An homage to The Wooster Group (1975 to Present) and Droge Faust Parsifal (1997) by Einar Schleef (1944 to 2001).

written and co-directed by g. karol vom altersheim (read Fox interview).

Place
Act 1: Bridge of S.S. Terror in Space
Act 2: Transporter Room of S.S. Terror in Space
Act 3: Bridge of S.S. Performing Garage

Time
Near Future

Characters (in order of appearance)
S.S. Terror in Space
Terrorists, all-MALE crew of S.S. Terror in Space
Performers, all-FEMALE crew of S.S. Performing Garage
Clodius, MALE captain of S.S. Terror in Space
Wooster, FEMALE captain of S.S. Performing Garage
Groundlings

Characters in The Last, a play within Terror in Space (in order of appearance)
Clodius
Wooster
S.S. Terror in Space
Ghost
Hamlet
Claudius
Ophelia

Groundlings play Ghost, Hamlet, Claudius and Ophelia.

Scene I: Bridge of the S.S. Terror in Space. Props: overturned patio umbrella, chair and table. Background: b/w video of Swimming Pool, including occasional swimmers.

TERROR IN SPACE (a disembodied voice unless otherwise indicated)
We were in deep space on a routine exploration when our path crossed with a rival’s. The initial engagement was predictable. Enter the crews of S.S. Terror in Space and S.S. Performing Garage, with rapiers.

CREWS
Come on, sir! One! No! Hit, a very palpable hit! No! Well, again! Another hit, what say you? A touch, a touch; I do confess. We bleed on both sides! Poisoned!

Terror in Space creates darkness, then light. The crews are gone when the lights come up.

TERROR IN SPACE
Enter our captain, Mad Clodius.

Whenever Clodius speaks, the background is video of the January 6, 2021 Attack on the Capitol..

CLODIUS
Not Mad! Chair!

Background: Exterior of Mar-a-Lago, 1100 South Ocean Blvd, Palm Beach, FL. Enter a Terrorist to place chair, table and umbrella upright. After waiting for Terrorist to exit, Clodius sits.

TERROR IN SPACE
We had come a long way from being a 126-room mansion in La Florida, the Sunshine State, Orange State, Gator State, God’s Waiting Room.

CLODIUS
Aren’t you something beautiful? Fly, baby, fly! I could hug you! I really could!

Background: Swimming Pool.

TERROR IN SPACE
Many ups and downs during our travels.

Terror in Space stalls. Background flickers.

CLODIUS (stands)
More ups! Great ups!

Terror in Space restarts. Background: Swimming Pool.

TERROR IN SPACE
Called Mar-a-Lago, which means “Sea-to-Lake” in Spanish, the two-storied, crescent-shaped adaptation of the Hispano-Moresque style, with upper and lower cloisters along the concave side of the crescent facing Lake Worth, was built between 1924 and 1927 CE for businesswoman and socialite Marjorie Merriweather Post.

CLODIUS
Who? Never heard of her.

Terror in Space creates thunder. Background: Exterior of The Performing Garage, 33 Wooster Street, NYC.

TERROR IN SPACE
Before Planet Earth became uninhabitable, the S.S. Performing Garage would have passed for an auto-body shop on a Main Street in the US of A. It turns out to be—like us—a sales vessel in the ever expanding entertainment field of the cosmos. Clodius proposes a competition: untold riches for the “greatest” presentation. Enter Captain Wooster.

WOOSTER
Who chooses the winner?

GROUNDLINGS (outside Terror)
Open up! We know you’re in there! We know you have money, food and water, a warm bed and bath!

CLODIUS
There’s your answer.

Background: Swimming Pool.

TERROR IN SPACE
A passing cluster of Groundlings, the most nomadic, most unpredictable, most numerous family in the universe, would be the arbiters.

CLODIUS
Loud, lazy, smelly losers.

WOOSTER
In case of emergency, I send for a vial in the attic of our ship. Labelled Poison (Slow Acting), the vial contains a script in liquid form, entitled The Last, a drop of which is said to cast a spell comically, tragically, or what you will, over an entire audience. The future of the Garage might hang on The Last.

WOOSTER and CLODIUS
Places!

TERROR IN SPACE
Places!

WOOSTER
None of the “untold riches” are advanced for rehearsals.

Terror in Space kills the lights.

GROUNDLINGS (outside Terror)
We’ll be back!

TERROR IN SPACE
The expletives of the Groundlings have been stricken from the record.

Enter resurrected crews, with electric lights.

image credit
Still from “Film from the first public hearing into the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol” by Ross Dunn is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.