Bri-off

The New York Times writes of the inherent theatricality in the character of Madoff, at the heart of this $50 Billion ponzi scheme.  It occurs to me that our recent discussions of Brian have him somewhat as a similarly motivated, yet less successful, Madoff.  Edward faces the challenge, it seems, of depicting a potential-mastermind, with a clownish twist.

In a separate Op-Ed called Stop Being Stupid, Bob Herbert argues that the core of Madoff's success was his ability to dupe those around him into thinking he had money.  Does it get any better than this?  

"The mind-boggling stupidity that we’ve indulged in was hammered home by a comment almost casually delivered by, of all people, Bernie Madoff, the mild-mannered creator of what appears to have been a nuclear-powered Ponzi scheme. Madoff summed up his activities with devastating simplicity. He is said to have told the F.B.I. that he “paid investors with money that wasn’t there.” Somehow, over the past few decades, that has become the American way: to pay for things — from wars to Wall Street bonuses to flat-screen TVs to video games — with money that wasn’t there."

I feel like our play is beginning to ask: what just happened?  Do bubbles lead to depressions?  If we understand bubbles, can we understand what got us here? 

The Crash

Okay!  First of all, if you haven't read Time Magazine's Person Of The Year Article on Obama, read it.  It's great.  And towards the end it has a FANTASTIC section about fear and the economy:

IV. Into the Breach
More than 75 years ago, a new president took the oath of office amid economic catastrophe and admonished the nation that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Today generations of Americans are experiencing a harsh tutorial in the true meaning of that resonant diagnosis. Fear is kryptonite to the economy, which cannot operate efficiently without broad and well-founded confidence — that wise investments will gain value, that balance sheets mean what they say, that contracts will be honored and bills paid.

The events of the past autumn produced the sharpest drop in consumer confidence ever recorded, and a similar wave of fear cratered credit markets. Obama notes the very real structural flaws in the economy, but he is also aware of the role that fear plays. "Nobody trusts other people's books anymore. And people decide, 'Well, I'm just going to hold on to my cash for a while,'" he explains. "And that compounds the crisis. And all that results in a contraction in lending, in consumer spending, which then has a real impact on Main Street. And so what starts off as psychological is now very real."

Yes!  What if the end of the play is a "crash" of the world Brian has created?  Fear overcomes the system and makes everything crash down in flames.  Something begins within the characters--"starts off psychological"--and takes down the entire world with it.  If we can ground this demise in palpable fear... then I think we have something immensely powerful and resonant at our fingertips.

Music in Clem-ifornia

This is a remix of the old, old, Wesleyan Fight Song... and it could be an inspiration for the music of this world.  Old formulas recreated with 1990s elements.

Check-check it out.

Under the shell

Visual research for what things can look like under the surface, once the outer shell starts to come off.