The Bryn Athyn Cathedral

 Here is an image I just created
using components that I gathered over a period of decades.

The Chancel in the Bryn Athyn Cathedral
at Christmas

This will be available for purchase
I expect to do it on canvas with a 20'x30' sized print
the price will be $300.

Notes;

ACT ONE

Regarding Lyrical Music

   In the earlier versions of A&O there was not a clearly defined sense of poetic style, particularly as it pertains to delivering the the concepts through vocal music. Recent conversations with a music artist regarding this piece have changed my perspective as to the viability of expressing the core representations lyrically.  

   It is interesting that I have a collection of poetry that does just that; express these concepts in prose. That's not to say that those pieces are right for A&O, but crafting the dialogue in that form, spontaneously never occurred to me for A&O, because I was more concerned with crafting the moments that encompass the whole of what needs to be conveyed, in a general sense.

Now that I am talking in all senerity about crafting the music and having had the experience of writing seventy songs for The Gnomes of New Hope (which I thank John Lodge for planting that seed in my brain), I am rethinking what A&O could be.

Some time ago, after removing the Third Act and turning it into a separate drama, I was left to torment about what could be done about not having a Third Act. For many years I meditated upon this without a solution.

But of course the Lord had it in mind what needed to be done. During all this time I performed the role of John the Revelator in a New Church Pageant. I did this for over fifteen years. But then the Lord chose to reveal to me what he wanted for the Third Act.

ACT THREE is to become an opera based on the Book of Revelations. Of course, like the rest of A&O, it will be outwardly structured on the events of the Apocalypse, but like all else, it will beinfused with the internal sense.

The whole point of A&O is to reveal the Second Advent of the Lord within His Word.

Although I wrote much of the structure of ACT THREE, those notes have been lost and will need to be reconstituted. But when the time comes, that will be possible, because it really is in me, having spent much time working on it already.

The really interesting thing now is that; I am seeing a real possibility that other sections of the piece are in fact well suited to a blending of dialogue infused with prose leading into lyrics.

I have found that this flows when the spirit descends upon me. It is only a question of allowing that to happen and having the inspiration to motivate the flow.

Now in this instance, I am inviting a collaboration to create the music, but not only the music, also the lyrics. So in order to create the right environment for that to happen, the Libretto needs to be flexible enough in terms of the moments that call for lyrical prose. 

As I structure the storyline components, I will need to select moments where lyrical content works in the flow of characterization and define the motivations of the characters and what it is they are trying to express. In some instances, those definitions will be lyrical prose and that prose may, or may not, be used in the lyrics presented in the finished product. There needs to be enough flexibility that those moments can be embellished, or even replaced by alternative lyrics, as long as the critical elements remain in the same vein, or a good approximation thereof, so the fabric of the piece remains sound.

You will find that I am going to combine posting older work with writing new material based on both those older versions and new material. I feel there must exist a certain continuity of style, especially now that Act Three will be taking on an operatic format. I believe that as I craft Act Three, I will need to craft a correspondence between the moments and content of Acts One, Two and Three. This, so the concept of correspondence exists both internal to the piece and in its message of correspondences between the Natural, Spiritual and Celestial degrees.

Lyrical moments are quite different than the symphonic backdrop of the piece. The symphonic will be more sweeping and less tied to specificity, but it will need to express the emotional content of the structure and leave room for the lyrical moments. So there is the need to blend in that regard.

I might not be possible to craft the music before much of the new material is crafted. But I some instances the surrounding circumstances may be crafted around the lyrics, if the lyrical moments are defined well enough to allow lyrics to be written that convey the essence of the moments that are allotted, or assigned to being lyrical, even without the fully developed surrounding circumstances, then that could work.

More later AG

ARCHIVE:

These notes are not (fully) infused with corespondential internal sense, from New Church teachings, they are inspired by the teachings of Charles Stanley. They are not derived from the script/Libretto, but are placed here for the sake of rewrites.

A) SCENE ONE; Adam  & Eve

    1) untried innocence, unawareness

    2) deception (outside source)

          a) implying the existence of other beings created before man, including angels, nephilim?

         b) are nephilim fallen angels?

    3) decision to disobey introducing sin, resulting in awareness of self, the differentiation of the finite and the infinite

    4) use of animal skins, blood shed in sacrifice, symbolic of Christ

    5) God sees the beginning and the end, the Alpha & Omega

          a) hence knew of Christ beforehand

    6) all second chances are based on Christ and being justified by faith, the pardon of sin, introducing us to live and walk in the sphere of God's grace.

    7) Eden cannot endure impurity and represents the perfect manifestation of creation in the natural degree.

       a) the celestial in the natural degree

       b) hence they cannot reside there because of their disobedience and consequent loss of innocence.

       c) They fell wholly into the lowest natural degree

   8) the Word of God is God's grace and kindness toward humanity without regard to merit of those who receives it 

Original 1975 Script

This subject is being moved to

 "I Am Alpha and Omega; Libretto"

as it pertains to the rewrites. 

The older versions will continue to be posted here. I will post the original screenplay separately and may rewrite this screenplay into a viable project once The Gnomes of New Hope is finished.

ARCHIVE;

 Here is a copy of the Original Script, 

which has been rewritten numerous times.

The current script is quite different.

There are items in this script that have been nixed

 for practical & content reasons.

I post it here as a matter of historical reference.

I will post the entire original script

(a few pages at a time) 

which are scans of the typewritten script.

Years of theatrical and writing experience

have made this project much more refined and practical.

The newest rewrite will be posted on this blog,

with links placed in the sidebar.

Commentary;

As I begin to post this script, 

that was originally written fifty years ago (in 1975),  

it has me thinking about the changes that were made 

in subsequent scripts.

 I realize that the script posted here was not the first version, as the first version was a screenplay.  I believe this version was the one I was working on in Boston, so I began this version around the time I met with The Moody Blues,  because I went to Boston two years after that.

 One very big difference is

 that I introduced the voice of God,

 thinking in His mind about the creation

and some of the correspondential elements 

of forming the natural world.

I tormented for some time over that, because 

I didn't want to be putting words into God's mouth.

But I concluded that as a theatrical endeavor, 

doing so based on the Word 

and the New Revelation given through Swedenborg, 

which has become the foundation for The New Church,

for over two hundred years now, 

well,  doing so may be acceptable, 

as long as it is done so under 

poetic artistic license.

Should God sing those words?  Possibly.  

It depends how that would be effected.

Although, he does say "Let us make man in our image" 

One very strong possibility is that the earths creation 

occurred after that of the Heavens (which is implied) 

and that spiritual beings were created before man. 

I will need to look into that more,

 but in that event, the singing voices 

could be the voices of angels. 

Thus transferring the expression of the creation 

to an array of SATB voices.

That may work quite well. I will need to locate 

the more recent versions of the script,

but even so, a new revision is called for, 

so that could be crafted as needed with new perspectives.

So, I will continue to post the original script here and most likely 

add commentary and possibly even interject updated material

 (as I can migrate it to newer computers).

AG

A Synopsis of the piece

   

Act One of  "I Am Alpha & Omega" is based on The Story of Creation, with the details of such being enhanced by the Arcana Coelestia written by Emanuel Swedenborg.  The literal books of the Bible provide the external vision of Creation, while the writings of Swedenborg provide the internal correspondance of those stories to the Spiritual meaning, essentially the Body and the Spirit of the Word.

   I will be posting the earlier versions of A&O for reference to the history of it's progression. I believe that last version of the Libretto has the internal and the external blended, but I am trying to conceptualize a presentation that may be different that what has been previously written.  I want to have a presentation that is enthralling.

   One version of the stage show was written for use in a Hemispherical Theatre. But at the time, there was no such "hemispherical theatre" designed. Since then, there has been a theatre developed which uses Cinema 360. I am not certain if this will lean in that direction. I would like to see that happen, but I think it is important that there be a version for the standard proscenium stage, being that a proscenium is a worldwide venue style. A proscenium does interfere somewhat with the all engulfing premise of the "Cinema 360" experience, but there are not many hemispherical theatres built.  Possibly a observatorium.

   It may be that Act One be presented in a hemisphical theatre, with Act's Two and Three being presented in a normal proscenium environment. If that were the case, it would be a triad, a threefold essence  (so-to-speak)  theatrical experience. What that means is three separate shows. 

   In one way I like that idea, because that would allow the material to be explored fully in each presentation. In essence it would be;

Act One
The Creation, out of nothing came all that is, the earth is formed from the void

Life is infused in Creation, The Beasts of the Earth. 

The Birth of Humans in the Natural Degree, The Garden of Eden

Act Two  

The Rise & Fall of Man, Society & Free Will, 

the Separation of the Good from the evil

Creation Heaven & Hell, Redemption, Salvation

The Path Onward

Act Three

Eternal Consequences of Free Will, 

Revelation of the Spiritual Nature of Heaven & Hell

The Symbolism of the Apocalypse, the Nature of God

His desires for all humankind, His Mercy & Goodness 

in the threefold essence of 

the Natural, Spiritual & Celestial Degrees

This is a summary of the intent of the material presented in the Libretto and it is posted here for those who care to be involved in bringing this into reality as a theatrical presentation. 

This has been a long-term project for me and has gone through numerous revisions on the path toward the summaries posted here above.  I will be endeavoring to proceed with another rewrite in an effort to conform to these ideals. For those who seek to understand how this will be achieved, I posted a link to the Arcana Coelestia above as an introduction to the concepts. 

The Writings for the New Church are very extensive and sometimes complex. I have been studying them for fifty years, in part with the intention of creating "I Am Alpha & Omega", because I was led to these Writings as a result of writing the first version of A&O and having spiritual visions in this regard. So I do not expect anyone not familiar with the Writings to get a grip on it easily. That is my job, to bring the internal sense of the Word into clarity by infusing the external with the internal in the context of a theatrical endeavor.

 I will post what was written in that regard here, when I can and try to set it up into the Acts as shown above. I may just use this blog as the medium for rewriting the material, since I can easily print it out as needed and it will end up on-line for posterity.

AG 

Some thoughts on Writing

 

    I began writing "I Am Alpha & Omega" when I was twenty-one years of age. It started s a screenplay that Gene Roddenberry had read and liked. I was so excited that the creator of Star Trek liked what I had written, but I was almost embarrassed by it, because I knew that I had not achieved what I was trying to do with it.  So I took it back to rewrite it and try to make it better. Circumstances being what they were in Hollywood, I ended up leaving and returning to Pennsylvania. 

   Shortly after my return, I made an attempt to convince The  Moody Blues to write the music for A&O. That didn't work out, so I began producing music concerts and independent short films. Within a short time, I found myself wanting to write another story, and another, and another, until I settled in on writing a Medieval Romance and put "I am Alpha & Omega" aside, for the sake of improving my writing skills. I moved to Boston and explored the theatre & film scene there. I was given an office in the paramount Theatre to work on writing A&O. I worked in all the theatres in Boston, at MIT, Boston College and I was offered an Apprenticeship at Harvard, which, like a dope, I declined. I traveled around doing freelance technical theatre until, I secured another studio space in Pennsylvania where I could continue my writing, in particular screenplays and short stories.

    Well "MiLady", as it was called, went through many years of rewrites, eventually becoming "Grael" and morphed into an epic tale. To shorten the story, I intended to go to England to work on that story and communicated with EMI/Sheperton Studios about it. This led to Paramount Pictures requesting that I pitch it to them.  After months of consideration they decided that "LadyHawk" did not make enough money for them, so they passed on another piece in the genre. I had a researcher working for me at the time, to help in historically accurate aspects of this story, and I/we spent four and a half years writing that piece.  At the time I was producing a number of short films for other people who wanted to use my film equipment.  I was also "hitting the bricks" in New York on a regular basis, working in film, theatre and an occasional concert, but I never really settled in there.

   Shortly after returning to Pennsylvania and creating "Grael" I became involved in a big political situation in Bucks County and I began a 16mm documentary film called "You're Not Getting The Point".  It was a very complex situation that took up another four + years. I won't get into that now.  I ended up getting married, which threw everything into a tailspin and had me moving back to Hollywood to try again.

     Upon my return to Hollywood, I pitched "Grael" to Warner Brothers and they ended up offering me an office on their lot. There were circumstances that put me in a dilemma in that regard, so, regrettably I had to decline that offer, there were a few producers interested in that screenplay, including one in Paris.  I pitched "You're Not Getting The Point" to New Line, who though they could reenact the events. I did not find that credible.  

   At that time, I began work on rewriting "I Am Alpha & Omega",  only this time it became an entirely different type of project, for one, it became a theatre project and not film. Also the premise of the project changed, because by now I was involved with The General Church of the New Jerusalem and I had since experiences spiritual experiences that could not be denied and they greatly affected my perspective.

   Showing the new script around and seeking opinions, one very strong opinion was that the third act of the play should become a separate play. After much consideration, that is what happened. That play is titled "Nunc Licet" and it took me twenty-five years to craft that play. It has been workshopped five times, including a public reading at a New Church Convention. That play was published in New Church Life and I am intending on producing it for film, here in my studio on the stage I am building.

   The dilemma there is that Alpha & Omega was left without a third act. For twenty plus years I performed the role of John on the Isle of Patmos in a pageant that we do to convey the Book of Revelations. I recently retired from acting in that pageant, but in so doing I have had my mind enlightened to reveal that the third act of A&O will be an Opera based on the Apocalypse, known to many people as the Book of Revelations.

   For three decades I have been writing another project titled "The Gnomes of New Hope; Zach & Zebby's Grand Adventure" and the point of that project was to make enough money so as to be able to produce  "I Am Alpha & Omega". But all this writing and producing has distracted from writing on A&O. It has been necessary, for many reasons.  But now I am realigning myself to begin rewrites on A&O. What will come of it ? I am not sure. But something good I hope.

AG

Synopsis if the Structure

   I have a friend who is beginning to participate with me to write the music for "I Am Alpha and Omega".  This is very inspiring to me. Although, I am tied up finishing "The Gnomes of New Hope", which I have to say, is almost finished as to the Publishing Layout. In addition to my theatrical production process for that show and for "Nunc Licet" (see post below) I am beginning to return to the Libretto for "A & O" and I am very much encouraged to do so.

   As I have been searching my files and reviewing the past revisions, I am getting new ideas as to how to approach the material. A few posts below touch upon my thoughts in this regard, but what I have decided to do is post the complete process here.

   Ad I see it, I am doing this for God, not for myself or any personal gain. Therefore, should He decide to take me home at any moment, the work that is being done needs to be readily available to others who may want to be involved or carry on to complete the project. It won't do any good to have it sitting in my files where nobody can find it, if I do move to the Spiritual World.

   In addition, my friend, who is remote from my location will need the material to structure his portion of the project, the music. So I will begin to post the information that I feel is necessary to advance toward a full theatrical presentation. I will leave this blog open so anyone having interest can follow and/or consider being involved.

    The theatrical presentation is comprised of Three Acts. I will set up posts for each Act and put links to each Act in the Side Bar, by way of an Index.

   It has been my habit with other Scripts and Librettos I have written to include Technical Notes. I will try to avoid that with the newest revision of "I Am Alpha and Omega", which I will post here.  I will however have a version of the Libretto that does contain Technical and Managerial Notes, because tech usually is required to conceptualize blocking and other stage management details that greatly affect practicality. We will have to see how it goes. I guess this blog will become a significant part of the rewriting process, something that incidentally occurred with "The Gnomes of New Hope; Zach and Zebby's Grand Adventure" after the fact. In this instance of approaching a rewrite, I will include this blog as part of the process and knowing that I do not possess the material, but rather fill the role of a conduit for a greater purpose, posting the material here will assure that the world will have it to do with as they will.

   If we are lucky, or in Providence, what I post here will advance this project toward manifestation in my lifetime. If not, I will finish what I am doing in the Spiritual World. I posted an Essay on my main blog titled "The Ineffable Journey" that make reference to the importance of this project. It's worth reading.

More later, AG 🎭

"Nunc Licet"

"Nunc Licet Intellectular Intre in Arcana Fedei"

"Now it is Permitted to enter Intellectually into the Secrets of Faith"

"Swedenborg Designing a Machine to Fly in the Air"

"Nunc Licet" written by Arthur Greisiger is a dramatic stage play that addresses the progression of thought and feelings that leads a person through religious concepts that are founded in Christianity and breeches the subject of the transition from the natural world into the spiritual world. It does this by exploring numerous concepts that arise in the mind that is exploring the existence of God and introduces the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, in a summary fashion, while doing so in the context of a dramatic stage presentation.

   This drama will be produced before "I Am Alpha & Omega", being that it was derived from that larger stage presentation, originally being the Third Act of that piece and that A&O is undergoing rewrites and significant redesign as a whole.

   In terms of the resources available for any of this, Image of the Mind Studios is undergoing major changes in terms of facilities, construction, and also Publishing activities, so those things will directly effect any production of stage projects such as these.

   Two of the projects most affecting activities are the construction of a Green-Screen Stage and a Recording Studio. Another is Publishing Activities that must take priority. 

Check the IMS Virtual Studio and "The Gnomes of New Hope" for assorted discussions in this regard.

AG