Real Boy, at Letter of Marque (LOM) Theatre in Brooklyn NY an experience to toy with...a modern spin on all things Pinocchio

Are we puppets, pulled by someone else on strings set in place by not only our parents but our culture? Are we animals living among other animal-types in costumes or with underlying drives we may or may not be aware of?

Are we dreamers who do not want to wake up to reality or who don' t want to give up on those dreams for ourselves or our children or collective future? What is wood could walk and talk, think and feel?

Such was the piece of wood Gepetto sought from his burly counterpart who had Quite the Long Island accent of an I-talian nature (which one Italian audience member felt offended by saying there's been Way too much of that stereotyping in theatre and so almost walked out..but was glad he stayed for the next hour and a half of what they'd come up with collaboratively, the playwright and improv troupe.

The play written by Matthew Minnicino covered all the aspects of what one might think a fantasy-real-life Boy, Pinocchio, would encounter as a modern youth finding his way through say, New Yo'ke City, including the subway which is prone to the occassional 'man or puppet destroying disaster' by way of a slimy gigantor fish monster who bullets through the tunnel taking down all who don't find cover with its few short moment warning.

That impending threat was a big hit with the audience even though the depiction of said monstronsity was 'all in our heads' and relayed only by the charachters acting out their fear and the narrator of that segment in the close quarters of the small theatre space speaking ominously. Creepy but effective, huh, even in the retelling a day later.

Still warm...and slimy. As for the process Matt Minnicino pursued to come up with a fast-moving set of scenes read and enacted by a large handful of improv actors, that included joiining them for 6 three-hour sessions of improv after accepting the idea of doing a spin on the old tale of boy wanting to becoming real and doing so, moving the readers or audience in this case, to think of how real any of is or wants to aspire to be and how much our social groups and world will let us be.

Given the 'behind the scenes' view I was given, I won't go on in more detail, since I don't know how much can or should be revealed of this 'work in progress.' We got through Act One with a riveting climax that became like many other scenes more real than one would imagine given the context of 'this isn't Really real, but the themes of miracle possibilities being tripped up by ne'er do-wells and criminal types and stereotypes and gullible guys being way to trusting kept sounding a heck of a lot like real life.What would a puppet version of oneself look like (and the other players in one's life look like as well.) Would we act about the same way even if we were animals, say cats and dogs, sheep or foxes?

Do we treat others as 'consenting players' in our own antics from time to time or over a lifetime, finding reasons to justify hostile actions or crimes, tricks and messiness with a might is right or some people are not fully human or do not hurt or view the world (or us an individuals or part of bigger group) in a way that we think matters.

At one point the audience is part of the subway crowd, subject to animals and puppets sitting next to them if not dancing or rapping for them for some tips. One sweet female puppet is always wondering if someone is really wanting to bang her no matter what the context of their relationship. How true might that ring for every Woman and Child in America and the rest of the world, no matter the time zone?

She was armed with mace, a switch blade and know-how..and she was made of wood! What kind of world do Most Men Want it to be not only for themselves and their families but for the wider audience and their fellow human beings. With the weapons showing up across the world and perplexingly in schools or more 'sacred places' the underlying reasons for their use could be explored.

Might the remedy include 'evolving with love' as some say the Pleiadians expect us to have figured out a thousand years ago..or at least a few decades ago. Another audience member thought the fantasy fish monster was great since it was so 'unrealistic' but let's face it Subways and Life Can be Full of Monstrous Situations and Impending Doom. Plus plenty of folks are on youtube talking about aliens, animal mutilations (if not people being damaged or disappeared...)

 See Steven Greer and Linda Moulton Howe to fast forward to these modern times where we may be more like puppets in someone else's theatre than we were ever duly informed. Still maybe our spirits are a safe place that no one can fully own or toy with...let's hope we each get a legacy to craft into something meaningful with a team of support. There's always hope and some say we Are Love (check out a post on The Reconnection FB site on that idea from Jillian Fleer..that "Love Is Us."

That's a nice note to end on for the evening and review..even that's Not where Act One landed poor Pinocchio. Kudos to his gal pal even if only a puppet for trying to protect her bud. In the talk-back I did share my teen son Kaelan's strange twist of fate at age 16 (whichi is covered more in Remembering Kaelan Alexander..and with his unusual name and full name of 26 letters, there's a little message in that likely everyone could relate to.)

When sharing that with a couple of new folks today, they each had a tale of a close call, thankfully with a happy ending for one man who'd been caught off guard by a sudden drop of the ocean floor. The other was a news account of a boy who saved his friend who'd fallen through the ice but perished in the process. The wonder of it all, the love, the turns of fate, this mystical dance of life and crossing over. I also shared that while I didn't know how I got on a list to learn about this venue and play, I feel my family and friends in spirit may have given someone the idea to add my name to the list and invite me in. Many thanks and all the best with the $20K fundraising effort..well worth it to help our world in these perilous, full of possibilities times. " Let's Talk More Marque!"

. At some point the collective mindset may start to be used to empower one another boldly. where our human race may have been before and needs to go again, or perhaps evolve to for the first time. The mystical possibilities are no further than a dream away..and we have only to get through our waking hours before we can take ourselves off the hook and commune with the fairy magic and greater possibilities...