Dramatic License

A weblog of thoughts, inspirations, experiences of, in and about live theatre, film, television, literature and other media.

Wednesday, July 23, 2003

Revelation - Moleeds: The Key to the Universe

Read this first: http://kaa.trippy.org/txtHumorMoleeds.html

Then return here.

Now that you understand the basic mathematical principles of Moleeds, I want you to consider one last thing:

The Number of the Beast: 666.

666 is divisible by 37 (37x18=666)

What would be the number of Christ? One? Three? I don't think so. To get the number of Christ, we must turn the devil on his head. Invert 666. The inverse of 666 is 999. Right?

Does 999 have moleed relationship? It certainly does.

999 is also divisible by 37 (37x27=999)

Did you catch that? 999 is equal to 37 x 27!

Not only is there the fractional relationship between 37 and 27 (1/27=.037 and 1/37=.027), but there is this multiplicative relationship between the numbers of the beast and the (hypothetical) number of Christ.

Since the devil has dominion over the earth, and the number of the beast is divisible by 37, then the number of things of the earth must be 37.

If the number of Christ is the inverse of the number of the beast (666 turned upside down to 999), then 27 must be the number of heaven: things of the earth (37) multiplied by the things of heaven (27) equal God.

Interesting. Roger Rabbit might just be onto something here.

For more interesting moleed research see http://thirty-seven.org/.

Monday, July 21, 2003

Review: The Diary of Anne Frank at Amherst Workshop Players

I had one of the most emotional experiences of my life yesterday in a theatre watching some friends performing a production of "The Diary of Anne Frank." I've seen this play performed many times before. Primarily from a seat 40 feet away from the action in a traditional proscenium theatre house. But this production was of a revision of the original Hackett and Goodrich script and it was performed in the round in a 100 seat theatre built into an old one room schoolhouse.

First, the script was excellent. The original has Otto Frank returning to the annex at the beginning of the script and opening Anne's diary. The play then becomes a "flashback" to the retelling of the story. The new revision simply has the action start with the family entering the annex. Much more powerful. The reason that theatre has always been considered the "most dangerous" of all art forms is because of its immediacy. This production was immediate.

The theatre, Amherst, Ohio's Workshop Players, is an old one room schoolhouse. The acting area is perhaps 16' x 24' in area. The set designer hung rafters over the audience's heads, drawing us in as if we were in the annex with the Franks and van Danns. Everything was stark and bare with no color in the lighting except for blues for the night scenes. I couldn't find anything out of place. Costumes were not only authentic, but very sharp. It must be remembered that Otto Frank and Herman van Daan were well-to-do businessmen. The clothing that they and their families would have taken with them would have been very well-fitting and perfectly tailored. Not only did the actors have authentic era clothing, but it was not ragged or threadbare like so much other community theatre costuming.

This closeness to the action made the scene where the Nazi soldier and the Dutch collaborators take everyone prisoner that much more intense. Even though I knew what was coming, my heart was racing when they came up through the trap door in the floor. Perhaps what was most frightening to me was the fact that the soldier wore what appeared to be an authentic SS uniform and one of the Dutch collaborators wore a Swastika tie pin. I didn't ask where they got them and didn't really want to know where such things can be gotten today.

The most intense part of the production, though, was the very ending. Otto delivers a heartwrenching monolgue describing the families' last days in captivity. Unlike the original script that simply lists where they died, this monologue details how they died. I'm probably biased, because Jack, who played Otto, also played Tevye in my production of "Fiddler on the Roof," but the delivery was incredible and he even brought himself to tears.

While "Anne Frank" is not your typical light summer fare, it was certainly worth the price of a ticket. I must say, there are some incredible community theatre actors in Northern Ohio. Ten of them showed an audience of about 80 people yesterday the true meaning of "catharsis."

Friday, July 18, 2003

Greetings!

All right, I just found this service and thought I would sign up to give it a try. I haven't yet the slightest idea what I'm going to do with this, but I'm sure I'll come up with something in the future. Everyone collectively say, "Break A Leg!"

I'm off to watch the third performance of "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" that I drected for Aurora (Ohio) Community Theatre. This should be interesting. They've gone 5 days since the last performance and had no brushup rehearsal. We'll see just how much they've retained! I'm sure they'll be excellent. They're a very professional group of people.

For more information check out my other websites:

www.jovialities.8m.com
www.jrsimons.8m.com
www.oedtanorth.8m.net
http://www.lccpt.8m.net
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/producing_theatre

Thanks!

JRS