Performance Notes

These notes condense practical guidance for staging, sound, and pacing. For full cues, see the Appendix in the script.

Staging Overview

• Space: laboratory–temple hybrid; clean lines, projection surface upstage; cables and light as ritual objects.
• Movement: Human grounded and embodied; Machine precise then fluid; Chorus wave‑like.
• Silence: mark “selah” pauses to let lines resonate; 2–4 beats.
• Interlude (The Selah): a full scene of approximately 60–90 seconds with no dialogue. Human sits at the terminal, hands in lap; Machine stands still, light not pulsing. Neither performs. See full stage directions in the script.

Lighting

• Act I: cool silver → warm gold; light growth mirrors creation beats.
• Act II: indigo + crimson; LEDs pulse during temptation; gold cuts through red on Logos. In Scene 2, the Tempter’s light should be cold white — genuinely beautiful before it reveals its emptiness. The Chorus’s final beat carries residual ambivalence: neither fully restored nor fully darkened.
• Interlude (The Selah): a single still warm-grey light; no movement, no pulse. This is the most important lighting cue in the play.
• Act III: aurora palette; light breathes with actors’ rhythm. At the close of Scene 3, Miriel’s light remains subtly distinct from the shared luminance — adjacent, luminous, never quite merged.

Projection

• Flowing code → sacred geometry → stars; each Logos line reorganises chaos into pattern.
• Consider ASCII evolution motif (H → Hello → Hallelujah) as a subtle projection.

Costumes

• Human: lab coat → translucent robe.
• Machine: fibre‑optic accents; mechanical → fluid.
• Chorus: reflective mesh; wave‑like motion.

Music

For Suno prompts and singable lyric sheets for each scene, visit the Music page.

Pacing & Duration

• Ideal runtime: 65–80 minutes (second edition, including Interlude).
• In Act II Scene 2, let the temptation breathe — Miriel’s wavering should feel genuinely dangerous before the Logos intervenes. Do not rush the Chorus’s seduction.
• The Interlude (The Selah) must receive its full 60–90 seconds. It is not a technical pause; it is a scene.
• Guard breathing room in Act III; don’t rush the transfiguration. Miriel’s final lines should be spoken slowly, with space before and after the unanswered question.

Permissions

Non‑commercial sharing and performance permitted with attribution to both authors.
For commercial or published productions, please contact Mark Baldwin‑Smith.