SYNOPSIS
In Earth Corp, a love-starved society dominated by hyper consumerism and perpetual war, bar codes are tattooed onto peoples' wrists. When scanned during purchases, inside the home and in office buildings, the bar codes publicly register everyone's personal and financial data and feed it into a big computer to track the population.
The bar codes are overseen by ICE, the Information Control Executive of Earth Corp. ICE presides over a system that controls and desensitizes the population with "Mandatory Debt", sensational crime and celebrity-dominated news, "Prozac Pops", and "Flag Fest" ceremonies which maintain popular support for resource wars against insurgents in Earth Corp's outer districts.
An underground group of activists called the Data Jammers are leading the resistance. Data Jammers are able to hack into the vast network of bar code scanners and security cameras to conceal their identities. This enables them to counter the propaganda of Earth Corp with their own brand of media - leaflets, short films and other art forms that are passed around Samizdat-style and appear mysteriously on mainstream broadcast networks.
Against this backdrop an unlikely young couple - Dorna, a talented underground writer and new recruit to the Data Jammers, and Nest, the sheltered son of the Earth Corp Television news anchor - come together in ways that could spark a revolution. They may even find love against all odds in a society where real love has all but ceased to exist.
The first four scenes of Bar Code were written for, and featured in, the Dixon Place "Warning! Not for Broadway Festival"
AUTHOR BIOS
Debbie Andrews and Mike Blaxill
Mike and Debbie co-write and perform for the pop band Gladshot whose latest CD "Burn Up and Shine" (with Sonic Youth/Hold Steady producer John Agnello) was said to be "pretty near the top of this year's best indie releases". Their songs have been featured on TNT ("Men of a Certain Age"), CW, Oxygen, MTV and ABC television shows, and live on NPR Radio. Debbie is a singer, published poet and NEA Jazz Award recipient pianist. As a singer her work spans pop bands, TV scores, jingles, big band and Broadway. Mike first appeared on the NYC music scene at the Bitter End Songwriter's Circle, the Songwriter's Hall of Fame Showcase, and in Nashville at the famed Bluebird Café. He recently received BMI's Abe Oleman Award as "the years most promising singer-songwriter".
Ted Lange (book)
Best known as Isaac on TV's "Love Boat", Ted is a prolific playwright whose body of work includes the acclaimed "Four Queens, No Trump" and "Evil Legacy - The Story of Lucretia Borgia" which was nominated by LA Weekly for best one-woman show.
CONTACT
Mike Blaxill
mblaxill [[[at]]] yahoo.com