Comments for

Comment on But what about recent research? by Judd Trout

Judd Trout — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 20:52:28 +0000

Sorry to take so long to respond… we’ve been having some drastic technical issues with the website. At any rate: bless your heart for writing. Here’s a defense: the connectedness and contentedness described by Sex at Dawn (okay, I keep meaning to read that one, but I haven’t, so I’m kind of going off what you say about it) could well have existed — but the play is about the moment we stepped away from it. The characters are doing exactly what you describe — leaving their natural environment and social system behind. Now, whether the natural environment and social system were an Edenic bliss or not, I’m not sure. I was pretty inspired by Freud’s view of it in Totem and Taboo — obviously not current research, for sure. In his version, if I can sum it up, the social system was totally triangular, with the ‘primal father’ on top, and the first revolution (in which the mateless younger males gang up on the big guy) liberated us at the same time as it destroyed our sense of security and social coherence (once you kill the king, you realize that kings can be killed). As far as I know, Freud didn’t have a whole lot to say about what all this meant for the women, but I think something big and dreadful probably happened when we realized the connection between sex and pregnancy… women had previously been goddesses walking amongst us, spontaneously creating life (probably pregnant from the moment they were fertile until their deaths), and then suddenly the ugly hierarchies of male socialization got involved. Point being: somewhere in there anxiety and neurosis got invented, and while you might debate when and how it happened, it’s pretty clear that it did happen. Or maybe the entire evolutionary chain of being is wracked with angst — it could be that the fall-from-paradise idea (of which I take Sex at Dawn to be a variation) is wishful thinking — another way our imaginations plague us with a sense that the world isn’t as it should be, but might be, or once was.

I mean, I think there’s tons to be said about how we’re physically and emotionally designed for a different world, but I’m not totally sure that we were ever really at home in the old world, either.

But the main thing is that it’s interesting and entertaining to speculate about the whole thing. Not to be facile, but we’re pretty happy if we got to start some great conversations.

Comment on Ignorance at the Roxy by Smell

Smell — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 04:51:46 +0000

Amazing!
The props, the puppets, the performers, the lights, the sounds, the balloons and the creativity were absolutely wonderful! However, to me, the best aspect of the show was the message it portayed. I came home feeling incredibly inspired and optimistic about life! Every single person should see this to be reminded that happiness is right in front of us and we are all striving to achieve something that will never come to us. In a western culture full of pressure to become wealthy and “succeed”, one must remember that these are not measures of “happiness” and there is nothing that will give us that full contentment of life other than living for the present moment and accepting all emotions we experience.
I will be thinking about this play for days to come and I have no doubt it will keep me inspired through tougher times in life.
This play definitely triggered the “happiness hormones” in my brain. I hope everyone is able to have this experience as well!

Comment on It lives! by Neandertaler

Neandertaler — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 05:55:09 +0000

And how!
I just came back from watching it. What a great show! Loved the set, the puppets, the amazing acting work and the way the story came together. I’ve always had a thing for puppets, but I didn’t think I could get a lump in my throat watching a prehistoric one –whose language I couldn’t even understand– breathe his last…
Congratulations to you all. You’ve outdone yourselves, once again!

Comment on Hideous Purple Tentacle Beast by Ter. E

Ter. E — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 02:25:12 +0000

Right! Just like the animals that powered all the Flintstones technology would say, with a shrug… they weren’t pursuing happiness, they were slugging it out every day being vacuum cleaners and phonographs and anything else that hadn’t been invented yet. It is permissible to continue with this gag, and have our early humans use caverats as mobile phones or tablet computers, etcetera. Yuks such as these are important micro-narratives that say important things about who we are.

Comment on Hideous Purple Tentacle Beast by Mitochondrial Eva

Mitochondrial Eva — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 23:06:20 +0000

It’s a-living…

Comment on Hideous Purple Tentacle Beast by Ter. E

Ter. E — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 01:24:17 +0000

At some point could we have the ribs heave and sigh, like the beast is not quite dead yet? Let’s hear it for survival!

Comment on Hideous Purple Tentacle Beast by Mitochondrial Eva

Mitochondrial Eva — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:12:02 +0000

Mmmmmm lovely… now bedazzle that thing with cowrie shells already!!!

Comment on The latest version of the script by Judd Trout

Judd Trout — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:40:10 +0000

Damn it! You’re right. Let me ponder that and post properly in a bit.

Comment on The latest version of the script by peglegscrown

peglegscrown — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 00:14:29 +0000

Simple question. Who is the narrator? What is the narrator’s relationship with the audience? With the story and the characters? If you know this clearly, the speeches will write themselves.

Comment on The latest version of the script by Meliadice

Meliadice — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:50:03 +0000

Going beyond the idea of a person walking around with an overdeveloped sense of self-importance, imagine that the ego is like a baby that won’t stop crying. And what is it crying? “I need, I need, I need.” And what does it need? Boiled to down to the essentials, it’s looking for SECURITY, APPROVAL and CONTROL. These of course are impossible demands. Even if one imagines, for one brief shining moment, that all of those things are in hand, or at least within reach, can the guard ever be let down? Of course not, because everyone else on the planet wants those same things.

What I meant by “detachment,” or maybe non-attachment is a better word, was making a conscious effort to step outside the waking nightmare of expending all one’s energy trying to get what can’t be gotten because it doesn’t exist—except in people’s minds. The downside of all this is that if you succeed at all in doing that, other people will think you are deranged and/or dangerous. They tend to get very nervous when everyone isn’t buying into and contributing to the mass delusion.

Of course, when you’re my age, no one really pays any attention to what you’re thinking and doing because you’re no longer a “player.” I can’t tell you how lovely it is to be dismissed as irrelevant, even gaga. The freedom it bestows often goes to my head.