SETTING
(a SEQUEL to Voice of the Dragon 1. Fifty years into the future after the defeat of Gar Man Jang…)…in a Time and Place beyond History and Fantasy…
THEMES
The rise of Fundamentalism and Atavism (worship of a mythologized glorious past);
Clash between two remaining Superpowers: One, the Dragon East, ancient, imperial and xenophobic/ethnocentrist; the Other, the Eagle West, modern, technologically accelerant and imperialist (using all forms of opiates to foster dependency). In a world engorged in the titanic clash between nationalist fundamentalism and evangelical capitalism.
CONCEPT
Dragon v. Eagle is a live platform work based on the architecture of video games. It is conceived by composer/performer Fred Ho in collaboration with playwright Ruth Margraff, martial artist Tsuyoshi Kaseda, director/choreographer Mira Kingsley and a premier virtual gaming technological team. Dragon v. Eagle continues Ho’s exploration of a new hybrid genre “live action martial arts game/manga theater.” This new genre fuses a diversity of cross-cultural ideas and influences, incorporating narratives from ancient Chinese history and legend and contemporary Asian-American popular culture; staged combat from Chinese Wu-shu and Kung-fu martial arts--unified by Ho’s compositional language of “Afro-Asian jazz”. DvE will be constructed in a modular way for the stage and accompanied by a video game, exploring the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) format. “Real” campaign outcomes from the online game will be captured and used to ‘seed’ fresh paths through the theater piece. So that direct links to the ongoing virtual game will connect the live theater event and both diverse audiences. Dragon v. Eagle will expand the space and dramatis personae by exploring the use of full-size animated sets and characters. Artificial intelligence programming from video game technology will be explored to allow the real cast to interact with the virtual combatants in real-time.
STORY
In a world engorged in the triumph of evangelical capitalism, an Eagle Empire has arisen to occupy the globe with its monopolist and megacorporate conquistadors. New lethal gladiators of supersteroided and genetically enhanced omnipotence crush all competition with the zealotry of a crusade. In the eclipse of the Eagle’s everdarkening wingspan, one man, in the land of the Dragons, turns to the cult of atavism, (worship of a mythologized glorious past). One disaster of the mythic Shaolin Temple gets remastered from its darkest hour. One villain, once invincible, gets resurrected as the quintessential warrior in the battle of the centuries against an unstoppable onslaught – the titanic clash of Dragon vs. Eagle.
Hope for a new world keeps on burning out. Nobody can look forward.
The West trumpets the triumph of its evangelical capitalism.
Pumping brands like dreams, but never fast enough.
A technocratic modernism rages with the zeal of a crusade.
In the land of the Dragons, the masses turn in desperation to a cult of avatism~
worship of past glory. One disaster of the mythic Shaolin Temple gets remastered from its darkest hour. There is a mad rush to embrace this fundamentalism. Mass craving to return to greatness and to crush all competition. One villain, once invincible, gets resurrected as the Quintessential Warrior in the battle of the centuries against an Unstoppable Onslaught.
In the titanic clash of
~ DRAGON vs. EAGLE ~
