I first heard about The Intergalactic Nemesis a week ago, and I knew immediately I wanted to go see it. Alas, Labor Day weekend is a busy weekend, and there was no way, with shows only on Friday and Saturday, my seeing it was in the cards. I was, in fact, quite heartbroken about missing it. As fate would have it, on the day I was busily insane pulling together all the bits and pieces of my artwork and trying to write an artist’s statement, as well as a million other things, the opportunity arose to watch the dress rehearsal. It was like the universe was giving me a present. I jumped at the chance.^††

1250 excellent panes of comic book art projected on a big screen, three actors playing dozens of characters (occasionally all at the same time), one foley artist creating the environmental sounds with a table full of mad devices and objects, and one pianist (the score composer himself) playing the mood-setting tunes … all rolled together into one incredible, action-packed, fun-filled performance at one of the best venues in town.

The premise for The Intergalactic Nemesis is a period-action-scifi-horror-space-opera-adventure. The year is 1933. The Pulitzer-winning reporter Molly Sloan and her intrepid assistant Timmy Mendez have stumbled across a series of murders foiled by a mysterious librarian from Flagstaff named Ben Wilcott. Together, the three heroes trek across Europe, North Africa, and beyond to thwart world-famous mesmerist Mysterion the Magnificent and what turns out to be an invasion of sludge-monsters from the planet Zygon.

How can you not be intrigued? Watch the 30-second trailer to get a taste of the art, music, sound effects, and character voices … keeping in mind, it’s all created by five people on a stage.

Don’t believe me about only five people? Still not intrigued? Then watch this somewhat longer clip from a live performance of Episode One.

If that doesn’t stimulate your curiosity and interest, I suspect it’s possible you are a sludge-loving Zygonian or an evil mesmerist!

But seriously … the artwork by Tim Doyle is dashingly energetic, the character-acting of Shana Merlin, Mical Trejo, and Chris Gibson is emotively captivating, the foley effects of Buzz Moran are frantically (and realistically) fascinating, and the music of Graham Reynolds is the eerily enticing icing on the whole tasty cake. I promise, you will eat it up one comic book pane, character change, musical bullet point and “Zing! Ping! Pow! Snap!” at a time and love every minute of it!^†††

Also, major kudos to Jason Neulander, the producer, director, and author of the original script (i.e. the comic books, which you may have noticed I now own … autographed and everything –a fact that makes my geeky, nerdy heart fill with joy) for pulling it all together into one absolutely fabulous show. Well done! Bravo!

Here’s the information you need so you too can be amazed, thrilled, and amused by The Intergalactic Nemesis:

WHO: The Intergalactic Nemesis Presents
WHAT: Feature-Length Live-Action Graphic Novel Spectacular
WHEN: September 3 and 4 at 8 p.m.
WHERE: the Long Center for the Performing Arts (701 W. Riverside Drive, Austin, TX)
TICKETS: $14.00 to $49.00

I can’t imagine anyone regretting seeing it, and I’d even go so far as to suggest splurging on some good seats. Not too close, because the images are quite large, and you do want to see them, but not too far away that you can’t relish the performance happening on the stage. Though I don’t really think there will be a bad seat in the house for this sort of show, but you know I do like to watch performers perform up close and personal, so I’m biased toward being nearer the stage rather than farther away. Your preferences may vary!

And … support the arts … buy something. There are a number of interesting and fun Intergalactic Nemesis related things to be bought, and I’m certain you can find something you’ll want, even if it’s just a bottle of slime. Like a wicked cool electronic sound effects gadget I would have loved to have, had my inner child not been demanding the comic book set with every cell of her being. LOL!

Now I really, really have to go to bed. OMG, I am going to pay for this tomorrow while trying to get ten million things done in the shortest amount of time possible. Ugh.

1. † What? You don’t know what a radio play is? Then you definitely need to see it!
2. †† Sure, I am more tired than I have been in a long time, and I have ten million things that have to be done by Friday, but hey, some opportunities only come along once. Better grab them while I can. Life’s short, and sleep is for the weak. LOL!
3. ††† Those of you who know me KNOW I want to sit here for another hour or two and go on and on about every tiny detail, but it is after 3 am, I do have ten million things that need to be done tomorrow, and I should probably get some sleep, seeing as I am utterly fatigued. You’ll just have to go experience all the glorious details for yourself!

Well, if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, then you likely already have a mental image quite firmly in your mind of me spending my day in a state of pure panic. That wouldn’t be too far from the truth. It was a bit of a stressful day. A stressful day with road work going on in front of my house. What joy!

But … I solved all my problems and survived a crisis or two (or three), and a while ago I hit the submit button and my application was on its way. If I weren’t a lump of utterly fatigued jelly oozing out of my chair, I’d do a happy dance.^†

My thoughts on the whole thing now?

I worked steadily for about three months toward the goal of having five works done to enter in a juried show (my first, BTW). I more than accomplished my goal, as many works were made, but three stood out from the rest, and so I entered only those three. I feel good about that decision … as good as I feel about the three pieces, which is pretty darn good. On October 15, I’ll be getting an email informing me of the official outcome of decision to embark on this mission.

Nothing to do but wait, and to be honest, both of the potential outcomes –having any/all of my works selected for the show and having all of them rejected– will undoubtedly lead to many hours of soul-searching contemplation and likely provide prime opportunities for stress of some sort. LOL!

For me personally, the outcome doesn’t matter as much as it did when I started on this mission. Not that I wouldn’t LOVE to have a piece in the show, because I would, but … I gained so much, learned so much over the course of the last few months –about myself and my art and so much more– I already won the best prize of all. I’m sure I’ll be telling you about some of it at (too much) length in the future. I know you just can’t wait!

So it’s over. Done. Finished. FINALLY.

Next up I get to enjoy the road work being directly in front of my house tomorrow, going to see the dress rehearsal for The Intergalactic Nemesis at the Long Center Thursday, and leaving for Chicago on Friday (I think) … and somewhere in there we have to pack, get the house and cats ready for us to be away, and get the truck ready for a long drive. I’m sure there are a million other things that need to be done that I am forgetting too. Oh, and then about 8 days in the Chicago area! Hopefully, we all get to sleep a little at some point. Sleep would be nice.

Can’t wait for the stupid laundry to finish so I can go be horizontal and unconscious in the dark. I am totally fatigued and completely relaxed. As soon as the jeans are in the dryer and the shirts are hung up, I am taking a break from wakefulness.

And if there are any spelling or grammatical errors, oops … sorry. What can I say? I’m brain-fried.

1. † I’m saving what strength I have to finish the laundry I haven’t done since a week ago Sunday. I meant to start it earlier, and do it while I did my arty stuff, but I am glad I didn’t. Today was hectic and crazy enough as it was without laundry being added to the mix too. Seriously, my house was a house of madness today.