A Play by Bradley Bishop

Five Original Dance Pieces Choreographed by Jennifer Harmer.

The test. A trigger is pulled and the gun misfires. A frantic escape, a calling to the Maker, a shiver on the waiting, early morning chills, a delusional lunch, and an evening in the "Loop". Did the gun misfire? Who is chasing who?

"The Morning Paper"
Buxton MacGregor.........Daegan Palermo

Written as a dream time scenario, the play occurs between the moment the trigger is pulled and the bullet's exit from the barrel of the gun. As one succumbs to an overload of images developed around the antithesis of love and hate, anger and laughter, hope and doom, the subtleties lurking in the shadows of the stage begin to appear. The Secret: The end of the play is synonomous with the beginning. This may be confusing, but the entire play occurs as Houston's split second delusion of an escape and a continuation of his own life at the moment of his death. The play contains snap shots of a real time interpretation of the sequence of events that would have followed his escape, as if it had occurred.

Misfire was originally produced by the Pocket Playhouse at the Studio Theatre of Villard Hall, on the University of Oregon's Campus in Eugene, Oregon, on May 29,30, and 31, 1998.

The original cast was as follows:

Houston Fouler.........David Royer
Buxton Mac Gregor.........Daegan Palermo
Karlye Ash.........Susan Ash
Governor William Chiles/Waiter.........Steve Rakestraw
Dancer/Club Dancers.........Jennifer Harmer & Christie Woodcheke
Dancers/Soldiers.........Rich Fraiser, Paige McKinney, Corey Weathers
Soldier.........Charlie Kimball
Club Dancer.........Amy Erinberger
Coated Woman.........Shelley Swearingen