FINAL THEATER DESIGN

FINAL CHARACTER DESIGN

This is the third part of a three part performance art piece.  Part II has been completed.  Part I is in progress.  Go here for incomplete Part I "The Worker" http://www.bright.net/~dapoets/perfinprog/worker.htm Go here for completed Part II http://www.bright.net/~dapoets/midsummer/index.htm  

For "Barren Scream" (THE ANT PROPHECIES) photograph go to http://www.bright.net/~dapoets/perfinprog/barren.htm 

Shadow Puppet Model's (small models) of the Ant's head and the Human Skull http://www.bright.net/~dapoets/perfinprog/antmodels.htm NOTE: THIS WAS THE INITIAL MODELS. THE FINAL PUPPETS WERE DIFFERENT

Design of the Theater for the Shadow Puppets could look like this; http://www.bright.net/~dapoets/perfinprog/thdesign.htm NOTE:  THIS WAS THE INITIAL THEATER IDEA.  THE FINAL THEATER WAS DIFFERENT

For Shadow Puppet design of "The Man that forgot to Mow" performance piece; http://www.bright.net/~dapoets/perfinprog/shpupmow.htm NOTE THE IS A PREVIOUS PERFORMANCE ART PIECE AND IS HERE TO ILLUSTRATE WHAT A SHADOW PUPPET LOOKED LIKED BEFORE THE (ANT PROPHECIES) PUPPETS WERE CREATED.

The Ant Prophecies performance art piece is shadow Puppet Theater. There are three major characters in the performance. There are two ants and a human skull. The two ants are larger than the skull. The skull talks. The two ants talk to themselves and to the skull. There are two other characters the slave ant and the Dung Beetle. There are small dragonfly looking bugs flying overhead. These bugs are made of flash paper and made to ignite electronically.

Scene opens with a dark stage and there are thunder and light flashes. The sun is rising and rises to illuminate the shadow puppet characters. The skull is already on the shadow stage. The two ants enter.

 

Ant 1: Pregnant pregnant a pre gn ant. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

Ant 2: Yea the humans could no longer reproduce so the pre gn ants took over. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

Ant 1: There is all that is left of one of them. Their remnants look like stuff that dung beetles would roll around. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.

Ant 2: Let’s see what he has to say. Speak Human skull. Hamlet, Human, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha.

Skull: OK so the humans are all gone. It is your fault you know. You ants. You pre gn ants. We tried to imitate you and it didn’t work.

Ant 2: So how did you try to imitate us?

Skull: You had the great social order so we tried to imitate it. We tried to create the greatest of all social orders.

Ant 2: And how did you do that?

Skull: By telling the people that they existed for community service. By destroying the individual, the creative thinkers, the artist.

Ant 2: I didn’t see any dead artist or creative thinkers laying around. Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha.

Skull: We didn’t just kill them we ostracized them and would not give them a way to adequately survive so they just died out and left only the communal thinkers.

Ant 2: OK

Skull: So we reached the stage of a total social species. There were no more artistic, creative thinking genetic codes remaining.

Ant 1: But that sounds good to me. Those artists get in the way of social order. They are always seeking to go somewhere else in their thinking.

Skull: I know. That is why we eliminated them.

Ant 1: Then what was the problem.

Skull: The problem is one that you ants will also have one day. It is a law of evolution. Of course we didn’t know about this law until it was far too late. We were all conditioned that there was a God so we could readily accept a higher power. Our leader of the insect colony. I am sure you guys know how that works.

Ant 2: Not really tell us?

Skull: If all the people (I mean insects) believe in a higher power then they are suckers to accept a leader.

Ant 2: And what is wrong with that?

Skull: It is fine because no one ever realizes that the leader has only one purpose.

Ant 2: And what is that?

Skull: To perpetuate the colony. It has no concern whatsoever about the individual. That is why we had to get rid of all the artist and creative thinkers. They were individuals.

Ant 1: That sounds good to me. What was wrong with a belief in God and the belief in a leader?

Skull: Well. Evolutionary law states that "all colonizing species will perish because they cannot adapt to a rapidly changing environment" So we became a colonizing species and when the environment changed quickly it was all over because there were no more creative artistic individual to save the species called man.

Ant 2: OK. I get it. If everyone is set in their ways and can only do what "God" or their leader tells them to then they cannot think as individuals and save themselves therefore their genetic code. It is all tied up in the social order of the leader and cannot change.

Skull: Right

Ant 2: Tell us more. Human Hamlet Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha

A WORM IS CRAWLING THROUGH THE SKULLS EYES

Ant 1: But first get that worm out of you eye socket. That is disgusting.

Skull: OK. He crawled out.

Ant 1: Tell us more.

Skull: What do you want to know?

Ant 1: What was the radical environmental change that terminated the man species?

Skull: Well first of all you have to realize that we set ourselves up for extermination. It is just a law of evolution. Of course we didn’t accept laws of evolution. We accepted laws from various Prophet books. You know like those ten commands.

Ant 1: No we don’t know. We don’t have ten commands. We only have one. "We exist for the perpetuation of the colony"

Skull: Well we had that one also. It was what was behind it all. But to get the man species members to accept it we had to get them to accept the higher power thing. Like God. You know

Ant 1: We are really direct we don’t have all that government trickery. We have a God. He is the colony. We don’t question him. We don’t know how to question him.

Skull: Well that sounds familiar. Neither did the man species know how to question after the artist and creative thinkers were gone. They were just blindly led by their God and Government.

Ant 2: What did their God and Government lead then to?

Skull: Well obviously the termination of the species.

Ant 1: I thought you said that the environment led them to their termination?

Skull: The fact that the environment changed rapidly did lead to our extinction. But at the very beginning of the second millennium we could adapt to anything. We were barely into the second millennium and it was over. We started the elimination the creative people. The artist and writers. We did this supposedly to defend the individual but it was all made up just so we could perpetuate the colony. You know patriotism, love of country, defend against all that are not like you, community service. The education systems were all requiring community service as we started the second millennium. That was the beginning of the end.

Ant 2: Like there is something wrong with patriotism, love of country, defend against all that are not like you, community service. Isn’t that why we are here?

Skull: You would see it that way because you are and insect species that exist for the benefit of the colony. The man species became an insect species like you.

SMALL FLYING INSECTS FLY OVERHEAD. THEY ARE MADE OF FLASH PAPER WITH AN ELECTRIC IGNITER. THE ANTS SWAT AT THEM WITH THEIR PINCHERS AND THEY BURST INTO FLAMES

Ant 2: Damn fireflies.

Ant 1: Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Hamlet Human you are so misinformed. No wonder you look like a dung ball. Beetles, Beetles, where are you. Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha.

Skull: You as an Insect species cannot break away from colonizing thought. It is so conditioned into your mind that you just cannot escape it and with no creatively thinking artist and writers around you will never escape that colonizing thinking.

Ant 2: Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha. Dung Beetles, Dung Beetles where are you. Roll this ball away. Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha.

Ant 1: You have another worm in your nose. That is so disgusting. Slave Ant, Slave Ant come get this worm out of Hamlet Human’s nose.

ENTER SLAVE ANT (HE IS SMALLER THAN THE OTHER ANTS) HE GOES OVER TO THE SKULL AND PULLS THE WORM OUT OF HAMLET HUMAN’S NOSE) HE THEN EXITS MUNCHING ON THE WORM.

Ant 2: We treat our slaves well. We give them food as long as they do as they are told. They are the workers. Of course they could get their own food without us ordering them around but then we would have to get our own food and we are so big that it takes a lot. A maggot in a man species skull isn’t going to do it for us.

Skull: Then you are the same as the man species just before we became extinct. We also were unable to survive on our own. We had to depend on the colony for survival.

Ant 2: And?

Skull: You just don’t get it. Colonizing species just never do.

Ant 1: I think it is time for us to go. Hamlet Human didn’t tell us anything. Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha.

Ant 2: Yea, lets go play football. With six legs we can really play that game.

Ant 1: Great, Kick, Kick, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha.

Ant 2: Goal, Goooooooooal, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha.

Skull: A social sport. Used to tie the species to the social order. You don’t have a chance. You ants are going to get yours.

ANT 1 AND ANT 2 EXIT. WITH A SMALL CLAP OF THUNDER AND A FLASH OF LIGHT THE DUNG BEETLE ENTERS. HE WALKS OVER TO THE SKULL, AND STARTS TO ROLL THE SKULL.

Skull: No wait. I am not dung. I am a man species.

DUNG BEETLE CONTINUES TO ROLL

Dung Beetle: TURNS, SMILES TOWARD THE AUDIENCE AND SAYS "Bah Dungbug. Ha, Ha, Ha"

DUNG BEETLE ROLLS SKULL OFF STAGE

***************PERFORMANCE ENDS******************* 

 

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