During the nine years working as a Field Supervisor, I accomplished two things. The first was a mystery novel, “The Holographic Detective Agency.” If you are in Portland, you can check it out at your local library. If not, you can buy a copy at Amazon.com or listen to yours truly lull you to sleep by reading the first chapter at:

http://web.mac.com/jplinde/iWeb/HDA/Podcast/711CA68B-B9D8-45D6-9571-F52FEB0912F2.html

Although sales have never been what anyone would ever call brisk, it was a way for me to keep writing. As the sage says, “A writer writes, always.”

And that brings us to the other project, a musical titled “Wild Space A Go Go.” WSAGG was first conceived in the mind of its musical composer, Kurt Misar. He envisioned a full-length stage musical that parodied the Italian science fiction films of the 60’s such as “Wild, Wild Planet.” Basically, his problem was he couldn’t find anyone dumb enough to write a libretto. That is where I come in.

Kurt and I had worked together in the 70’s but he had no idea of where I was. Last reports were that I was residing in Los Angeles. Stalking me on the web, he found an old web site that someone in Seattle had designed. He called her, they somehow managed to locate me and the rest is musical theatre history.

Kurt and I got together to discuss his ideas. We both were on the same page as far as theme. We agreed that it should be a take-off with a distinct 60’s style in look as well as content. I went home and mulled over his countless pages of ideas. What I finally came up with was a story that had the desired 60’s flavor, but with a contemporary, new millennium, theme. The idea that kept nagging at me was, what happened to Barbarella after she turned 35? Did she have problems adjusting to her own changing body? Did her goals in life change with her body? What if this aging, questioning sex kitten was forced to land on a planet of shallow women where the crime of aging and physical imperfection was banishment to another dimension? These were ideas and themes that would definitely keep me interested. And these ideas were how the story got written.

Kurt, along with his lyricist partner Brad Beaver, and I worked on the story, deciding where all the beats and plot points would be. Kurt began working on music, Brad lyrics, while I worked on a rough draft of the libretto. In six months time we had a very rough draft of the libretto and over half of the songs. Actors were recruited to read the play. We recorded the actors and based on both performance and their feedback polished off the 2^nd act.

After much polishing, a years worth in fact, a reader’s theatre presentation of the play was performed in front of a live audience at the Coho Theatre in Portland, OR. Actors read from the libretto and sang the songs to a recorded soundtrack. To be honest, the audience had no idea of what to expect and didn’t even realize that the work was a comedy. Yes, the writer of the libretto did not get one laugh for the first 15 minutes. Trouble. After the presentation, feedback was taken from the audience and it was back to the drawing board for the three creators.

After much discussion among the creators, it was decided that a prologue needed to be added, to literally inform the audience that they would be seeing a musical comedy. Yet again, we drafted ideas and came up with something that worked for all three partners.

Originally, Kurt had envisioned a world premiere of WSAGG in the summer of 2008. He would be executive producer and would be responsible for raising all the money from investors. The work would not be performed in a theatre space but in a converted warehouse with all monies earned to pay off the investors. After the investors were paid, the creative partners would share any subsequent profits.

The summer of 2008 came and went and there was no production of WSAGG. In 2009, Kurt paired down his plan, limited the capitol needed to roughly half and approached a gay nightclub in Portland, The Embers, about hosting a run of the show. They agreed with an opening date of April 23, 2010. A creative team was put in place. Valory J. Lawrence will direct, Dan Murphy will execute the choreography and Chris Whitten will design the stage and lights. Auditions will be continuing later this week, 1/9/10 with callbacks scheduled the following week. So far, we have seen some very talented people! Alas, as of now, we have not seen our Barbarette. Stay tuned!