OHPN Newsletter
Summer-Fall 1995
December 9, 1995, 9 A.M. to 9 P.M.! Loose Screws, Honolulu's premiere Improvisational Theatre and Comedy Troupe hosted a 12 hour Improvathon. As described by Screw Robert Bell, "There were about 18 different people that took shifts. We performed on a stage outside on the sidewalk in Waikiki. We mostly did games, but threw in a few Harolds also. The performance was from 9:00 am. to 9:00 p.m. The money (very little) that we raised went to Friends of Kennedy Theatre. Sean O. and Robert logged in eight hours apiece. One brave (foolish) soul (Sean Westfall) performed for five hours straight with no break. Tony Pisculli was forced to eat several bananas whole, one Harold longform was accompanied by nearby hari krishna's (the event was outdoors in Waikiki), and the final Harold ended with a bottle of champagne being popped, justified of course!!" Sean O. adds that the final hour was dedicated specifically to the OHPN project, with MC's asking for audience suggestions that all related to the home in some way, like "Give us a home appliance" and "Tell us an unusual place someone might live". Note: this did NOT turn into an annual event . . .
July 25, 1995: Juli Thompson Burk (Makakilo, Hawai'i) connected OHPN to a very exciting cyber-performance and discussion place: the ATHEMOO, a virtual site to chat about theatre and performance.
ATHEMOO is a virtual space existing on-line for real time discussion and interaction among those logged in at any given moment. Organized as a "real" physical environment, ATHEMOO features meeting rooms, private offices for registered participants, classrooms, an auditorium, the Aphra Behn Theatre Complex housing a scene shop, green room, and an Improv Room, and places just to relax including the Dancers Barre and Grille and the Whine and Cheese Balcony. Commands are called verbs and provide the mechanism to navigate between and within the different spaces.
Designed by Dr. Juli Burk (burk@hawaii.edu), Associate Professor of Theatre in the University of Hawai'i Department of Theatre and Dance, ATHEMOO opened on 1 June 1995. One of the newest forms of computer-based education and professional activity, MOO is an internet-based environment where people in disparate locations have conversations in real time. MOO-ing is done most easily via internet, although there may also be a way to do it via your commercial provider. Join Juli and others at the ATHE MOO now!
July 24, 1995: Neal Fadlan (Seattle, Washington)
sent Holiday Greetings with a Nixon stamp.
June 9, 1995: Wayne Alan Brenner (Austin, Texas) sent us his classic neomodern parable, "The Tattoo."
For more literary gems, Wayne can be reached at Head's Tart, P.O. Box 33279, Austin, Texas, 78704.
From "The Tattoo":
"Why is there a tattoo on your breast?" I ask, squeezing her shoulder perhaps a bit too hard. "I thought we had decided that it & all the rest of you was meant for my hands & my hands alone."
June 6, 1995: Neal Fadlan (Seattle, Washington) sent us his "Capitol Hill Skeletons" cassette:
Excerpt from "Land of Lady Longhorns"
The good punish the bad, the bad punish the bad, glad to be safe and sad
Plateau on grace
Scratchin' our butts, starin' into space
Hell is air conditioned, cold sunsets through sealed windows, cold sweats
a lifetime to erase
Scratchin' our butts, starin' into space
You squint at me, and I at you, the natural thing to do
squint 'til our eyes need to be replaced
Scratchin' our butts, starin' into space
June 5, 1995: At age 14, Liam Harwood O'Malley (Kensington, Maryland) sent in a poem: "D&D Quotables"
June 5, 1995: At 4 p.m. Hawai'i time, at the urging of Juan Insua (Seattle, Washington), OHPN participants around the world performed a simultaneous chant: "Great Be the Great Zap Dod." Tapes arrived from Honolulu, Austin, Aiea, Seattle, and Toowoomba. Truly an international harmonic convergence! Sean fashioned a master tape combining all the chanting; available on demand from OHPN.
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