The Dying Light

For months now I’ve been suffering from a slight creative block. The show is coming along fine. I’d say the story is in the final stages of development, the characters are shaping up, and everything is going according to plan. But for the production itself? I need something different. It needs a spark.

And last night it came to me in a dream: industrial solar. I’m totally serious. This will be the first stage show in all of human history to be powered entirely by the light of the sun. In fact, I was so electrified by this electrical idea that I sat down right there and wrote an entirely new song to finish off the first act, entitled ‘By the Light of the Sun’. It’s going to feature all of my characters coming together on stage to recap their dramas and struggles so far, followed by the dramatic revelation that the villain of the piece- a corrupt makeup tycoon- is trying to destroy every source of light in the world because she gets breakouts on her face sometimes and it’s super embarrassing (very relatable, I feel). With no light, no one can ever look at her face ever again, so she blocks out the sun and the town (which is powered by solar energy) steadily begins to lose light, the whole stage plunging into darkness as the first act ends and the curtain falls.

I both needed a way to make the show stand out in a technical manner, and also a song to finish off the first act. Thanks to the power of dreams, and also commercial energy monitoring technology, I feel like the show is now complete! I shan’t reveal too much, however… got to keep some things under wraps for opening night.

Just picturing how it’s going to look in my mind is utterly enthralling, if I do say so myself. But on the other hand, it was my unconscious sleeping mind that came up with the idea, so I can’t take too much credit.

-Aubrey