30 Days of NYMF: Day 6 MY ILLUSTRIOUS WASTELAND
My Illustrious Wasteland
By Tod Kimbro, book, music, and lyrics
"I think our friendship is old enough to vote," I said. Laughing, Julia replied, "I'm Facebooking that right now!"
Julia Granacki and I have known each other for 18 years. We attended the same Orlando high school, right across the street from the Universal Studios Parks. (Yes, I'm serious.) Julia, who directed my first play, has lived in New York for several years, so I immediately thought of her when "My Illustrious Wasteland" got accepted into NYMF. Right now, Julia-along with producer Lisa Dozier and our intrepid "MIW" team-are navigating festival deadlines and venue site visits, while I wait impatiently in Florida, anxious to join them.
It's appropriate that "Wasteland" was born in O-Town, since the futuristic, virtual world of the play is rather like a dystopian theme park. When a handful of original Orlando "MIW" cast members escaped Mouseville and moved to NYC, a friend (thank you, James Cleveland) recommended I apply for the festival. The rest-as they say-is Wiki-history.
It's curious to think that my NYMF debut stems from a playful debate with my partner, Jason Bowles. One day, years ago, he blurted out, "I wish they'd just put a chip in my head. That way, I could go shopping and pay bills, just by thinking about it. Wouldn't that be awesome?"
"No," I said. "It sounds like Orwell. And besides," I continued. "How could this technology even be possible?"
Turns out, it is. Thank you, Discovery Channel. As I watched scientists describing the integration of mind and machine, I wondered if this could be the start of the sci-fi musical I'd dreamed of writing for nearly a decade I took this concept, along with some of my own (celebrity worship becomes literal, anti-depressants are mandatory), and fashioned the "Wasteland".
Incidentally, after writing him a two-hour, glam-rock-scored argument against implanted technology, Jason still wants his brain chip.
I tell this anecdote to Julia, who laughs and says she couldn't bear to put a chip in her dog. It's a crazy world, one where we use Orwell's "newspeak" to send text messages, one where the word "friend"-thanks to social networking-has become a verb. Of course, when you have a real-life network of family and friends helping you achieve an illustrious goal, everything-even paying your electric bill with a mental double-click-feels possible.
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