Backstage: THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS

Science fiction is rarely attempted on stage. The special effects wizardry of cinema can easily convey the outer-space wonders of speculative tales. But director [[Jon Levin]] and a company of young actors, recently graduated from Oberlin College, have assembled a clever program of one-act stage adaptations of sci-fi that taxes the imagination more than a CGI software program. [[There Will Come Soft Rains]] was a hit at the recent New York International Fringe Festival and is making a brief encore appearance. Anyone interested in making high-impact theatre on a shoestring budget should take this show in.

"How the World Was Saved," derived from a [[Stanislaw Lem]] short story about a machine that can create anything beginning with the letter N, employs puppetry and dance to create a nightmarish vision of destruction by technology. Farah Joyner created the puppet figures of two bickering scientists with light-bulb heads and goggles for eyes.

"On the Nature of Time," based on a story by [[Bill Pronzini]] and [[Barry N. Malzberg]], puts a twist on the chestnut of a time traveler causing a temporal anomaly by preventing his own birth. By means of video images (designed by [[Jesse Garrison]] and [[Spencer Russell]]) projected on a scrim, Garrison plays both father and son in a dance of frustrated dreams. He solidly conveys the raging anger of the father and the fearful insecurity of the son.

In the final piece, "There Will Come Soft Rains," taken from a classic [[Ray Bradbury]] story, a trio of performers ([[Lisa Maley]], [[Clare McNulty]], and [[Kendall Rileigh]]) uses a few props and a bucket of water to create a fully automated house of the future that has been left vacant after its owners are vaporized by a nuclear attack. The three actors become the various machines, gadgets, cleaners, speaking clocks, and the abandoned family dog as the house gradually collapses.

Add the evocative bass music of [[Joshua Morris]] and you have a haunting, disturbing evening -- far more stimulating than any blockbuster film.