Word: acted
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Act I begins with a narration of the status quo by Lanx (Adrian Staub), Wheeler's right-hand man. Lanx sits with his back to the audience in front of a suspended rectangular figure which is alternately a window and a movie screen during the performance. Looking out at the city, Lanx states, "All hell passes before me"--a statement which quickly becomes true for the audience...
Rabbit (Tom Chick), who arrives as the action of the first act begins, is the medicine man who has been called in to conjure Wheeler's "totally new" destruction. After the first few moments, Chick falls into character and subsequently delivers a steady performance in an ever-changing and difficult role...
Rabbit's colleague Tympani (Martin Harris) is another artiste who was called in a few months back to work on the project. Tympani speaks his credo midway through the first act: "Optimism isn't reassuring. It's stupid." Harris convincingly portrays Tympani's pessimism. And he is also effective when Tympani daydreams beamingly about owning a "pale green diner" or going to the movies...
Amidst the well-directed "hell which passes before us" are Shepard's messages, one of which seems to be a concern about the effects of the motion picture industry on the consciousness of the public. Early in the first act, Wheeler indicates his awareness that movies have become the most dominant aspect of culture and have taken control of people's minds...
...unto itself the liberty to play ombudsman for the Indy; there is daily evidence that their work at Plympton Street is far from complete. "Factual" or not, sarcastic criticism is arrogant and pompous. When such an accusation is left unsigned--as it was on Saturday--it is also an act of cowardice. The comic irony, of course, is that the issue addressed by the anonymous writer in this case relied upon the fact that Indy staffers Cornwell and Lattmann identified themselves as authors--a minimal journalistic standard with which your writer did not even comply. We wonder...