A Muse of Fire

THE CONCEIT
Ever stop to wonder what a play’s characters do when they are not being acted? The obvious response would be “Of course not. They aren’t real. They’re fictions, a writer’s creations that only exist when given life by an actor.” This is a perfectly logical, rational, and, frankly, pedestrian view.

However, this is the Theatre, a world, at its finest, most illogical, most irrational, and most un-pedestrian. So let us suppose for a moment that a playwright’s characters have some semblance of life outside of the acting of them. Let us suppose that they exist in a sort of half-life, drifting as disembodied wisps of possibility. How do you think they would feel? What thoughts would permeate their semi-sentient consciousnesses? What would they want? What would they…hunger for? Why an actor to act them, of course; an actor to birth them, if only briefly, into the world of light and sound and sensation and existence.

And, given this scenario, what do you think they might do if no actor was forthcoming? Would they be content to merely drift about, waiting patiently for some actor to remember them and call upon them? Or might they, just might they, seek out tangible form? Might they search out those whose consciousness slips easily back and forth across the boundaries of so-called reality? And might they do this with a ferocity, an exuberance, a passion that cannot be denied?

Of course not. They’re just words, words on a page. Like these words. Like these words that you are reading right now. My words…slipping seamlessly into your mind…snuggling in all warm and happy…finding a home…a life. Just thoughts…thoughts in my mind…in your mind. How delightfully, how deliciously wonderful!

THE EXPOSITION
Welcome to the dayroom at Parkview Memorial, a treatment facility for the mentally unconcerned, the emotionally uninvolved,and the psychically uncertain. Visitors are most welcome. Most welcome, indeed.

THE ACTION
Dr. Thomas Janecek*-- Hamlet’s Ghostly Father (Hamlet)
Mister Ronald Blackwell--King Henry V (Henry V)
Ms. Devon Bailey--Constance (King John)
Mister James Tuck**--King Claudius (Hamlet)
Master Arthur Koster--Shylock (The Merchant of Venice)
Mister David P. Otero--Lord Capulet (Romeo & Juliet)
Miss Suzanne Garcia--Cressida (Troilus & Cressida)
Master Raul Vasquez, Jr.--Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet)
Master Stephen Torres--Antony (Julius Caesar)
Mdme. Lisa Mercier-Taber--Lady Macbeth (Macbeth)
Mister Gregory Taber-- A Doctor of Dubious Compassion

*Performing March 4 & 8 only
**Performing March 8 & 9 only

BLESSINGS
With Gratitude for your Grace and Generosity:
Our Families and Friends for letting us Play
Marcel Nunis for Support and Friendship
Loreena McKennitt for the use of “Prologue” from the Quinlan Road recording “The Mask and the Mirror” www.quinlanroad.com