Synopsis: Naso, an old inventor, is lost inside a contraption of his own making

from

a masque in seven inventions

by Connie Beckley

Synopsis:

Naso, an old inventor, is lost inside a contraption of his own making. He is also lost in thought. Speaking to a musical score, he recalls his former assistant, Calliope, and how she gave him the ideas for his inventions in the form of Song. It literally puts the "muse" back into music. Each invention is first presented in tiny, intricate and intriguing model form, with semi-conductor material and light, then incorporated into the visual set as part of a kinetic sculpture - "The Contraption," the Inventor’s ultimate device. At the end of the performance he operates this Rube Goldbergian series of pulleys, ropes, tubes and other low-tech apparatus, by pulling a tiny light through a complicated path around the space, even into and out of the audience. Like many of our existential ruminations, the little light ends its journey in exactly the same position from which it started. The same, and different.

Characters:

The Inventor, Naso

Frederick Neumann

Calliope, former assistant

Connie Beckley

Frederick Neumann as the Inventor

Photo by Connie Beckley

With:
Theremin	Rob Schwimmer
Keyboard	Adam Marks
Keyboard	Geoffrey Kiorpes
Keyboard/ Electric Violin	Lisa Liu

Credits:

Music, texts, and sets	Connie Beckley
Lighting	Aaron Copp
Sound	Jane Shaw
Associate set design	Andrew Holland

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