Center Stage
The lights come up on a man in deep purple and blue robes. His hair is greying yet thick. A light shines on him...his eyes are downcast, head hanging heavily. Behind him great trees swirl in a dark forest. There is a dim yellow light cast from a hut in the wood. The sky is a deep purple. His head hangs heavily still...it is an awkward amount of time that passes. Finally, he begins a slow rise to level his face. His eyes are smudged with charcoal. His eyes are a pale blue. He looks beseechingly. We know not for what. Dancers stream from the trees -- no sound yet arises. The background begins to swirl and shift...the trees sway as the dancers come heavily down and leap up again-- swirling, turning...the trees begin to glow...the man's face raises more and more bringing itself to face the sky. The dancers stomp and parade away. The trees grow still. A single voice is heard- a long held note-- held after the man closes his mouth. Soon it is joined by another voice. A woman, thin, smaller, graying as well but beautiful in sparkling green and purple robes emerges from behind him....their disharmony becomes harmonic and the lights shut off and the stage is dark.
A beginning:
A young man is working steadily in a room full of books. He pours over them-- learning. His robes are white and black, but mostly black. He is searching for answers to questions that are greater than himself. And it is a struggle, but he mostly seems content with it. In a corner a girl is making a make-believe house out of pine needles. She sweeps them into corridors and rooms and uses a pine needle broom to arrange them. Her clothes are black and white but mostly white. The man is speaking. He stretches and walks about the room. The girl is speaking. She twirls about the rooms in her house, singing and dancing. The chorus is speaking. They are telling of a story ancient and great about how the world was created. The voices merge and they are all blending together to weave a story about searching and knowledge, the creation of the world, and the light-hearted song of a child. The scene is a primitive land-- desolate but not depressing. A long string solo with heavy drums begins as the chorus takes over to finish their story about the creation of the land. The books in the room fade away and the girl's pine needle home is brushed away. The man and the girl are gone. The land is being formed in the background. The soloist is reaching a crecendo in her story. The world is almost formed. We are transported into an ancient time when the discovery of fire was happening. When story was being formed and the language was spread out over the sky. The background is becoming lush and colorful and the sky is awake and alive. When the stories began the gods were formed from the words and controlled the skies and the land. They created more storytellers to shape the creation of the world. The rest of the chorus rejoins the soloist to finish the story of the gods.
A new scene:
The young man is dreaming. He is dreaming of a steam-punk technology. The world has large elephantine creatures in it- and lots of metal. There are fires roaring-- forges being used by blacksmiths, and people mill about brightly colored fruit stands. There is a glass contraption in the center of the stage. It is being used to create electricity. The man surveys the contraption. He speaks with a woman who spins out a greatly Mediterranean dance, telling him about the discovery of electricity and the impact it has had on her people. The forges quiet down as she squirms like Salome creating the story as much with her voice as her body. The man is entranced. He dances with her a little. But clouds roll in and everyone rushes out of the market. He is left alone with the contraption in a dark and windy night. He is trying to harness the energy. He is trying to use it to understand the formation of life. Animals come out from the night and walk around the stage-- lurking. The man is not afraid. He is focused on his project. As they encircle him, he expounds on his discovery. A woman emerges from out of the animals. She has harnessed their power and it was her curiosity that bade them come near. They remain in a slow dance around the stage as the woman uses her sense of smell to figure the man. He sees her. She is beautiful. He attempts to follow her and get to know her. She does not have his language. She has an animal language - distorted, strange. They begin a slow chase. They attempt to show each other who they are through dance and body movement. The man is a great scholar and is full of passion. The woman is a wild thing full of life and happiness. Her story becomes greater and she shows him some of her magical powers. He leaves with her. The wind blows through the trees as light rises on scene. It blows for a long time. It is silent but for the wind blowing and the movement of the trees. An experiment is being arranged in a room. The scholar and the woman are putting implements together. They are trying to put together a machine of creation. It is very intricate in its technology. The woman is now looking much less wild. They work to harness the power of electricity. It sizzles at their fingertips. Lightning like flowers burst in the background-- lines of energy are cracking out from the background. It is chaotic, noisy, drowning, deafening; they work feverishly and hard-- wheels are spinning and pistons rise up and down. They both drop to the floor and begin breathing deeply. They let their minds empty. The room is filled with a different sound. It is no longer deafening. It is transformed. They are entering a dream state. The background is full of purple and gold floating clouds. Soon it is a lush green field. Then a golden entity. It moves, it creates itself rippling on the dreams of the lovers. They lay together. It is raining. They have a slow, sexy dance on the floor. They are making their own creation. The animals are present in the background but the focus is on the intimacy of the couple. The rain sounds are more present than any other sound. Their dancing becomes more fevered- the rain lets off. The scene ends.
The chorus is out. They are jubilant. Great things are happening. They tell a story of the birth of a specific god, an energistic being of light and happiness. He is not frightening though he is very powerful. They are reverent of him. Colorful electric beams fill the sky. The chorus is dancing. They tell of the god Iktrius. Lots of colorful scarves are danced with. Animals come out to join. It is a celebration. The birth of the new god heralds a new world forming. It is one of magnificent power. Technology is burning with rainbow electricity. There is a great chanting for him. The world is about to be reborn.
The woman and the man are dancing together. Their colors are shifting on their garments, each stealing a bit of colored cloth from the other. He is created in her image, she is created in his. She is not pregnant. They are dancing and talking of ideas, great ideas, and swapping colored clothes. Another being is born of their dance-- it is in the background-- it is the being of their togetherness. A powerful Genie like being. He is shade of gray and glittering. He is serious and large and as they lovingly dance he stands larger than life in the background tempering. Several other people are out on the scene as well. They are wearing complimentary colors and they too are changing clothing at a slower rate. The man and the woman have become a single identity-- as they strip their clothing and exchange it they become knotted together. So too do the other couples on the stage. Everyone is soon knotted together and must move, hampered. The Genie grows more powerful and begins to glow red. He soon fades and the couples roll off stage.
A child is born. There is a soft high voice signalling his presence. The background is lush and green and is growing over with golden filaments and elephants tramp in the background. The baby sings of his world and what it contains. It is full of light and happiness. He was formed out of a binding, out of a creation of melding of two worlds, of two people, of two view points. As we come to know more about him, he grows older...his voice becomes deeper...and it splits....and it continues splitting as people emerge from the stage-- different entities of himself-- different personalities-- they create a cacophony of sounds as yet more rise from the depths of the stage to join the young man.
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