I woke to find myself in a dark wood, for I had wandered off from the straight path.

Well, I, at least, have survived ‘Dust and Shadows’, and done so without needing to resort to throwing Ritter, Stone or DuMort off the John Hancock tower.

I suppose the same cannot be said for all of us. Blood, I have learned, is very difficult to get out of white lace tablecloths.

For those of you who attended ‘Dust and Shadows’, thank you. Your attendance helped to make the run an absolute success. I am sorry I was unable to attend all the performances, but I understand that they all went quite well – at the very least, none of the patrons were in any danger (per Ste.Croix’s promise) of physical harm, although I am given to understand that both Stone and DuMort made any number of illicit offers that threatened the virtue of various attendees.

If you came to the show, you will soon receive an email from me at Ste.Croix’s behest. I am as uncertain about what to do with it as you – let me know (here, in comments or via email) what you make of it.

–VKB Angell

As is customary the day before a new show – or so I am told by those who are more familiar with the experience than I – I am a bit jittery, despite the fact that I am not even one of the performers. My concerns, however, have nothing to do with performance anxiety and everything to do with worry for the relative safety of the audience, given the instability of Stone and Ritter and the utter mindless selfishness of DuMort.

Ste.Croix assures me that ‘no one has ever or will ever be in danger as a consequence of our actions’, and she seems to be confident in that pronouncement, but Ritter and Stone’s behaviour yesterday does not inspire me to a similar confidence.

While working on the final touches for ‘Dust and Shadows’ with Ms Kingsley, Dr Bezio and Mssrs O’Brien, Griswold and George, Stone was possessed by the perverse impulse to begin dancing about in the performance space, tossing noodles up into the air and attempting to catch them in his mouth (I must admit that his ability to do so is a bit impressive, if not flawless, the result of which left several spatters of tomato sauce on his clothing and the floor which fortunately Ste.Croix insisted that he clean up).

When this became too infuriating for Ritter to tolerate any longer the shouting and shoving started, which naturally led to the launching of said noodles at Ritter rather than straight up into the air.

Ste.Croix stepped in and put a stop to it at this point, although I fear that there may have been a stray noodle or two that escaped Stone’s lackluster attempt at cleaning up. His insistence that Ritter assist him in the process met with a series of rather creative insults that demonstrated Ritter’s felicity with a variety of crude metaphors (contrary to his customary attitude of propriety).

I suppose there will have to be some sort of prize if an audience member manages to find a days-old noodle hiding somewhere in a corner.

–VKB Angell

I tend to consider myself a fairly tolerant individual. I am willing to put up with a great deal in a person before I pass judgement on them. That being said, while I have not spent a great deal of time with Delilah DuMort I must confess to a wholehearted belief that she is a complete idiot.

Most people who exhibit ridiculous or silly behaviours do so on a part-time or short-term basis. They do one thing or two things that are very silly indeed, and otherwise proceed with their lives in a normal manner.

DuMort seems incapable of doing anything that is neither silly nor selfish. I have worked with egotistical and narcissistic personalities before, and DuMort is neither of these. She is, however, profoundly self-centred in such a way that I find rather remarkable. It is not that she places herself before others so much as she is unaware that there are others in the room, much less being capable of recognising that those other people might have opinions or emotions that are not reflective of her own.

On top of this, I would defy anyone to find a mature woman quite so incapable of doing anything except following instructions, and that she does badly. Only the plainest sort of language is capable of being followed, and that is often skewed by a belief system which I cannot even begin to fathom. I think I am probably the better for it – and this is an opinion that I share with even Ritter and Stone, with whom I seem to have shared a rare ‘bonding moment’ when DuMort attempted to make my computer function. I will not be letting her near it again.

– VKB Angell

To follow up on yesterday’s post, I formulated an online survey on beliefs concerning the afterlife and communicating with the dead. I would very much appreciate responses.

Go to the survey here.

Given some of the context of ‘Dust and Shadows’, I am inspired to ask my readership to consider the following: what happens in a séance? Do you believe that it is possible to make legitimate contact with the departed? Do you think that television mediums – like John Edwards – are actually capable of contacting the dead, or do you consider them skilled charlatans capable of reading subconscious bodily cues?

I have recently been reading Mary Roach’s Spook and Stiff, and some time ago was reading Michael Shermer’s Why People Believe Weird Things. While it is fairly clear to me that Roach and Shermer do not place terribly much stock in the afterlife (although Roach seems to be more open to the possibility than Shermer), I wonder about the tendency of people to believe that such contact is in fact possible, contrary to the assertions of modern science.

So – do you believe not simply that we shall one day see the dead again in another plane (call it heaven or whatever you will), but that we are actually capable of speaking with them in this one?

If so, would you really want to?

– VKB Angell