The Alpha & Omega Society

    At some point in time, I will make The Alpha & Omega Society official as a registered foundation. 

    But in the meanwhile, I continue to plan for the establishment of a Retreat Community to be part of the A&O Soc..

    There is a blog of the same name that is developing and there is a theatrical project called 

"I Am Alpha & Omega" 

that I am beginning to work on again. What will come of this is unknown.

    My game plan has been to acquire between 25 & 100 acres of land and to set up an Artist/Spiritual Retreat.  The slogan I have started to attach to the A&O Soc. is " supporting creative influx". 

    The goal is to create a living/working environment that combines some residential structures (to maintain the operation) and mostly temporary housing in the form of cabins, campsites, and RV hook-ups, these being connected to an assortment of studio spaces relative to the Arts & Crafts necessary to produce Film & Theatre. I have coined that "The Theatrical Development Centre"

    I am currently interested in this facility being in upper Bucks County, because that location is close enough to the current location of IMS that we can use the shop to construct a number of things and it is less than an hour away. Originally, I had thought somewhere in central Pennsylvania might be good and I was looking for land in Sullivan County. That thinking was determined by locating the retreat in a remote location with access off of Route 80, central to major routes and somewhat equidistant to New York, Chicago and Washington. But further evaluation of those locations brought the conclusion that access to supplies and an increase in travel & heating costs (among other considerations) made that concept less practical. After a change in thinking, I began looking at the Poconos, which I still like. We looked at more than one campground already in existence and that remains a possibility. But my current thinking is to locate in Nockimixon Township, preferably within eyeshot of the lake.

    I've always, since I was 20, wanted to build and run my own theatre. I've worked managing three separate movie theatres, two of which were multiplexes and and an assortment of live theatre stages during my career as a theatre artist/technician/Stage & House Manager/Technical Director/actor/writer/designer/filmmaker...

    So, the idea of building a theatre up around Lake Nockimixon is feeling quite good to me. It's close enough to my shop that I don't need to pull up stakes to make that happen. That is the current thinking. With enough land to create a retreat environment that is attached to a theatre, The Theatrical Development Centre (TDC) can become a larger reality.

    Initially, TDC was a concept that hinged on this concept of a Retreat Community, but since I have been setting up shop in Southampton, I have decided to make The Theatrical Development Center a sub-division of Image of the Mind Studios. Eventually, IMS may come under the purview of The Alpha & Omega Society, unless IMS becomes funded and converted to a major corporate studio operation.

    As it stands now there is a business structure that involves four separate business operations, which is in the Business Plan that is attached to The Gnomes of New Hope. I'll discuss that on IMS Producing Partners (which for now is a members only site). Anyone who wants to see that plan can discuss it with me. Initiate a dialogue via email.

    I will post more often regarding the Retreat Community. I'm beginning to reconstitute my thinking and my notes on this subject.

    Years ago, I had a pocket sized notebook that was filled with notes and designs for this community that I wanted to build. Well, let me offer some advice; don't use a pocket notebook for important information. I say this because that notebook, filed with extensive details and designs, disintegrated in the washer machine when I left it in the pocket of my shirt! When that happened I felt like I got slammed in the head with a baseball bat and has taken me over fifteen years to recover from that shock. The designs are starting to come back into my mind and I am beginning to reconstitute them. I guess part of the reason for that is that; there needs to be some degree of reality surrounding a concept before any sense if viability can come about.

    With the impending release if The Gnomes of New Hope; Zach and Zebby's Grand Adventure, there seems to be the possibility of sufficient resources to look again at these ideas as if they could in fact become a reality.

    For my part, I need to begin to transfer my life's work and resources to someplace where they can be useful and remain intact, because, quite frankly, I could drop dead at any time and these thing need to be taken care of.

     I'm not so sure that these dreams are going to happen. I'm running out of time and I'm getting tired.

    I welcome dialogue via eMail, Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, or Facebook though.

AG 

Most Recent Update

Current Status;

NOTE: I seem to have lost my Fife in Tamanend Park last September before the performances. It is a maple file with brass fitting on each end and was housed in a leather soft case with a leather cord attached to one end, being long enough to tie around your waist. If anyone finds this Fife, please turn it into the Park office. AG

• Flute Music... I've long wanted to record an album of my flute music, but even with all the equipment available to me and our work on composing the music for "The Gnomes of New Hope" , I seem unable to manifest this desire. I'm not exactly sure what the reason for that is, but I do know that when it comes to performing my own music, I cannot interfere with the process by imposing a producer/director mindset into it. That conflict is something that I have a hard time getting past. That being said, if there is someone out there who may like to produce an album of flute music, let me know. We work with Digital Performer so we can orchestrate against whatever improvisations I create, which we are doing for "The Gnomes..." but that project is different than an album of this nature . I don't want to impose an album effort like this into our writing partnership on "The Gnomes...", even though we've talked about it. I still need a producer who can focus solely on that project and take it "from concept to form and beyond".
• Shakespeare in the Park is continuing on Mondays from 3-5 at the stage for tech issues and 5-7 in the farmhouse for workshop on the script and/or logistics, and on Saturdary from 1- 3 at the stage for anything. All of this is weather permitting. Overall, we will need to gather our crew by the end of January, at which time we will call for auditions. Anyone can begin work before that time, since there is much to do. Our emergency program will always be scenes and music, in the event that we do not gather enough people for a full cast (20) & crew (5-10). The information posted below (accessed via the blog archive) was set for last fall and, although it needs to be adjusted for a new time frame and spread out somewhat, it can can be considered valid. I hope to get into revising the information after the first of the year. Fundraising activities are taking a priority with community & business solicitaion, grant writing, and development of the sponsorship program being the three areas of primary attention. Assistance with this effort would be most welcomed. An extensive annual program has been outlined in a letter to the Bucks County Commissioners and may well become the templet for the continued goals of the Shakespereans of Tamanend Park. Also, the concept of Opera in The Park is beginning to develop and persons interested in this are also welcome to attend the above-mentioned meetings at any time.
• The Gnomes of New Hope - discussions are taking place with The Bryn Athyn Orchestra about performing the opening piece to the show. With this possibility seeming quite real, we are working to develop a puppet presentation to go along with that. Of course that will be videotaped in order to aid in our goal to gain agency representation, sale of ancillary rights, and thus financing for the show. Image of the Mind Studios is considering another studio space in which to set up an Design/Animation Studio and Scene Shop/ Production Facility. The objective being to produce the claymation/animation films of the Gnomes and/or the puppet show, etc. and to give us more room to work. The stage presentation continues to be developed, but we expect to be using the puppet show as our initial goal since we are still writing the music.
• Product Development - a few of the IMS products are being produced again as a result of the Christmas season. This is generally of secondary focus for me, but it may be an opportunity for someone else who is into marketing and distribution. We have a few products that could do well with the right support in this regard. Interested parties should write to me and be specific. I'm only looking for Partnerships or Buyers, not Vendors or Service Providers and I will not provide inventory on commission. All sales are based on commission.
• Nunc Licet - I've begun work on this play again, after not having read it for ten years. Surprizingly, it's a very good play. I sort of got burned out working on it, but now I've been refreshed by a few people who have shown interest in it and have been encouraging me to continue working on it. I've begun to reformat the script and revise some of the text, so that I can publish a marketable version of the play. I also seem to be making director's notes on my working script, so I get the feeling that this piece is going to move forward. I hope to have copies of the new script format available within a few months, but that will not stop us from moving forward toward production. I most definitely want to put the show up in Philadelphia and I'm very impressed with the space at Plays & Players for this purpose. It is an intimate theatre that is very well suited for this play. It also seems likely that planning for the film version may begin, as we have an excellent primary shooting location which can be available to us and can use Tamanend Park for other exteriors if need be. In cinematic terms, the main issue is getting our hands on an Aaton and bolestering up our location audio. Costuming will not be a problem. Other than casting, there are no other large issues beyond the normal logistics of a location shoot and housing. Carriages might be available, but we only need a couple of shots with them. So horses & carriages might come into play. As you can see, I'm starting to think in these terms again. AG

Spiritual Retreat

10/17/07- Numerous discussions have taken place with individuals interested in this project. Conversations are of a general nature at this point because The Alpha & Omega Society will be the ultimate authority in this regard, and the Board of Directors has not yet been officially established. As I may have discussed in the section under The A&O Soc., my work is to produce the establishing principles and modus operandi, something which is moving forward rather slowly right now (due in large part to the demands of Image of the Mind Studios). It is my desire for IMS to provide the land for the Spiritual Retreat and once that has been achieved (or is emminent) then to turn it over to The A&O Soc. (or at least a portion thereof). AG


General Summary

A Spiritual Retreat Environment is something that I am striving to create as a means to encourage and support the creative process. My propensity is to work in the theatrical arena and I view this forum as requiring all of the known arts& crafts as part of that process. With that in mind, I fully understand the strain that can come into the artist's life by struggling with his or her environment. As we grow older, we come to terms with this struggle, but by the time we learn how to cope with it, our creativity has suffered to a significant degree. I am in the process of formulating The Alpha & Omega Society. The purpose of the A&O Soc. is to endow and manage the affairs of the Spiritual Retreat and the Theatrical Development Centre. These are but two of the concepts which encompass the design for a larger community. It is my expectation, that like all of us, I will be passing on to the Spiritual World within the next few decades. As of this writing I am pushing 53, I'm in good health, and have no idea as to what my duration will be. But it could be tomorrow for all I know. So it is appropriate to make hay while the sun is shining. With this in mind, I am moving forward to publish the designs for this larger community. I have my doubts about my own ability to manifest this community in my life time, because I am not the kind of aggressive character that seems to be a trait of the developers I know. Rather, I choose to believe that the concept which I am putting forth is something that will manifest as a result of people of like mind, gradually coming together to implement an environment which offers regeneration to those persons who have a high degree of creative impulse and are dissatisfied with the way in which American society has developed as a whole. I do not want to imply that American Society is an adversary in this regard, rather I want to state specifically that the social environment in the greater part of the American Landscape has developed in a somewhat helter skelter fashion. The cities and the suburbs are a composite of individualism bolstered at it's foundation by the capitalistic compulsion to exploit any opportunity or resource for the sake of profit. In large part this has created an overall disjunction in society and a great deal of energy is expended trying to conjoin the social relationships in the face of that gulf which should never have occurred in the first place.

The larger principle in the Spiritual Retreat/Artists Colony concept is the establishment of a community design which functions on the basis of Harmony of the Whole in preference to the rights of the Individual. This is not to say that the rights of the individual are not significant and of extreme importance, but it is to say that they are not paramount. It is clear that the rights of the individual being proffered as having the highest degree of importance have caused a significant degree of contention within society. It is not that those rights are largely put forth as having that degree of importance, rather it is that individuals have taken on the opinion that their right to proceed without consideration for others is acceptable. This attitude is being protected under the misunderstood idea of freedom and the condition within our society is such that we have progressed too far beyond the edge of properly training our young people to counteract that attitude. The media has taken extreme liberties in the name of freedom of speech and Pandora's box has been opened. It is because of this that I feel it is necessary to create an environment that has been laid out Based on the Principles of Harmony.

In addition to the physical design of the facilities of the community, it is necessary to outline the management of the community as a whole. A great many of the principles on which our country was founded are quite applicable for the management of this microcosm, however there are a number of areas where we have gone astray. The objective of this Spiritual Retreat Environment,. The Alpha & Omega Society is to make adjustments based on the obvious errors in the functioning of the society in which we dwell. It is unfortunate that we cannot make those adjustment in a larger way, but the society has become unmanageable due in large part to it extreme size and diversity.

From my position, the objective methodology is for a society to be modeled after the creation. We are now aware of the molecular structure of matter and it is quite clear that the very foundation of the material world is consistent with that form. It seems quite clear to me that the social relationships, or rather the sphere of society needs to be principled on the same basis. It is on this basis that the experiment of The Alpha & Omega Society needs to be founded.

Theoretically, if this were the case, the expansion that would be required, would be modeled after the core structure. Eventually, the foundational structure would reach a harmonious balance of diversity that would not require expenditure of energy on conflict and would then encourage the creative impulse even in the face of entropy. The naturally occurring changes would be within the scope of predetermined boundaries that allow for a certain degree of latitude and thus support not only the feeling of freedom, but the actuality of it, because the modus operendi is that of the Harmony of the Whole and not the proliferation of the proprium, the source of disharmony. More Later AG