Of the near 50 pages written so far, there are 15 pages of scene drafts and 35 pages of notes. The scenes are more like experiments in actualizing the world of the notes. What are the notes? An amalgam of character analysis, plot points, metaphors, setting ideas, modes of conveyance, hot objects…
The opening sequence is critical, reduced again to outline (dialogue is relentlessly cannibalized) it reflects the structure of the whole play – there are three full-cast scenes planned and this is one of them. There are these 9 terrific actors, and they should all be onstage as much as the story will carry that.
The basic movement of the opening scene is: She’s editing a documentary, with the aid of software agents, for presentation to the network for whom the program was commissioned. During the course of the editing, parts of scenes are repeated and augmented; there are no rules of objectivity in 2129 journalism… in fact, a show is a success when its opinions most closely match the prevailing course of opinion – that’s ‘objective fact’ for the time (unlike today’s journalism – so dispassionately objective ;-)) Simultaneously she’s presenting the final edit to her mentor, who notes what’s missing – the very thing that will make the show a coup, an interview with Kate Anthony, head of the RU. A building explodes nearby. A body’s carried in…
Sure it sounds like a plot machine… the towering freaking inferno… but just wait…
to be continued…