"Man: Biology of a Fall"
Music by Evan Hause, Libretto by Gary Heidt
Act I, Scene 1, Beginning
Performed 10/6/07 at Kumble Theater in Brooklyn, NY
Directed by Jyana S. Gregory
Conducted by Evan Hause
Sets: Rumiko Ishii
Costumes: Jessica Ford
Lights: Matthew Richards
Frank Olson (Steven Ebel), American biological weapons researcher is discussing his work with his British MI-5 counterpart, William Sargant (C. David Morrow) in Sargant's office.
OLSON (to audience)
Welcome to this chamber of horrors.
This gentle soul, in his sweater,
Sends men to madness and death for his state,
And I do the same for mine.
Once we were scientists; but this summer;
We don't experiment; we interrogate.
Here, in his consulting room
I see with crystalline clarity.
For I am about to change the course of history.
(pulls test tube from his pocket)
Doctor Sargant, I thought I'd show you
Our latest feat of Yankee know-how;
I have here a virus
Culled from Malay's jungles;
There it lives unseen in insects
and is rarely passed to man;
When it is, the dermis bubbles;
The victim screams; it takes his brain
by force, tearing out his words;
He howls like a dog in pain;
Bloody fingers tear at boils,
The tongue swells; he chokes;
In an hour he is dead;
The virus inside him also dies;
Too effective to survive,
The host is dead; it cannot spread;
But what a splendid bio-weapon;
We have made it more infectious,
Kept it alive in these conditions,
Suspended it, volatile,
Encased it in porcelain shells
To be lobbed where enemies dwell
This is the cream of our new science
Of Health Alteration- war without violence.
SARGANT
I say, dear chap, hoorah, you're a prophet,
Now for God's sake take care not to---
(OLSON drops it)
OLSON
Just a joke, Bill. Just a joke. Empty tube.
SARGANT
Of course it was, Frank. I feel a perfect boob.
OLSON
I tried that joke last week in Washington, of all places--
You should have seen those CIA guys' faces--
SARGANT
On old Sid Gottlieb of TSS?
I'd have paid to see it, I confess.
What'd he say?
OLSON (imitating GOTTLIEB's stutter)
Ay- ay- ay- ay- ay- ay- ay...
SARGANT
He might have died from a placebo effect.
OLSON
Wouldn't have been a great loss.
SARGANT
I daresay we've all felt that way about a boss--
But really, Frank, he's given you a chance
To do science for your country.
OLSON
Science! I'm making practical jokes.
Poison deodorant, hallucinogenic handkerchiefs.
I should suggest this to Sid: a squirt flower.
Or a bio-inoculating whoopee cushion.
But he wouldn't even get it.
SARGANT
Aha, that's the key. He has no sense of humor, so you can't respect him.
OLSON
He does have a sense of humor, in his way;
Like a boy killing insects for play.
SARGANT
Some might have thought that bit with the tube rather sadistic.
OLSON
Yes, but there's no harm done--
Gottlieb leaves no harm undone.
He's funding Dr. Cameron's Psychic Driving technique.
It's criminal.
SARGANT:
It's not even original.
OLSON:
Of course, if you lock somebody up,
Administer heavy drugs and electroshock,
Long periods of sensory deprivation
alternated with loud, repetitive voices
you'll drive people mad.
SARGANT
Well, someone had to do it. We're at war forever now.
And you, too use unwilling subjects in your work.
OLSON
As do you. Do you feel right about it, William?
SARGANT
I don't lie awake at night, if that's what you're asking.
Well, if you think these SS bastards don't deserve it, who does?
OLSON
It's one thing to kill a pig with germs--
It's another to see an old man die
After daubing his eye
with an infected hanky--
Or last week, in Sweden, in a beautiful lab,
I saw them shoot an old SS commander
With a bio-inoculated dart,
And watched as the poison
worked its way to his heart.
SARGANT
It's not a job for the faint, as I'm sure you knew.
War isn't won by kindness, caring, and compassion.
OLSON
I grew up in North Wisconsin with my father cutting ice.
The cold there makes Porton Down look like paradise.
We were always on the edge of killing: critters, strangers, Indians,
But it was only survival, never sadistic.
I'm afraid that fascism is catching.
SARGANT
Oh, you mustn't believe all the propaganda you hear.
"Land of the Free." Frank, that's fodder for the masses.
We both know both countries are run by the elite classes.
OLSON
It rankles my American pride.
SARGANT
I suppose as time passes your countrymen will see
That your ideals and empire won't sit easily.
OLSON
That's easy to say-- but some things I've seen—
Cameras: Orin Buck & Yuji Takematsu
Sound: Dan Gaydos
Video editing: Evan Hause
www.manbiologyofafall.com
This opera is a work of fiction based upon true events and people.
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4:49
MBOAF 10 - Abramsonby gpthoss493 views
AMAZING! I love it. A scientific opera, and creepy too! cheers from Creep Theater, Jackson MI
pjassenmacher 2 years ago