you? You think that the answer lies somewhere, that it has a visible and tangible form that you can see or lay your hands on. And you think that the answer will "show" you the way. Grow up. You are here and the way is what you are going to have to work out yourself. Action. Not sitting around, waiting for the solution to fall from the sky.

The perfect solution for everything hangs out there in the distance, one huge glistening ice sculpture that people can’t see.

It is easy. I am adaptable. I go with the flow. I react according to what the situation demands. I am not tied down. I am alone though. I locked myself out of my room today. Can't believe I still do things like that.

Couldn't find my keys. Silly. Found them though. Last place I looked. I also found the key if you want out.

Sorry for making you wait.

Jeffery What is this key supposed to do? Do you really think that this key will be the solution to your ridiculous and useless existence? Why do you keep coming back? If I left this place Id never return.
M I like you, you idiot. Why don’t you come with me this time?
(Jeffery tries to follow but cant pass through the door)
FELICITY You have to know what to unlock. You tell me that and youre on your way.There’s nothing on the other side of that door for you but more of the same.
Silence
Jeffery Youre fucking cheerful. Ha ha! No hope for me then.
FELICITY It is your choice
Jeffery We don’t get to choose anything. Its all set out before us. And always will be.
(JEFFERY PSYCHODRAMA - Jeffery’s aunt is played by Felicity and Jeffery’s father by Jeffery himself)

Aunt Whats wrong with him? Sitting there not speaking for hours. I think you should talk to him.

Father Why? What good does it do? He’s weak. He will always be weak. Something wrong with him. I did think once that he might have some potential. But not anymore. I gave up hope long ago.

Aunt Well he’s your responsibility. When Joan was dying I told her Id make sure you could cope. But I never offered to take him.

Father This is the 5th time this week he’s been beaten up. Kids are like animals. It’s survival of the fittest. And what is he fit for?
Aunt Listen, he’s your son.
Father Always Joans more than mine.

Aunt Joan pampered him too much as a baby. Is he still wetting himself? Joan told me he was always doing that.

Father Oh for Christ’s sake. Please don’t tell me anymore. I have to just pretend he’s not my son. It’s the only way to bear it.

(Back to Office scene)

FELICITY Without dreams. Without hope. Without a faint glimmer of anything but what is right in front of you. I wish I could change something for you. But I cant.

Jeffery You fool.

Fuck you

You have no clue

No clue atall. Not really surprising. What the fuck do you expect? You sniveling little children, wondering around with your SMALL problems. Try being told you aren’t quite there, again and again. Like you are an alien. Like everyone else knows the scheme, the plot, the rules but not you. You are left slithering around in the mud wondering what happened when the latest person just kicked you in the stomach.

Now I know what to do.

You have no fucking clue.

You should have noticed what was happening here long ago. Everyone begging, ‘ hear me hear me, talk to me, Im scared, Im lonely, I want to talk to someone’. Don’t make me the same as them. That wasn’t the point.
FELICITY Who are you talking to? There’s no one left to bully.
(FELICITY moves to front of stage and sits)

The first time I left, felt like heaven. But I went back when I could. To help, you see. To help them leave.

In the end, I lost my patience and left him there. I had tried so hard to help him. I did my best to befriend him and help him come back, but he never truly changed. Leaving him was the first and only time I remember acting out of vengeance towards somebody.

I may go back one day. I haven't been able to find the time recently.

I might go back; to see what has happened; to see if my poor friend is still trapped.

Notes from Last Session: Nov 30th

2005-12-05T12:12:00.000-05:00

I am going to summarize what we came up with for this session now, and later below I'm going to write what the future direction will be. The purpose of this session was to finalize structure and character relations for the play so that writing can occur over the holiday break, and the play will be finished in the editing session on January 8th.

CHARACTER RELATIONSHIPS

We further defined the relationships between the characters
Dean - Dustin
FWO - Adam
Tyrant - Caroline
The Promised One - Joanne
Buddy - Caitlin
Amnesiac - Chris
Seeker - Shawn
Anonymous - Grace and Kelsey

The above are the assigned characters to work on as of now - I will change them if responsibilites change. Click on the character's names to go to their individual pages where you can read and write posts about them.

The character groups that are well defined are
Buddy, Amnesiac - married
FWO, Seeker, TPO, Tyrant - past and future different versions of eachother. Also, the Tyrant is his own father.
Dean - not related yet to the rest of everyone else. This is actually my responsibility, so I'll figure this out.

We didn't define it too much, but these characters may be related to eachother in the actual world, or may only represent the characters they are similiar to in each character's individual psychodramas. This is somewhat visualized by this picture below, except all circles would wrap around and intersect eachother wherever there was a matching similiar character.

Each circle represents the characters own life, as shown in the psychodramas, where they intersect with characteristics of the other characters.

STRUCTURE (aka how the play works):

The play will begin as people in a space (after the initial office scene), who then are elevated to another level, and start realizing there are other consciousnesses there. Portions of the polylogue will be inserted as appropriate, and progressive psychodramas will occur one after another. A character will transition into the psychodrama as appropriate for their character and the polylogue going on around them. Characters will be taken from the play for the psychodrama purposes and fulfill roles for the central character for that moment, based on their archetypes. Each psychodrama should, in some way, build on the state of mind of the previous one until we come to a final moment. The final moment should not be the choice of creating the new normal or not, it should be realizing that the choice exists.

PROGRESSION

The above picture shows the progression of the play. I'm going to clarify everything below so that nothing is missed.

The plays takes place on the set of an office, specifically with cubicle walls that are shorter than normal so people can see eachother.

The play begins with office talk. [I came up with the office talk occuring while the house is filling, either improvised or repetitive or something else, and once everyone is seated then the play begins shortly.]

Then the portion of the polylogue begins with
FWO: Can you hear me?
.
.
.

The main body of the play then proceeds, with polylogue fragments interspersed between psychodramas, as below.

-TYRANT
- first to maintain his presence, stuck.
- assertion of power
- What if the FWO imposes himself within this psychodrama?
POLYLOGUE FRAGMENT -unfamiliarity, fear of tyranny.
- AMNESIAC
- car accident
POLYLOGUE FRAGMENT -why? confusing and questioning.
- SEEKER - questions the situation.
NOTE: the theme of the three psychodramas up to this point have been confusion. The next ones will be more informative.
POLYLOGUE FRAGMENT - question escape.
- DEAN - there is no escape. Specific.
POLYLOGUE FRAGMENT - desolation, desperation.
- BUDDY - lonely story (husband left?)
- victimization
- POLYLOGUE FRAGMENT - troubled
- THE PROMISED ONE - potential, always put in a position of responsibility.
This part of the play is where excitement will build
- TPO/Tyrant/FWO parallel lives "fight". Seeker may also be involved as well.
- Buddy/Amnesiac confrontation.
- FLAWED WISE ONE - always helping, finally leaves someone behind?
The Choice?
- Fin -

Note: We talked about the aspect of the psychodramas being involuntary versus voluntary. Maybe they can become more voluntary as the play progresses.

BEFORE THE EDITING MEETING (aka OVER THE BREAK):
What needs to be done?
- Psychodramas need to be written and constructed
- Interspersed polylogue fragments need to be arranged

What will be done at editing meeting?
- Final look-over.
- Office Talk.
- TPO/Tyrant/FWO and Buddy/Amnesiac moments will be finalized (not sure how much work will be done over the break on them).
- The Ending will be written.

So roles are responsibilities for the characters you are assigned to are:
1) Get a better feel of your character (a "sketch" if you will)
2) Construct a psychodrama to act out with your character as the centre
3) Find fragments of the polylogue from any character or time that fit in before or after your psychodrama. These will be put together in the final editing session.

- Make sure you post rough drafts of your psychodramas and polylogue fragments so we can see and comment on them. Email me to let me know you have too.

Go forth and write!

RANDOM:

Shawn found this essay on Foucalt's Heterotopia. It sounds very similiar to the space we are talking about, check it out.

Someone (Shawn also) brough up a playwright named John Mighton. He is a mathematician and philosopher, and also a playwright. Apparently he's done some interesting stuff.

Notes from Session 9: Nov 23rd

2005-11-24T10:49:00.000-05:00

At this point in the Time Project, we are moving towards a structure for the play, and a final script, as well as final characters. We talked more about practical aspects this week, with character development and play structure, as well as set ideas. Each person has been assigned a character (links to the character's page from the name)

Dean - Dustin
FWO - Adam
Tyrant - Caroline
The Promised One - Joanne
Buddy - Caitlin
Amnesiac - Chris
Seeker - Shawn
Anonymous - Grace and Kelsey

I'm going to post the notes on each page respectively that we made for the characters in this session. What you should do over the week for these characters is develop the life, personality and backstory. Also, you should switch from whatever character you were using in the past on the blog to your new one now.
The development of the character should come through a monologue, dialogue with another character (you write both), or a psychodrama that they are re-enacting using the cast as players. Post this monologue on the character page so everyone can see and comment on it.

So, on to PLAY STRUCTURE
- hard to find a direction for the play, in the abscence of a supreme writer as GOD.
- can we see the writer are work in the play?

WHAT IS THE SHARED SPACE?
- A shared space as a way of excaping time, or thier surroundings. They find themselves there together. Some people were looking for it (FWO, Seeker), some just fell into it.
- Once you are in control, can you leave? Is this "way out" to realize it's not a prison?

WHAT IS THE SETTING?
- Classroom, Headspace, Black Space, Compartements?
- We came up with the idea of an office space, with cubicles that are cut to be 1 - 2 feet high. [picture] This shows false exclusion, even while people are all in the same space. They are also able to transcend the cubicle walls.

WHAT HAPPENS?
- Vignettes within the play
- Re-enact other people's memory (psychodrama)
- Recognizeable action, unrecognizeable dialogue.

WHAT IS THE ACTION OF THE PLAY?
Office Talk
Office Talk
Office Talk
Lighting Change. First few lines of polylogue:
FWO: Can anyone hear me?
Seeker: I can hear you but only in my head and I cannot feel or see you, are those important?
...
etcetera
- Characters have all transcended the spaces where they are for particular reasons and with certain methods (need to elaborate - that is what we do this week) get the rest of the cast to perform psychodramas of thier experiences (also based on backstory)

HOW DOES IT PROGRESS AND END?
- Monologues, Dialogues
- Shared consciousness as a gift?
- Play must end with the possibility of incorporating, not with incorporation (or NOT?)
- People are trying to be understood in their dialogue - need personal revelations.
- As we near the end, revelatory monologues should come like dominoes...to a final conclusions that could go either way.

MOMENT - Letter being passed from character to character over a wall.

Notes from Session 8: Nov 16th

2005-11-17T20:06:00.000-05:00

“We’ve all been brought here for a purpose, we don’t know what it is, but we need to escape.”

CHARACTERS
- I have set up a post for each character, so we can write more about them. Click on the character on the side bar on the right to post something.

POLYLOGUE. Link.

Ned: edited polylogue to bring out best lines, aka “babies”, and its sounds like a poem:
(scroll past this to see more session notes)

Can anyone hear me?
I think I know where I am, but I’m confused about where you are?
Identify yourself?
I am a self too…I think
You are a whisper in the darkness that has been forgotten
Funny, I just remembered the taste of walnuts.
Everyone quiet down, I can’t hear the background over the din.
We are here for a reason.
What is it?
And…how can we escape?
Lets move closer.
Would anyone else like to come with me?
How do I know you aren’t me?
I was just in my car, fast asleep.
LISTEN to your SELVES
I am going to impose the threat of meaninglessness on all future comments.
I enjoy the challenge.
Who is guilty and when are they guilty.
I am looking for the rules so that I can begin to punish.
I don’t mean what I said.
I was walking in the park with my love, and that day time certainly stopped.
My husband left me six weeks ago.
Every movement I made reminded me of him.
I lived off tears, I think.
When I emerged, there was a letter.
I should have opened it earlier.
But, everything you feared has come true.
Did you think that by forgetting it would leave you blank?
I hate living with possibility, negation, guess-work.
Please answer this letter.
I haven’t had a breath of fresh air in days.
When will it end?
Who do you think you are? Weren’t you there, didn’t you look into their eyes?
You know what’s going on so stop being naïve.
I remember then and now.
What’s so bad? We are warm enough – not hungry or tired, there is no pain…I know I am not in pain, at least.
IF someone would just, if I could just, I dunno…laugh…laugh at me.
No
There has never been teamwork before. Those who were smarter have come and gone.
Don’t do that to me!
All I know is that I want to get back to my life.
I’ve been here too long!
The mind is a small camera
Take some snapshots
Tonight I almost witnessed someone hit by a car on their bike.
The face of the push biker. The sorriness of the driver.
I was powerless and loved it.
Entrapment. You feel that right in your chest, the tightness.
Are you luring me into something?
My chest is a sort of cage, I suppose. Is that what you mean?
I don’t remember asking for this. Stop speaking, I can’t stand it.
Fancy that, you didn’t even feel me tugging.
And I though I was a little….a little…a little….What was I saying?
You didn’t ask for this.
What a luxury it is to ask for things.
Shhhh, YOU, you trailed off.
Continue.
Continue.
Continue what? Did I miss a story? A bedtime story? What’s it about?
Can I tell a story?
Yes, please do.
Oh, all right, I’ll tell a story.
Once upon a time, there was a very blue planet. This planet had other sister and brother planets that liked to revolve around it. And as one year passed on the planet, several hundred years passed on its brothers' and sisters' surfaces.
And what else was there in the story? ... Oh yes.
The end.
Copernicus discovered that our Universe is not geocentric.
“Brother and Sister” planets don’t revolve around the blue planet.
In the future, please tell stories that are relevant and try to remember what happens at the end.
There isn’t much to say for the people that stay here.
I always get the sense that what they leave behind is important.
These little fragments I filter and sometimes, just sometimes, I keep them.
I always thought you’d be among the first to go once I found out people were coming and going.
How many days has it been for you now?
I’ve started pulling my hairs out and leaving them on the floor for every time someone comes and goes.
Nearly 2,000 hairs as I count them, though!! That's a feat, isn't it? Heh, eventually it'll take me so long to count them that I'll need to pull another hair out before I finish counting.
I figure that once the things I collect amount to what might be considered a history, then I will leave here.
The discarded and forgotten become the constellation of a new universe.
Astrology forgot that the universe is expanding. Someone has to link the scattered stars to form new constellations.
Please don’t forget anything when you leave this place.
Why are you always taking about leaving here? I quite like it here.
Everything has been gouged out of here and there is nothing left.
I cannot fall asleep. I cannot dream.
Without dreams, Without hope. Without anything but what is in front of you.
I dream of being asleep while I am awake and awake while I am dreaming.
I fall asleep when I’m awake, though.
I think we are being toyed with.
Does anyone want a cup of coffee?
Dream of sleep without dreams.
Since you mentioned coffee I cannot stop smelling it! How did you do that?
I don’t know about you but I work here. Need the money.
I have plans though.
Any of you. If anyone brought you here against your will, it was you.
I would love a cup of coffee.

SETTING
- Are we inside someone’s consciousness?
- A collision of consciousnesses?
- The opposite of Multiple Personality Disorder?
- Are we in a dark room?
- To what degree are people reacting to the situation they are in and why?
- People slowly sense their environment.

PROCESS
- It is hard to keep up with what’s going on.
- How do we be not linear, and avoid losing conversations?
Stages of Community:
- False (all-inclusive)
- Breakdown (smaller groups)
- Chaos (Loneliness)
- True (What we are working towards)
Impulses:
1) Take leads and follow them.
2) Copernicus and Einstein theme is interesting.
3) Avoid things that are said that don’t need to be said. E.g. lists, being too direct “I’m insane”
- “How do we make this all pay off?”
- Let the actors express the emotion, use understatement in writing as a tool.
- Must find when the world changes, when every character changes.
- Can we move to a clear, unified consciousness?

OBSERVATIONS
- Why is everyone accepting (Canadian)?
- Tyrant has no power
- Nobody can hurt each other physically
- People tend to talk to themselves when they are by themselves, in the dark.
- Not choosing to identify yourself means someone will identify you. E.g. “Bucket-man”
- Alliances occur.
- What constitutes power?
- “Time Prison” is a redundancy – those already exist.
- We are given the greatest collective gift as humans, and we don’t know how to deal with it, or can’t. Percieved as an invasion, but actually a gift.
- Kelsey: Can we have secrets between characters when we are all in eachother’s consciousnesses? Use jargon, other languages, metaphors.
- Line: “We’ve all been brought here for a purpose, we don’t know what it is, but we need to escape.”
- Dustin: These characters are very similar to us using this blog to write scripts. We have been given this power of the internet, but we are just learning to deal with this “elevated consciousness”. I wonder how I fit into this.

THEATRICAL IDEAS
- Ned: Stage design as separate, walled space with a candle at the centre. Audience is standing and free to move from focus to focus as actors act within their spaces.

WHAT’S NEXT
- Character development
- More blogging dialogue
- Last time with Ned, Caroline takes over next week.

Dean

2005-11-17T13:15:00.000-05:00

This is the discussion spot for Dean.

The Promised One

2005-11-17T13:14:00.000-05:00

This is the discussion spot for the Promised One.

Anonymous

2005-11-17T13:12:00.000-05:00

This is the discussion spot for unidentified characters.
Also, any new characters ideas should be put here, for lack of a better place to put them.

Questions:
- Do they have to be characters?
- Can they be unidentified, communial narrative thoughts?
- Is there distinctly more than one of them?

Buddy

2005-11-17T13:07:00.000-05:00

This is the discussion spot for Buddy.

Past Observations:
- What if the amnesiac was Buddy’s husband (as in the letter)?

Amnesiac

2005-11-17T13:05:00.000-05:00

This is the discussion spot for the Amnesiac.

Past Observations:
- Chaotic, disconnected.
- No memory, but well grounded, comfortable with the conditions because they are used to it, like a blind person with the lights off.

Tyrant

2005-11-17T13:03:00.000-05:00

This is the discussion spot for the Tyrant.

Past Observations:
- “get things done” energy
- pushy moderator, for now.
- Not hypocritical, doesn’t break own rules.

Seeker

2005-11-17T13:02:00.000-05:00

This is the discussion spot for the Seeker.

Past Observations:
- Darker side to characters, almost “seek” and destroy.
- Most conscious, highly intelligent, has the longest dialogues, DOESN’T SEEM LOST.
- “Seeker”, traditionally a new age cover up for being lost.
- “I am a squirrel” – lying, delusional, mocking, manipulative. Norse mythology has a mischevious squirrel, Rukuku, who chews on the tree of life, eventually he (evil) triumphs, and the whole tree falls down. (shit-disturber)
- Is the seeker going for more drama, or for progress?

Flawed Wise One (FWO)

2005-11-17T12:57:00.000-05:00

This is the discussion spot for the Flawed Wise One.

Past Observations:
- short and to the point, reserved
- maternal
- holds back and thinks before speaking.

Notes from Session 7: Nov 9th

2005-11-11T15:55:00.000-05:00

INITIAL THOUGHTS (RANDOM):
- Glass [Army] Tank: Virtual Reality way of looking outside a tank by using several cameras and mirrors. Can appear to digitally remove the tank, visually and audibly.
- The God effect: There are two main operations in the brain. Self and Not Self. These can be stimulated individually by electromagnets, producing a “crowded, arguing room of all our former selves.”
- What if? Someone made a temple, powered by electromagnets, and people had “religious experiences.”

POLYLOGUE – Still ongoing. Link.
- Looked at the first ~23 messages today.
- The stretched-out time between responses is odd, that we can condense a week-long conversation to a few minutes.
- We acknowledge the “void space.”

FILTERING IDEAS (for polylogue)
- Declaring emotion or intention (Bad drama – called lip service in improv)
- Lists in script: choose one and get rid of the rest.
- Anywhere the write appears through the text (i.e. you can “hear” typing)
- If it’s your “favourite” part of the script. Murder your babies.
- Old or New ideas that fit into other projects.

WHAT THE POLYLOGUE SAYS:
- Separate identities in a conceptual void, with a later catastrophic event that creates convergence.
- Feeling of emptiness, whispering about what is happening, fragmented. NOTE: The human mind tries to make sense of things, even though they are random.
- Forced authority does not work (e.g. Tyrant), can’t force the group to do anything.
- Play does not have to be linear.
- Unidentified void, with a sense of confinement. Unidentified number of people (at least 6 or 7), No sensory information, have no idea where they are. Time and other experience are uncontained, undefined. Sensory-deprivation.
- What is this?: a moment, the first four minutes, a plot arc for the entire play, a rhythmic repetition part.

CHARACTERS IN POLYLOGUE
- Characters so far: Seeker, Amnesiac, Tyrant, FWO, Buddy and several anonymous. (Examined each character more by reading their line separately)
- Want to bring characters together, paradoxes are more interesting.
Seeker:
- Darker side to characters, almost “seek” and destroy.
- Most conscious, highly intelligent, has the longest dialogues, DOESN’T SEEM LOST.
- “Seeker”, traditionally a new age cover up for being lost.
- “I am a squirrel” – lying, delusional, mocking, manipulative. Norse mythology has a mischevious squirrel, Rukuku, who chews on the tree of life, eventually he (evil) triumphs, and the whole tree falls down. (shit-disturber)
- Is the seeker going for more drama, or for progress.
Flawed Wise One:
- short and to the point, reserved
- maternal
- holds back and thinks before speaking.
Tyrant:
- “get things done” energy
- pushy moderator, for now.
- Not hypocritical, doesn’t break own rules.
Amnesiac:
- Chaotic, disconnected.
- No memory, but well grounded, comfortable with the conditions because they are used to it, like a blind person with the lights off.

Buddy:
- What if the amnesiac was Buddy’s husband (as in the letter)?

Anonymous:
- Embryonic characters not yet developed.

THEATRICAL IDEAS
- Start off dark (only voices), then at a cataclysmic event, light a match and let your eyes adjust. Does this represent a moment of collective consciousness?
- Use of mirrors as an analogue for time?
- Psychomachia concept (Adam): Book about Multiple Personality Disorder, main character explained to him by his father that mind is a mental house, and that the person who is out on the porch is just the one who is speaking. (Maybe this play is just the surface of what is actually happening).
- Maybe these people are not in the same space, but are just having a moment of shared consciousness.
- Chris Idea: Characters interact with people in the play, and realize a moment when they did their respective “time crimes.” Characters and audience work out why they are there at the same time.
o They are experiencing the past to determine why they are there.
- Are there people conscious of their own history?
- They are devoid, of time, so they can set the structure for the future.
o Responsibility, God, Insane?
- Can we split up the monologue as ideas into dialogues:
o Did this with Buddy and Seeker on the last pages. “My husband left me versus Dear Buddy”.
EDITING TOOLS
- How can we, as a group, electronically edit and comment on a script, while retaining who says what, and when changes were made, while still retaining artistic flexibility?
- Wiki is a document style where anyone can edit and make changes, for example Wikipedia. However, these changes are not marked individually, and we would need a special server with code running to do that.
- This blog is nice because everyone can update it, but commentary is still linear.
- Preferably we would have a non-linear editing style.

GO HOME AND POLYBLOG! Will try to do daily at 6 PM to 7 PM

Notes from Session 6: Nov. 2

2005-11-03T12:50:00.000-05:00

To go to the improvised blog-polylogue, click here.

What we are trying to do:
- Character, Context, Conceit to express our ideas as a play.

PLAY PROPOSALS:
Adam:
- world of two races (e.g. red and blue), no continental separation, used to be related but diverged later.
- World about to collapse from war, tension, etcetera
- All of the gods in a board room, discussing free will.
o What if we give one person the ability to see the future, then they would want peace.
- They create a Messiah, about 35 years old, (Red) by giving him an orb so that he can see the future in it.
o Starts simply with predicting weather, then builds up.
- There is a terrorist attack from the blues that he wants to prevent, preemptively.
o Both end up attacking preemptively at once.
- He realizes that he can’t do anything right, and everything escalates between the two races.
- Red messiah discovers that there is a blue messiah, which the gods created to be fair.
- Both messiahs have a misconception of peace. They viewed social progress as one-sided.
- The Gods go back to before they created the messiahs, saying “how can we fix this?” Give the orb this time to a 75-year old, which he spends preparing for retirement.
o He is old, cynical, and too established. The hope was that he would be wiser.
- The Gods go back again, and give the orb to a 4-year-old on a playground.
o Reds and Blues start off in a classroom, and don’t see any difference between eachother
o It turns out that the 4 year-old, with the least education and pre-established views, is able to make the most social progress.

Kelsey:
- Man is made in god’s image.
- God hides consciousness in the milky way.
- A god (creative, unusual) accidentally gives humans consciousness. The other gods task this god with responsibility over humans, as this was not supposed to happen.
- The archetypes are the four other gods
- Play ends with the god in charge of earth either falling in love, or screwing it all and starting over again.

Dustin:
- Colony space-ship. Goes out into deep, deep space.
- Completely self-sustaining, could choose to be alone or not.
- They are gods in power, but not yet in thought, they are just becoming conscious to this.
- Isolating, sustainable environment.

Shawn:
- broken telephone on a distillation column (used in Chem. Eng. for extracting chemical of different types at varying temperature as they rise up the column)
- People placed at each stage, physically.
- A way to show social progress.

Joanne:
- Images: oppression and triggers. E.g. the normally passive word like “banana” acts as a trigger, which is nonsensical.
- Lost character as an archetype, incapable or seeing the world.
- Image: trying to rewind history, but can’t go past a certain point.

Chris:
- Images: something that puts everything in motion.
- The play varies each night based on “ingredients”.
- Hypertext controls movement of the play.

Ned:
- Rule plays: never have the same play twice. There are certain rules to follow. The audience tries to figure out the rules.
- Civilized.

Grace:
- Real-life problem: always struggling to be on time.
- Dustin’s comment about different clock times as you are leaving your house.
- Character has several time-keeping devices around him, and he is not sure what is right.
- Rents out room to housemate doctor, who is on call all the time.
- Situation similar to “gaslighting”, doctor can’t figure it out.
- Doctor moves out to sanatorium.
- Another housemate moves in, sets all the clocks to the right time.

Ned:
- Isolated context, like a circle on the stage.
- Actors get to re-invent human history, get to re-decide what gets passed on as the “past”.
- Get to determine how we got here.
- Have different motivations: peaceful, prosperous, generous. Also try to convince people to join their side.

[NOTE: This is very similar to the end of Sphere, by Michael Crichton, where the people who are empowered by the sphere choose to re-write the plot so that the sphere never existed.]

Chris:
- divided possibilities, try to walk back to nexus point, through history, and then try to re-live and re-invent it.

Ned:
- Only one person gets to bring into new “round” what happened [and therefore the wisdom generated] in the previous round.
- Repeating chorus

Caitlin:
- Look at human beings through time e.g. ecological change from use of images.
- Trees, water, fuel, oil (which we are destroying) are built through time.
- Everything now smaller, doesn’t get to grow as much.
- Shrinking [environmentally] as we are progressing.

Common Themes in Proposals:
- Gods = WHAT IF?
o Gives us the do something and see what happens.
o As playwrights, we can do whatever we want to be possible or true.
- Ideas of isolation
- Plunked somewhere, or with some major change, and trying to figure out what is going on.
- Audience involvement: getting locked in the theatre, put ownness on the audience to dictate the show.
- Let the audience be part of it, the conflict. E.g. split audience up into male/female etc.

HOW CAN WE SHOW THE CHANGING OF CONSCIOUSNESS?
- One character gets to transcend consciousness while traveling through time, others are unaware.
- Who gets the consciousness [AKA memory], who gets to decide?
- What if Audience picks character to be more conscious
o Eventually tend toward perfection, create the perfect plot.
o Like Plato’s Theory of Forms: Being and Becoming
o Very difficult to script/improv.
- Triggers can induce the change of consciousness/psychomachia.
o Lines can be the same, but change character and point of view.
o Like re-experiencing your memory, from the “conscious” actor’s point of view.
- Language is arbitrary. The memory is not in the language, but in the point of view in the action.
- Consciousness is equivalent to “directing”

REPETITION OF THE PLAY
- One character remembers (is conscious) each repetition with variation. Restart.
- Each repetition of the play is more perfect
- Each repetition is the re-telling of a viewpoint according to the principal actor. E.g. family fights.
- Have lines be the same each time, with different blocking and action. Different director for each?
- Danger of the play getting repetitive, as the audience would soon know everything far too well.
- How much can people know/be conscious of from previous iterations?
- What if there are a first few initial lines which are repeated, and then they split into different plot threads at a certain point, the “nexus”, or the point past which you cannot rewind.
- Repetition is importance, it allows for resonance and recognition.
- “He who refuses to learn from history is doomed to repeat it.”

CONVERGENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS/CHARACTERS
- People in the isolated context have the ability/responsibility to create a new normal.
- Creation myth gone wrong?
- We are talking about creating a creation myth. Meta-creation.
- “You have 15 minutes to create god. Go.”
- Caroline debate Homecoming
- As the play as a whole progresses, do we become more conscious?
- What if the number of people, and consciousnesses, converges to one entity at the end of the play? This can be convergence of peoples, or societies.
- A monologue can be deconstructed into several different personalities – psychomachia.
- What about resolving into several, and then one, characters?
- Characters can “proxy” eachother their points of view, and then leave.
- Is the remaining person a consensus?
- Key words: Stubbornness, Orthodoxy, Dogma
Caroline’s test Debate: Topic: Homecoming
Rule: tap someone on the shoulder who you believe can incorporate your point of view.
- People all start yelling their viewpoints, narrowed down (with intervention) to Shawn alone, being very introspective.
Observations:
- there was no debate, people were steadfast in maintaining their own viewpoints in the screaming match.
- Adam: when I left the “argument”, and simply listened, I learned and agreed with a lot more people’s points of view.

CHARACTERS AND CONSCIOUSNESS
- Part of a particular viewpoint is telling a good story.
- What about keeping the same characters and interchanging lines?
- How do we choose to define characters?
- Writer versus Director debate:
o A play invites people into a connection of ideas, synthesis.

SUBJECTIVE TIME EXPERIENCE
- There are more accidents during daylight savings time changes
- Cults use sleep deprivation
- Study: someone put in a cave with no objective measurement of time, and stayed in for 2 hours. His days stretched out to about 60 hours, everything slowed down.
o Circadian rhythm about 26 hours.
- Ned: Clock broke at 3 minutes after 4, and didn’t think fever was as bad. Then realized, it had been that time for 8 hours.
- Time-deprivation as a torture, like gaslighting?
- Grace: coming to Canada for school feels like one long school day, and going back in the summer it like it is over.
- IDEA (Ned): Play with 5 characters, for each, the passage of time during the play is one minute, one hour, one day, one life, one millennium respectively.
- Quantum Leaps in consciousness over the course of the play, different rates of maturation.
- Some people are told “what losing time will do to them”.

THEATRICAL IDEAS:
- Distillation column as a physical arrangement.
- Hypertext
- Closing circle on the stage, maybe being wound by a clock. What if the audience was inside as well?
- People checking their watches and phones at the door, or being forced to change their watch to 12:00
- Clocks at different speeds for characters, and they progress and mature at different rates during the play.

“TIME PRISON” IDEA
- Very similar to social prison as an analogue: For ignoring and damaging society, you are removed from society, as a crime against society. For ignoring and thus damaging time, you are removed from time, as a crime against time.
- Henry David Thoreau: “You can’t hurt time without hurting eternity.”
- Prisoners are isolated from time. Could have clocks counting down the rest of the remaining sentence at different rates.
- “Time Crimes” (it Rhymes)
o Defying time, analogous to defying society.
o They have escaped time.
- Potential Prisoners: Blind person (doesn’t know when to sleep), musician, drug addict, artist, memory loss/Alzheimers, meditators, people who experience in the moment [hippies, improvisers?], educational establishment. Very “archetypal environment”.
- Central character in the prison: guard/warden/?/god/teacher/rehabilitator. Does this person know how to kill time?
- Are the characters not sure of what they know?
- Could prisoners take over the prison?
- Book: “Blindbess” – everyone goes blind, and it is contagious. The rest of society puts them in a mental asylum, and a hierarchy is built. By Jose Saramago, Portugese.

ARCHETYPES REVIEW
- We can take the understandable archetypes that have arisen, and take them out of context.
- Archetype sets that have arisen:
- Character Archetypes: Flawed Wise One, Tyrant, Promised One, Buddy, Seeker
- Behaviour Archetypes (Northrop Frye): Myth, Romance, Mimesis, Irony, Parody
- Prisoners: Blind, musician, drug addict, artist, memory loss, meditators, hippies
- Can these be integrated into one personality? We now have a five-part Psychomachic personality.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
- So what? – what is the moral/end/resolution?
- “Why do you think dynamite is the answer?” Tom Robbins (bomber): “Dynamite is the question, not the answer.”
- The play doesn’t need to have a “point”, necessarily.
- Theatre is Four Acts of a Five Act Drama.
- Is the end simply realizing that you are a Time Killer?

INTERESTING MOMENTS/IDEAS:
“The second/2nd we’re done classes.”

Caroline & Chris repeating line:
“I was going to say that”
“No, I said that.”

Kelsey: when does choice become fact?
Ned: Originality is an old idea left over from modernism. [Surely we can come up with a new idea, better than old originality.]

Ned: Canadian Mythology Creation Myth:
Dawson’s city is named after a famous British geologist who spent his life’s work doing surveys of the Yukon. Upon heading back to England, he was bringing back 2.5 tons of rock samples with him. When portaging, his unknowing assistants would dump out sample rocks at the beginning, and refill with more rocks at the other end. When he arrived in Eastern Canada, the rocks he had were far different from those he started with. This is the re-writing of history.

SUMMARY: MAIN IDEAS
- We want the audience to be able to take an active role. Is this role figuring out what is going on?
- Characters trapped in a time prison.
- Final point: there are so many ways we could tell the story of what we are creating, in different environments.

UPCOMING:
- Ned will use the blog to post scripts, and we can comment on them. The Play needs to be done the first week of January.

Polylogue

2005-11-02T21:37:00.000-05:00

Time Project Polylogue.

Click this link to see all comments: Link.

Five Archetypes and Premise:
We don't know where we are, we are isolated.

Continuing Polylogue
- Let's try to be online 6-7ish every evening.
- Be provocative! Affect your surroundings.
- Characters: don’t use archetype as a “sign” you hold up. Allow the characters to develop.
- When Reading, allow the possibility of error, parody and sarcasm. Don't be overly sincere.

Notes from Session 5: October 26th

2005-10-27T15:54:00.000-04:00

This session took the form, mostly, of a discussion of concept arising from a previous blog post that started out as an email communication. Link
I am trying a new method of keeping track of everything. Instead of sorting the notes linearly in time, like I have been doing, I'm going to sort them by theme and subject, with the most built-up ideas at the end.

METAPHORS BETWEEN SCIENTIFIC IDEAS AND SOCIETY
Ned asks: can we look at new ideas in science as new metaphors for how we see society?
- Discussion of Newton's Laws
- Can use science as a metaphor for aspects of life.
- Einstein: Matter and Energy are interchangeable
Caroline: described "interfaces" in composite materials and related it to how we use scientific ideas to help understand social concepts and vice versa. Then explored more of what was on the web, re: "events" as a social metaphor.
In social history - a black hole
e.g. would-be Hitler
Misunderstood ideas as social metaphors, trying to relate.
- Do analogies make us move faster from scientific ideas and in between metaphors because we are supposed to relate back and forth?

INSTANTANEOUS TIME TRAVEL
Adam: Goodbye Lenin film - If we were to leap into the future, we would just drop dead with shock.
[It is often said that any sufficiently advanced technology would be indistinguishable from magic.]
Events - would we recognize it if we arrived instantaneously? What about gradual change?
Caitlin: time travel
- slowly accelerate for 30 years, travel at lightspeed, then decelerate for 30 years, you have travelled through time.
Can we set up a WHAT IF? & SO WHAT? to explore space and time metaphor?
Perceptions of time and the universe:
- Progression of time, first viewed as linear, then curved, then as a sphere.
- We can't really say it, as we couldn't really understand it.

LANGUAGE
Shawn: described "events" and what would language be like if it was instantaneous or developed over time.
Link to story we did last week: How would the character be different, how would they speak if they arrived instantaneously?
Can language in the play represent the "event" which depends on the progress that this person has been through?
- Language is socially constructed (Wittgenstein: Philosopher)
Ned: Shakespeare simultaneously translates himself from different languages (like Latin and English)
e.g. pass me the Robertson screwdriver, the one with the flat head.

QUANTUM MECHANICS AND MULTIPLE PATHS
E.g. Promised One can progress into either Flawed Wise One or a Tyrant, etcetera.
How could a missing six years affect someone - Quantum Mechanics reference, two possible paths.
Effect of the play and changing of perceptions - they become a catalyst.
Back to Quantum Mechanics, on a personal level:
If you make a decision you regret, you have alternatives that no one ever sees.
Book: Richard Bach's "Bridge across Forever".
Films: Butterfly Effect, Sliding Doors
String Theory: The moment you go back, you are on a new string
[This is actually incorrect use of string theory, which refers to the actual particles of matter as strings or membranes, not movement through time, but whatever.]
Psychomachia: All of the characters in the play are the same person, different “strings”, referring to the idea of quantum mechanics as well.
- The journey is to reintegrate ourselves.
Film: Run Lola Run
What if the experience of Déjà vu is an actual event?
- If nobody sees something, there is no record of it.
Like "hegemony" - everyone knows whats going on.
Definition of Hegemony: Preponderant influence or Authority over others.

SOCIAL FABRIC

- This is woven from the paths that people take.
Infinite number of thread of people forming the fabric of society, metaphor to space-time.
Distortion causes spots or convergence. Coincidences can be the random collisions between people.
Dustin: Fourier Analysis of Waves: spikes in the randomness create significance. Spikes can also appear from apparent randomness.
If this map is wrapped around a sphere, then we can meet again, even at the same point (déjà vu)
- Each time the chain splits, a new choice is made.
Different strings or choices, one wants to converge, one wants to diverge.
- “binary split in the imagination”
Is the coincidence possibility space-time? Is social space-time distorted so other things are drawn into it?
The last domino is not fated to fall, it falls because of the others.
Weaving a web of necessities.
- Synchronicities.
Throw a rock in the web – throw and things will cross through
Solution: create a significantly massive event like the rock in the silk.
Caitlin: people coincide and randomly create children, who try to follow their own random paths.
Social Conservatism?

PERSONALITY ARCHETYPES
Are there only 500 selves in the world?
The threads of 500 people, make 6 or 7 billion.
Are the 500 people celebrities, which we always claim to be reincarnations of, rather than “normal” people.
What about “Master People”, the convergence of thousands of incarnations,
e.g. Shakespeare
Movie: Insignificance
Premise: Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, explains relativity to him

PROGRESS AND VARIATION
Grace: Genetics – the making of gametes (sperm or egg).
- crossing over occurs from Mom and Dad on the same chromosome
- creates variation.
Darwin said “survival of the fit”, not “survival of the fittest”
Evolution/Progress cannot create “perfection”, it is just adapting to the environment.
Evolve = not revolve = leave the circle

CONVERGENCE
Dustin: what about if people converge. Can two children born under separate circumstances converge to be the same person?
[In quantum mechanics, this sort of thing is called “resolving (the wave equation)”. Convergent evolution also occurs, which happens when two species from evolutionary backgrounds are put in the same environment and eventually evolve to develop similar biological properties.]
Education = Convergence of a person, creating them as a package.
- Culture is good as a vehicle
- Memes are cultural genes.
- Education means you are not starting by scratch.
Convergence: We have come together as a group
art of “the invisible made visible.”
Right ideas at the wrong time, e.g. Communism, converged too early, therefore CAN’T FORCE CONVERGENCE

THE CREATION OF "A NEW NORMAL"
The perfect time travellers are the audience. The play becomes, or can create, the new normal.
- The person who makes the mistake is the one most empowered to do something about it.
Theater as a laboratory of alternative realities.
Can we do this on a social scale [instead of just as a single person]?
Do we keep creating new realities?
Play: “In Camera” by Jean-Paul Sartre AKA “No Exit” or “Huis Clois” An event.
Can we as a community co-create a new normal.

FREE WILL AND DESTINY
Co-creating the NEW NORMAL, as a group of people.
- When did we realize we had free will?
- We have the option to completely annihilate, or completely self-create.
- An actor, as god, is able to create and invent the new truth.
- Actor gets to show society
Solipsism: maybe I’m the only thing that exists. So what?
What if the event horizon is realizing there is an event horizon?
- group choosing to come together, become consciousness.
- Do you wake up, or go to sleep?
How do perspectives change as we age? What can we choose as we become more aware?
- We are not aware of other decisions.
- When do you achieve self-awareness?

THREE INSTANCES OF A NEW NORMAL, WHICH IN WAYS ARE THE SAME THING
The following three anecdotes are different aspects of the same thing:
- Book: Mark Vonnegut – The Eden Express (autobiographical)
Mark Vonnegut found a commune on the North Pacific Coast, and settled down there. But he had to leave at one point, and deal with a speeding ticket. This screwed his life up.
The idea of a “Death Artist” – helps a person find their appropriate death.
- miser not sharing something as he is about to die
- Buddhist monks – “Don’t you feel bad on a lovely island, while the world around you is in a horrible state?”

What responsibility do the above three have to the outside world?

FLUID MECHANICS AND TURBULENCE

Fluid Mechanics: turbulent creates progress
- this is why utopia/stagnancy is bad.
- This is why disturbances are necessary

The part that sticks out on the front of an oil tanker is the avant-garde artist.
There is also an optimal speed that a motor boat progresses at, between planing on and sitting in the water, that is the ideal speed of progress, convergence

POSSIBILITIES FOR THE NEW NORMAL

- When the point of self-awareness is reached, there are three possibilites:
1) Go farther apart
2) Stay the same - this is boring theatrically - see TURBULENCE
3) Come back Together
- Using the expansion of the universe as a metaphor for the changing of the social fabric.

THEATRICAL IDEAS
- Actors could repeat patterns.
Audience are the Time Travellers
- In a room with strangers, they are all represented to you as people you already know.
- We analogize people to people that we already know.
Theater Technique (relating to the above):
- someone has an internal oppression
- you can recognize voices who are oppressing you internally, and represent them as someone on stage.
- Can gang up on oppressive voices, so that your situation is reversed, as a theatrical tool.
- Isolate a certain voice (like the fourier analysis) as different realities of your life, then attack and solve them individually. Can be compared to last week’s play.

SUMMARY: IDEAS THAT STUCK
Dustin: Quantum Mechanics explanation became a theatrical idea.
- Multiple lives, e.g. Quantum Mechanics.
- Events having distortions in people’s lives, seeking convergence
- Stage ideas: several different aspects of the same character, seeking for a big thing to cause convergence, the “big crunch”

Caroline: A event is hard to imagine (image of light next to a black hole)
Adam: We still have no firm definition of time. Should you spend time defining time? What happens if you think of destiny and is this an inner feeling?

ASSIGNMENT: Create a Play Idea
Containing:
- Context
- Characters (& Motivation)
- “Theatrical Conceit”
e.g. “we’re all really the same person”
Example: Donald Bartlemay “War Story”
Two guys in a bunker, lost contact with the outside world. Should they launch missiles? Also, they both have concealed weapons.
- How different or the same will what we create be?
- “We are all different journeys through the same understanding.”

WRITING PROCESS:
- when you are having ideas, have them – don’t judge them.
- Only judge ideas at the right time in the process, don’t judge your work as you go.

Reminder:
Caroline looking for Engineering Society Play Contributions, due October 31st. Link.

Here is something Kelsey sent in, which I saw a while back and was reminded about. This is relevant to do with the idea of time and free will, as well as connections between people, Watch It!. You will need sound.
EPIC 2015

Fourier Analysis Demo. This can probably help people better understand what I was talking about.
Turn on the sound!

Notes from Session 4: October 19th

2005-10-22T12:26:00.000-04:00

LAST WEEK:
- learned how to structure a play last week with “Buddy and Dave”

THIS WEEK:
- do the same thing, but related to our central themes. This will be difficult
- Looking for phrases that represent our theme, them writing scenes that contain these phrases as ideas.
- Theatre is “Life under Pressure”

What we are doing is “FRACTAL PLAYWRITING”
- looking for 5 character archetypes
- Context: getting progressively smaller and hotter
o Psychomachia – soul war, meaning all characters are aspects of one individual character, for example the author
o “The horror of being about to bubble over” is more exciting than the actual bubbling.
- There has to be some aspect of Oppression or Paranoia
- Five lines each play, coming up with Five elements each along the central theme.

5 Character archetypes that we came up with:
- Buddy - Always #2, inferiority complex, doesn’t fit in, although you can’t hurt him, he is very passive.
- Flawed Wise One – “Flawed” introduced to create an interesting dynamic
- Seeker – looking for something, like a student.
- Promised One – a little kid that people depend on
- Tyrant/”Savior”
Characters we didn’t use:
- Paranoid? Somebody highly unstable
- Manipulator of language – always speaking with undertones, e.g. “Your administrator said my calendar was like Bill Legett’s”, “We have to talk”, over-intellectualization.

The following was written:
Dustin – “Dust Village”, featuring Promised One and Flawed Wise One
Chris – “We need You”, featuring Tyrant (Mataji) and Promised One (Abdul) and making reference to a (Flawed?) Wise One (Mahatma).
Grace – “Photo”, featuring Flawed Wise One and Seeker
Adam – “In a safe”, featuring Buddy and Flawed Wise One (Holmes – Cliched Superhero)
Kelsey – “Plunder”, featuring Tyrant and Flawed Wise One
Caroline – “Do You”, __________________________
Sean – “In the Car”

With discussion, which took a long time, we put the plays in order, and found a through-character, Abdul, who starts out as a Promised One, moves to a Flawed Wise One, then a Tyrant, and then into something else. Also, there was another character I will refer to as “Buddita”, which wasn’t very well defined. I won’t editorialize this any more but I’ll just type out all the scripts in the order we put them. Do You was removed from the rest of the play, and cycled throughout later. I’ll put it at the end.

PLAY:
“We need You”
Mataji: Abdul! We have to talk to you about school!
Abdul: Leave me alone. You’re always in my face. The exams not till next week. I just needed to relax a little.
Mataji: So much has been hoped for; so much invested. What would Mahatma say? He believes in you. We all do.
Abdul: What do you mean? Not a village meeting? Believe in me or not, I can’t do more than I can do.
Mataji: We believe. We trust you. We need you…to succeed.
“Dust Village”
Buddita: Are you in health?
Abdul: What, my boy, are you doing waking me up at this hour.
Buddita: ‘Tis two in the afternoon. There is some dust rising from the pass, and people are scared. I think we need to do something.
Abdul: Ah. Your heart is the size of a whale’s. Dust from the pass eh? That could only mean one thing – something I haven’t seen since I was a boy.
Buddita: It there’s something we must do, then we have to go do it. Please get up and come with me. Everyone’s waiting.
“Safe”
Adbul: Ok…we have been in this safe for 2 hours now. There has been no response from anyone in the bank, thus we must assume that no one we knows we are locked in here. We will have to open the safe door ourselves. How much time did I say we have left to breath?
Buddita: 15 minutes. (Buddy has the look that he know Holmes has no idea how much air time was really left.)
Abdul: Good. Then let’s get started. By my observation, this steel is 4 inches thick… (observing the door, shows sign of feeling constricted, but still strong)
Buddita: (sighs) …I think every safe door should have a safety mechan – (interrupted)
Abdul: Shut up and let me think!…(long pause)…(Holmes then looks at Buddy, helpless but annoyed) Glad that you are sharing ideas (sarcastic)
“In the Car”
Buddita: (driving) I can’t find it. Listen to me, listen to me. Are you even paying attention?
Abdul: Just drive. We’ll get there when we arrive. What are you so worried about? Don’t you think I know how to read a map?
Buddita: I am the one who was been changing lanes and gears, and been cut off here. Of course you know where your going. I am just worried that we are going to run out of gas and that my nerves are finally going to crack. Can you please figure out the fastest way to get there?
Abdul: (Hums along to music) Yeah, yeah. ( hums along)
(Buddita turns up the volume, which makes Abdul hum even louder)
“Plunder”
Abdul: When are we this time?
Buddita: Isn’t it the same every time? Plunder and leave?
Abdul:…Their tactics change.
Buddita: The recipe of war…
Abdul: Mmm. The taste of victory gets sweeter every time.
Buddita: But will you always be able to taste it over the smell of defeat?
“Photo”
Abdul: Look, I am not the person you are looking for.
Mataji (mother?): (holding up a photo) But oh, yes you are! It is you in the picture. You are the one I need.
Abdul: No way. I have a lot of better things to do. (stop, thinks) Wait, I know who you’re looking for.
Mataji: (confused) I beg your pardon?
Abdul: (pointing at the photo) This man you’re looking for? He lives in a different time. You won’t find him here.

NOTES ON THE PLAY:
- we see that a Promised One can “progress” into either a Flawed Wise One or a Tyrant, or a combination.
- As for the Flawed Wise One, his wisdom can be projected onto him, and he can be either aware or unaware of how he looks to others.
- Mahatam is an interesting external character.

“Do You”
S: I don’t want to
FWO: That’s okay, I understand
S: No, really you have no clue.
FWO: Yes, I know what you mean
S: Do you?

NOTES ON “DO YOU”:
Initially this was #2 in the order of plays, but we removed it because it wasn’t coherent with the rest of the structure. We tried performing the play with people walking around, then coming together and performing one “dialogue” from the play. The “Do You” dialogue would be performed the rest of the time. Actors (who started out as Chris and Shawn) in Do You would change their tone to reflect what was going on in the rest of the scene. Note that there are an uneven number of lines, so roles will always switch in the scenes.
We then tried this where with each line a physical movement had to be made.

NOTES ON EVERYTHING:

Pressure Cookers: unknown timing of known cataclysm. (e.g. Global Warming, Malthus, Doomsday Clock, Mass Extinctions, End of Oil.

From Book: Northrop Frye “The Anatomy Of Criticism”
- defining central character’s (AKA hero’s) “ability to function” or understand within the society they are in.

Myth
Romance
Mimesis
Irony
Parody
- as society progresses, there are the types of stories that we tell. (e.g. Greek Myth to Comedy Show (such as Homer Simpson))

SO:
- Is the Abdul story a journey of a society, rather than an individual?
- “Dust Village” and “Safe”. Interesting that the relationship is nearly the same, but locations are as different as possible.
- “Where would an everyman go/do?” – Kelsey
- Myth = Idea = “Ideal” The progression is the bastardization of this ideal.
- Abdul is the oppressor as the anti-hero, whose story we are following.

Time and Quantum Mechanics Discussion

2005-10-20T21:10:00.000-04:00

Email from Caitlin: (The >'s are comments I put in)

Hi guys!!
Sorry I missed the workshop tonight. My volunteering ran a bit late and when
I came home for my 20 minute power nap it turned into more like a serious
crash out on my couch. So, I apologize. But, i do still have a contribution
for the week. I was talking with my friend Jeremy yesturday about our
project, and he started handing me these physics books and talking to me
about Quantum Mechanics. The jist of the theory was about time and space.
How positive particles move forward in time and space, while negative
particles move against time and space. What results is a collision of these
postive and negative particles. What happends when they collide? Perhaps the
collisions create new particles that begin to move both with and against the
progression of time and space.
> This is interesting. Do you maybe mean anti-matter when you say negative? On a sort of related note, on a very small scale space is "foamy", which means there are always particles frothing about at a small level. For some reason, pairs of anti- and normal matter particles are created and seconds later they annihilate themselves. This is actually why black holes emit radiation, because they suck in one of the particles. Anyway, it is interesting that these tiny collisions always occur, and do so simply because they CAN.
This got us talking about gravity...because this is a constant source of
power that weighs down on us. gravity's movement is one dimensional, it
flows one way - it pushes against us. I was wondering what would be the
counter act of that - the opposite energy flow of gravity. We grow. Our
bodies grow, plants grow, trees grow. We move against the pressure of
gravity to claim more space for ourselves. Likewise our lives grow as they
move through time. Gravity pushes against us as we grow. And as we grow we
push against gravity. This concept of a constant duality of energies is
interesting because if it is in everything, then there is constant movement
both forward and backwards through time and space at all times.
>There is actually a book by Eric Idle called "The Road to Mars" where a robot aspiring to win the first non-human Nobel Prize does research into comedy, and proves that universal comedy is the uplifting force against gravity. I love that book.

Does this make sense??
I'm no scientist, I'm hoping some of you guys maybe know a bit about quantum
mechanics. so anyways, I've just tried to crack down an hour and a half
of conversation which blew my mind into two mini paragraphs.
We also talked a bit about traveling at the speed of light, something maybe
I'll bring in to workshop.

One last though - sorry this e-mail is so long, I need to get out my weekly
dose of brainstorming.

Apparently, time moves slower on the moon. they've had a clock out there for
like 10 years or something and eventually it began to tick
slower...........maybe that's because the battery was running out.
ha ha
just joking. but apparently, there was some sort of a test done.
i don't know.
i'd believe time would work on a different level - either slower or faster
or whatever - on the moon, or on any planet for that matter. multiple
planets, multiple universes, multiple galaxies and multiple forms of time.
> Time does work slower on the moon for two reasons: the gravity is less there, and the moon is moving faster relative to the earth. It's all from the theory of relativity. So if I stay here and you go on a rocket flight around the solar system, when you get back your watch will be slower. This is called the twin effect. To majorly exxagerate this, my twin could leave in a high-speed rocket and come back only a year older, while I am eighty or something. This is from different rates of flow of time.

that's all for me, for now. thought some scientific thought might be
refreshing, I don't know much about quantum mechanics...actually that right
there is all i know... and i don't know how well it would/could work with
our play in the end, but i figure everything is relevant at this point.
Feel free to write back with comments or whatever, or post something up on
the website.
> quantum mechanics is odd - its all about statistics. It's hard to explain not in person, but here goes an explanation of a quantum effect, one that would be useful in quantum computing:
> Say I forgot to do my homework in the morning, and there are two problems left. I can do only one of these in my head in about 10 minutes, which is how long it takes to walk to say the JDUC from my house. Say I decide that if I walk down University Ave. I will do problem 1, and if I walk down Division I will do problem 2. If I set out on my trip, and noone sees me, or I leave no evidence as to which route I actually took, I will arrive at my destination with the solutions to both problems in my head. Of course, this is impossible with a full size human as I will bump into stuff, step on leaves, etc. but if I was a tiny particle, so tiny that I leave no evidence of my passing, then it works out. The idea behind quantum computing is that you can do this with more than 2 paths, to factor large numbers etcetera etcetera. This doesn't have so much do with time, except that work can be done concurrently if it is not sure that it is being done. Basically, if it is possible and not FALSE, then it must be TRUE.
>Blah. So that's science.

Ned says:

This is all very exciting and right on (wait for it) time. As I think I mentioned (several times) my purpose is to provide you with tools to gather and sort your ideas, insights, experiences and imaginings and turn them into effective theatre, It is NOT my intent, nor would it make any sense, for me to control content. PUSH the agenda on all fronts. Let's just keep an eye on the core mandate: Time, Education and Social Progress.

It is also important to remember that abstract concepts and scientific ideas can be integral to a piece of theatre but that ultimately theatre is a human and a social activity. Our challenge is to access, engage and use all this wonderful stuff in ways that people can see, identify with and care about.

More please
Ned

DUSTIN:
This is the start of a potentially interesting discussion that we can continue throughout the week. Instead of email though, lets try doing it on the blog. Click on "Comment" below here to add your 2 cents.

Dustin

Notes from Session 3: October 12th

2005-10-13T12:48:00.000-04:00

DON'T BACK DOWN!
NOTE: Anyone can comment to these posts at the bottom.

Random Throughts:
- Water is always moving.
- Art can be temporary and dissapear, like human intervention in nature.
- What about CYCLIC Time? Cause causing itself - TAU[gh]TOLOGY
- New Florida law about being about to hold your ground. Is this progress?

Before Ned got there:
- We made a "machine" and a "soundscape"
- Invented two games:
1)People walking around, bumping into each other lightly, getting into personal space. This eventually would escalate until people were actually pushing each other.
2)Everyone stand in a circle. One person slaps or otherwise assaults the person next to them. Then they turn and do something slightly more violent to the person next to them – this continues until it gets so violent people start getting knocked out of the circle, until there is only one person left to hit themselves.

Ned added to the first one several variables:
- We are all sunburnt
- There is a plague spread by touch
- Authorities with “deal with you” if you start a conflict.
- There is a social convention that if you back down from where you are going or what you are doing you “lose face”, similar to Florida Law.
- All of the above causes tension.
What emerged:
- wandered around for a bit, Caitlin got the plague from Dustin and started spreading it to other people
- Eventually everyone had the plague, except for Kelsey.
- The group cornered and tracked down Kelsey, almost like zombies.
- Healthy people became the minority, so they forced Kelsey to join the group.

Play Creation Session with Ned:
“Theory of Fives” AKA Cardinality
- Humans can organize information into chunks of five or four at most.

3 types of games: Races, Mazes and Wars
5 elements of improvisation: Location, Relationship, Conflict, Stakes [Raising of] and Resolution. (This is the sequence of events)

Springboard of a moment: Context/Situation, Character, Motivation(s).
The 3 types of games are ways of going over the 3 parts of a moment.

Repetition versus Variation.
Repetition to Variation: Imagination
Variation to Repetition: Recognition

- Is it possible to see something completely new (absolute variation)?
o Islanders see first sailing ship in Book: Ronald Wright “A short history of progress.”

Each person wrote a 5-line, 5-element skit, which we then pieced together and put in order and assigned character. I’m going to write it in the final order that we had them, but each were written independently.

Similar themes we found were:
- rain/weather
- being practical versus romantic
- family relationships
- separation or departure.

Dramatis Personae:
Dave and Buddy, twins. Buddy is two minutes younger.
Mom of Dave and Buddy
Girlfriend of Dave and Buddy

Play:
“Santa Clause” – Kelsey
Dave: Hey Buddy…What’s that noise? Come with me.
Buddy: Santa??
Dave: How old are you now?
Buddy: Same age as you…minus two minutes. Is it Christmas morning?
Dave: Whose shoes are those?
Buddy: They’re dad’s!
Dave: I thought it was time you knew.
“Late for dinner” – Caitlin
[at a dinner table. Mom and Buddy sitting]
Buddy: Mom, dad still isn’t home, can we just eat?
Mom: You will just have to wait for him.
Son: He is always late, and I am hungry.
Mom: If he is not home in 2 seconds, then we can eat.
[pause]
Son: Woo hoo! Dad can just heat up his dinner in the microwave.
“Exam” – Chris
Dave: What as exam! How did it go for you?
Buddy: What did you care? You probably did perfectly.
Dave: You always say that. Why do you always say that?
Buddy: I was second out of the ovaries. I will always be second.
Dave: You’re wrong. You’re always the first to be a jealous jerk.
“Storm” – Shawn
Girlfriend: It’s going to storm soon. The thunder is getting closer. We should go inside.
Buddy: Let’s just wait a little longer.
Girlfriend: It’s going to start lightning soon, we should get away from the water.
Buddy: Look at the colours in the sky. Look at the clouds [lightning crash]. Look at the lightning! Do you see? The rain is already falling on the other side of the lake. Soon it will..here it comes!
Girl: Agh!! It’s pouring!!! I’m soaked. Can we go now?
“I’m married” – Adam
Buddy: Hey Dave.
Dave: Hey Buddy
[Buddy feeling guilty, about to confess]
Buddy: I’ve been having an affair with your girlfriend.
[Buddy is guilty. Dave is at first perplexed, but never mad. Dave then shrugs]
Dave: It’s okay. My wife in Toronto doesn’t know I have a girlfriend.
[Buddy is mildly shocked, then upset]
Buddy: You didn’t invite me to your wedding?
“Counting Flies” – Grace
Buddy: Why are you here?
Mom: You’ve been stuck in the lab, staring at flies for 3 days. I’m bringing you home.
Buddy: I like it better here. It’s better being here than being home with you and Dad.
“Raining Sideways” – Dustin
Buddy: It looks like its raining sideways.
Dave: Why did you bring me here?
Buddy: This is where I’m going to live from now on.
Dave: I would hate this weather if it didn’t stop.
Buddy: You don’t need to visit

During the performance, there was a lot of “Awww Buddy”
This is representative of the FRACTAL STRUCTURE of a play.
Dave was in a RACE, Buddy was in a MAZE, and both were at WAR.

Chris mentioned the “Rake Progress”

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Buddy "play" and ideas from it do not have to be part of the final set of ideas going into the play, it is just a test to learn how to write a play.

NEXT WEEK:
Just remember when thoughts from the session came up during the week.

Notes from Session 2: October 5th

2005-10-11T16:37:00.000-04:00

THE CLIMAX IS NOW!

What did we remember from last week?
- Our first time list was mostly negative, time can be more positive.

How time shapes us:
- A convict spent time in jail for barely nothing, and came out with the mindset of a CRIMINAL.
- Business people are a slave to time.

Defined RANDOM:
- Has a definition, but also a way of saying "I don't know how to express what I'm saying, but I hope you understand me."

DREAMS:
- You can have a recurring dream, and go back and fix things as if you are travelling through time.
- This play creation is "collective dreaming".

DISCONNECTION from Time
- In a plane, you go from place to place, but are not really aware of the intervening movement, like teleportation.
- Similiar to us in this room, we are disconnected from the outside.

Time as POWER
- "Who determines how much of everyone else's time you can use?" (e.g. spam, telemarketing)
- EDUCATION controls people by putting them in a classroom all day, similiar to THEATRE, which is the ultimate control of time. You are put in a dark room for a set time.
- Putting your hand up: CONVENTION of the Education Environment saying "I don't feel I can decide when I am able to [take up your time] to talk."
- Are ideas like gravity and time GODS?

Looked for examples of when people used time to OPPRESS you (archaelogical sense of looking at the problem)
- Put in a tiny cubicle when "arrested" for shoplifting for the first time. There was only one door and had complete DISCONNECTION from what was going on outside.
- Traveller not allowed on a flight, as it was supposedly past the last time, and the desk was "closed". There was an argument and it was accidentally found that it was 5 minutes before the latest time, although they had spent several minutes arguing about the time. This shows how arbitrary time is.

IMPROVISATION based on the second story
- removed the realization of the correct time, as this was anticlimactic
- The Scene is now "TRUTH" regardless of the original meaning or intentions of the story.
Motivations for Clerk: want to go home, to stretch time passing in the argument so that it is really too late.
Motivations for Traveller: want to get on flight.
- Acted out story, with people tapping actors out when they got a good idea.
EXAMPLE: Kelsey tapped Dustin out as the Clerk, and made the reasoning more PERSONAL.

Defining PROGRESS:
- movement
- empty action to feel existence
- change is popular as an idea but not real change.

SOCIAL progress:
- wanted by whom? what is society?

Sidenote: Turning towards ACTION is a natural REACTION to our environment which is evolved. Noticing STILLNESS is non-intuitive.

MEASURING development/progress
- progress defined in terms of the past, often historically meaning "not PRIMITIVE"
- we measure only what we can measure, part of PROGRESS is the changing of its definition.
- The measure of progress is history, so it is defined by MEMORY, and is thus SUBJECTIVE.

MEMORY as what was measured
- memory can change
- for "SOCIAL memory", does more people make it more accurate?
EXPRESSION:
- We can't share ideas as humans that we share intuitively, because in their expression verbally, they become subjective. This is similiar to the word RANDOM.

Memory and Expression as a NARRATIVE:
- people remember NARRATIVES, that culture is a "myth".
- time is PROGRESSION through a historical story, e.g. Slaughterhouse-Five Aliens [Tralfamadorians] knew all of time as a pre-written story.
- A pre-defined story is a RITUAL.

If our perception of time is as a narrative story, then when is the CLIMAX? NOW!

There are different perspectives possible of the same story, so the perception of a narrative is subjective, and for everyone the CLIMAX IS NOW.

Time is cyclical, and we are always the moving climax. Although we can believe that the past and future are different, it is only our placement of the climax of our narrative as now that makes this so. (see picture at the beginning of this post)

NEXT WEEK:
- When did ideas from the time project session come up during the week?
- Ned will not be there until 19:00-19:30 next week, so for the first part of the session we will be working on something to show him.

Notes from Session 1: September 28th

2005-10-01T18:27:00.000-04:00

Brainstorming – TIME….
Is long, is short, moves forward, is of the essence, waits for no man, is memory, bring age, is frustrating, constraining, measurable, moves with the sun, entirely man made, is arbitrary, is not created or destroyed, slows down as you approach the speed of light, relative(ity), black hole, tick tock, music, meter, heartbeat, is a song, is not linear, is linear, is on my side, is (relatively) infinite, is finite, is running out, is a machine, is unperceivable, time is up, is standing still, is now, time for bed, what time? (Mr. Wolf), timing is everything, No-Time Toulouse, Greenwich Mean Time, Time Zone, Time for a New Page, No time like the Present, 18:60, Sundials, shadows, sleep time, tea time, growth, wrinkle in…, sometimes too fast/slow, shaving time off, Resource Depletion Graph, Space-Time, Best-Time, Appropriate Times, First times, Good/bad/ugly time.

Time Brainstorm Summary:
- dictates a lot of our behavious
- steers us
- we haven’t defined time, [in our brainstorming] we have defined us.
- It’s a Big Idea like LOVE
- Relative to Everyone’s Experiences
- When did we invent [the idea of] time?
- Time is always moving, and is therefore stagnant

What Strategies did people use to sit still for seven minutes?
- Songs/Monologues
- Some people got up when they became anxious
- Graham baked cookies recently, which took about 12 minutes, so he was aiming for “One half-baking of cookies”

One interesting definition of POWER: the ability to bring down everyone else if you fail.

Also learned about something important: 3 ways of WAITING:
- Waiting for something that you know is coming [enduring]
- Waiting for something that doesn’t exist [misconception]
- Waiting for something that you don’t know exists, but does [hopelessness]

End of Session:
- Started with time this session, will go on to other topics later
- For those who attended the first session, come back with 3 things that really stuck out from this week to next week’s session (October 5th)

Meeting Times

2005-09-29T10:04:00.000-04:00

Meetings for the first half of The Time Project (scriptwriting/brainstorming) will be every Wednesday from 18:30 - 21:30 in Beamish-Munro Hall/Integrated Learning Centre Room 313.

The second half will be next term, and will comprise actual auditions and productions.

Time Project Blog

2005-09-29T09:54:00.000-04:00

This blog keeps track of everything that happens with the time project.