What happens when a reporter and her assistant set off on a story...and what if that story is told in a way that really brings it alive? No, it’s not Public Radio. It’s a Stage Play/Graphic Novel. It’s called “ The Intergalactic Nemesis” and it’s playing tonight and tomorrow night at the Moss Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech.
It’s not just the interesting voices - actually you’ll hear around 20 distinct voices from the only three actors on stage. They talk you through the saga of the Intergalactic Nemesiswith the help of talented live sound effects makers and a piano player. Radio listeners already know this can be enough to tell a good story, but the Nemesis doesn’t stop there.
“We project over 1250 high individual full color hand drawn, high resolution comic book panels on a huge screen to tell the story visually,” says Jason Neulander, who wrote and directs this graphic novel performed on stage.
It’s about an adventure in space but set in an era when the idea of space travel and science itself were more mysterious.
“The year is 1933 and we’re in a blizzard in the Carpathian Mountains of eastern Europe. Molly Sloane, the Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and her intrepid assistant Timmy Mendez are searching for a contact who is going to reveal key elements of a story that Molly is working on that she’s hoping will win her, her next Pulitzer Prize.”
Neulander, who used to act in the show as well, just can’t stay out of character as he finishes up the premise of the nemesis. It has something to do with what they call the central hive.
“We’ll just as he’s about to explain what the central hive is, a figure appears in the doorway, wielding a knife, throws that knife, it lands in their contact’s back and he falls down dead right in front of their eyes and then suddenly a mysterious and handsome stranger appears in the doorway, grabs the assassin, throws him into the fireplace, and tells Molly and Timmy to run for their wives, because they’ve just stumbled upon the story of the century.”
“And it’s animated as well. I was watching the other day and it was snow falling and it’s really like watching a live action graphic novel,” says Ruth Waalkes, Executive Director of the Moss Center for the Arts in Blacksburg.
The show was developed in the late 90s Austin, Texas, first running in coffee houses, and then picked up and nurtured by KUT the public radio station. Neulander was volunteering there on a program reading for the blind and pitched it to them. He says it was radio that gave him the idea to be able to tell a story simply with just a few elements such as the human voice, music, and the sounds of things, and he says the concoction works because of one more element… human imagination, which knits them all together.
"The Intergalatic Nemesis" is the kick off to the Science Fair that begins at Virginia Tech on October 4th. Performances are Thursday, September 25 and Friday, September 26 at 7:30 at Moss Arts Center in Blacksburg.
http://youtu.be/ZI7ANN9qYUg
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