The Red Forge Publishing House

Bridget rings the bell. Audience settles.

Set: Park Bench with Theodorus Spiral cushion with Kesbooks Skytower picture and Eiffel Tower ornament.

Keren at keyboard. Plays intro music.

Keren: Good Evening and Welcome to The Red Forge Publishing House Fringe Performance. We are all very excited to be here to present to you what we hope will be a fun and interesting hour of entertainment. There will be a short break where you are welcome to chat and stretch your legs but please when you hear the bell try to focus on the play again.

So, without further ado, make yourselves comfortable and sit back and relax.

Keren: This story begins with a woman named Brenda, who while she has lived a wonderful life, raised a family with her loving husband, had begun to feel, ‘is this it!’. The niggling feeling has slowly turned into an obsession and the desire to express herself became more and more urgent. She began writing a story, performing a song, painting a picture and slowly this amalgamated into what she called a creative installation.

Keren walks of the stage and sits in the audience.

At the same time:

Brenda walks onto stage sits on the bench and opens the laptop. Speaks to the audience a little forlornly: I don’t know why I have left my home in Adelaide, Australia to come to Paris to write my story. I just found the distractions at home unbearable, so I left home without telling anyone to come here to write. I am very worried I have made a dreadful mistake…what will become of me?

If I just write one sentence at a time perhaps I can make it happen. I’m going to call it My Painted Elephant and I am going to make the chapter lengths proportional to the change in the hypotenuse of the Theodorus Spiral.

Brenda speaks cheerfully. Max is one of my main characters. He is an information warrior. It has been hard for everyone to keep up with all the changes in information technology, but he has toiled away keeping abreast of it all. He has built up his information agency while others have been allowing the big tech companies to take over. And he has championed for the small and large causes such as dwindling library resources and customer rights and expectations to good customer service in the tech savvy, data rich world.

Max: Max walks on stage and speaks to the audience. You should be in control of your data from the cradle to the grave and I will help you to achieve this. Having trouble dealing with large companies such as utility or energy companies, in agony trying to get good customer service. Are you getting the run around? I will help you.

Come to Maxden Library and Information Services for all your information needs.

Max puts his phone to his ear and mimes conversation and looking at his tablet. Walks to the side of the stage.

Brenda: Speaks to the audience. Another main character in my story is Charlotte. She is Max’s sister and she is founder of the Theodorus Spiral Company. Everything about her business has a connection to the Theodorus Spiral.

Charlotte: Charlotte comes on stage. Whirls showing off her dress. The Theodorus Spiral has some very useful properties that are yet to be fully utilised. While I am happy that I can manufacture fun theodorus spiral shaped wall hangings which people use for lucky charms, what I really want is to produce functioning shields for domestic use and I think a theodorus spiral layout would enhance solar farms and other applications that need a direct line of site with a central point.

Brenda: I have another character, unfortunately I can’t show her to you. It is all very frustrating you know. I understand I must be patient. Hologram technology is getting better everyday but I really want to see Kesbooks Skytower, the hologram sent from the future.

She is a hologram embedded with micro organic material, so it is very difficult to tell she is a hologram and most people are not really looking at other people, they barely look properly at themselves.

Kesbooks Skytower came out of a computer at the Semaphore Library and has been living among her friends Max and Charlotte for a little while. She is a little confronting as she is a total recall machine as she was uploaded with all human knowledge before she was sent back via the game Second Life. She is also recording everything she sees and hears for a reality TV show in the future.

Brenda sighs.

I might starve or die from cold. I must keep writing. I can’t just introduce characters and think that is enough for the audience.

Brenda speaks brighter. A party scene. Max will have a party. Sending Kesbooks Skytower from the future has caused all sorts of time entanglement problems and slowly the community has learned that time travel is possible. Max will hold a party and the guests will arrive all excited discussing whether or not they would like to time travel and what would they want to do.

Party Scene.

Audience (Extras) come to the stage speaking about whether they want to time travel and what they would do. Everyone is excited. Leave space at centre front stage for Charlotte introduce Marla to Max.

Charlotte: Hey Max meet my friend Marla.

Max: Nice to meet you.

Marla: Nice to meet you Max. Charlotte has told me about your information agency, perhaps you would like to help me with something. I’m the director of a new start-up company called The Red Forge Publishing House. Let me tell you more.

Max and Marla walk off talking about The Red Forge Publishing House.

Charlotte helps Brenda to get bench and props off the stage. Charlotte goes to get changed, Max whips off his shirt.

Max, Leroy and Tarnie set up table and chairs for next scene.

Max, Leroy, Tarnie seated on stage each shuffling notes, looking at devices, putting glasses on.

Marla storms into the office of The Red Forge Publishing House wearing her Red Forge Publishing House T-shirt.

Marla: Good Morning, team.

Max, Leroy and Tarnie: Good Morning.

Marla. Right, great to see you all. Where’s Charlotte?

Marla: Breathe, they’re closing in on us, we are running out of time. I knew this would happen; we can’t seem to move quickly enough.

Marla: OK guys, we need to really step it up now team. It’s good to see you are all wearing your Red Forge Publishing House t-shirts. Are they available on the website?

Tarnie: Not The Red Forge Publishing House website, we don’t have enough resources for that but an Australian company called Print Bar are doing a great job with the T-shirts, the quality is good, we haven’t had a single complaint and they take care of the invoicing etc.

Marla: Good. So much is going on out there; we are going to get left behind. I need to get the book printed, the screen play needs to be written and the music needs to become recognisable. We must start getting the product out there. I really think the time is right now. It is just the sort of entertainment the public are looking for; a little bit quirky but offering real substance something for an audience to think about.

Marla: That’s good. Now I know the book, My Painted Elephant needs editing, but I want start promoting it now. Leave it a bit rough, it will give it an arty, edgy feel. Besides Brenda losses her laptop with the work unfinished so it is supposed to have an unfinished feel.

Tarnie: OK boss. I think we will need an editor in the future. Have you seen the add for the Fringe play, library is misspelt.

Marla: What? Oh no. You rushed that through. Ok. Doesn’t matter we’ll just mention that in the play.

Max: We spelt it right on the t-shirts. Smiles at Marla

Marla: Tarnie, I want the website to be a record of progress, so anyone can see who is the owner of the Intellectual Property. Max, can you please work out a legal strategy; start with a copyright statement but I think we need to be prepared for a plagiarism case. But one more edit is needed, I agree. I want you all to have another look at it, it probably needs updating with all the creative ideas that have come with putting on the Fringe Play. If we get enough ticket sales we can send the book to the printers.

Marla: Kesbooks Skytower needs to do more on the social media to promote the products. Leroy, I really need you to come up with the believable science for Kesbooks. There is a lot going on with holography. I want it to be the very latest, original idea and of course the time travel must stay in.”

An audible groan was heard from Leroy

Leroy: A hologram sent from the future with total recall sending information into the future for a reality TV show. Exaggerated eye roll.

Leroy: She should have laser’s coming out of her eyes. Pokes fun at Marla behind her back.

Marla: Stop it Leroy, I know the time entanglement angle irks you, but it is staying. It really is the whole point of the concept. Get people to think about what they would do it time travel were possible.

Leroy: It just isn’t realistic because of the changing the past paradox etc. um..higgaldy pickledy as Brenda words it in My Painted Elephant.

Marla: Yes and she then proceeds to ignore the higgeldy pickledy.

Leroy: It could be possible to travel on your own time line and not change anything. Just travel forward and back. Just go and have a look, perhaps the electromagnetic forces will be so strong that actually making changes is not physically possible.

Marla: Well you’re the science writer: that’s what I employed you for. Also, I don’t get what Brenda was saying about the derivatives of the theodorus spiral, you know the chapter lengths, why does she do that? And didn’t I ask for you to continue on writing Kesbook’s diary?

Leroy puts his head down and starts writing.

Tarnie: And I have been thinking we could set up a studio and stream live music via the website too.

Max: I have created the Maxden Library and Information Services website. I am getting lots of enquires from people having trouble accessing information and managing their personal data.

Charlotte rushes in and sits.

Charlotte: The Theodorus Spiral Company also has a website explaining all about the spiral and I have been working on an education program that takes people from simple geometry all the way to complex computer programming all focused on the Theodorus Spiral.

Marla: Good, Good.

Marla: Max, Tarnie, I want to sell the book as an e-book directly from the website. I don’t think we can keep My Painted Elephant as a free book. I want a check-out on the website. As a business we really need to start making some money. Now I hope you are all wearing your t-shirts out and about. We really need to get some more exposure in the community with our product.

Marla: Tarnie get that music score completed. Live music would be great Tarnie but are you going to do it? Let’s find a professional singer and band, let’s turn it into a musical or an opera. Get the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra on board.. Perhaps once we start getting some t-shirt and books sales we can look at doing more.

Tarnie: I’m in connected to Vincent Ciccarello CEO of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra on Linked In. I am going to send him a demo. All we need is to get a bit of traction. A few high-profile people interested and we will be away. Hey, what about Elon Musk wearing one the shirts at a conference?

Charlotte: Oh Marla and my fun theodorus spiral inspired patterns for the TV screens will a lovely touch. Some are created using the square root of negative numbers.

Leroy: that’s awesome Charlotte and I reckon the messing around with the square root of negative could be part of the reason Kesbooks Skytower comes into being. We could even have a fun little ditty.

Leroy, Max, Charlotte and Tarnie all sing “The Theodorus Spiral, negative image will get you into outer space”.

Marla: Brilliant, keep up the good work. OK team, that is enough for today.

Leroy, Max, Charlotte and Tarnie all get up and leave.

Max: Now let’s get to the meeting we really need to be at.

After the others leave Marla starts writing a list:

Marla:

Holograms
Commercialisation of business
Marketing; is social media working?

After a massive sigh, she begins writing another list titled POSITIONS VACANT

Marla:

Writers for the The Red Forge Publishing House concept
Editor
Search Engine Marketing and Branding Experts
Mathematician for Theodorus Spiral research
Physicist (Optics and Theoretical) for Kesbooks Skytower hologram.
Data and Information Scientists, collection and analysis of information seeking behaviour and databank development for Maxden Library and Information Services
Manufacturers of Theodorus Shields (or wall hangings)
Clothing manufacturers and retailers for merchandise.
Musicians and singers to perform Hopeful in the Paradox

Marla: FOR SALE: Innovative Concept Best Offer.

Picks up phone.

Marla: Yes Ridley, are you interested….I only agree if you convince me you will get the special effects for Kesbooks Skytower right…and Tarnie will want the rights to the music.

End of Act 2.

Jan and Vin remove table and chairs, replace with podium.

Act 3.

Frank: Good Evening everyone. Welcome. We are here to discuss the matter of time travel. While we all got excited about being able to travel through time it has become obvious there are problems with us all travelling backwards and forwards whenever we like it. It is dangerous and causing utter chaos.

Frank: I would like to acknowledge Max from Maxden Library and Information Services for organising some fantastic regulated tours into the past and future and those of us who have been on them are very grateful for the wonderful experience.

Frank: However it has to all stop until we can get a consensus on what are the critical missions. So without further ago we will hear from several speakers tonight who would like to put forward their proposals and we can try to have an understanding of what the community want to do.

Frank points to Jeff

Frank: Mr Thompson

Jeff: I propose we travel as far into the future as we can to discover where we meet or have contact with any species from other planets. I will be good for us to find out if we are alone or not.