What is SoupTalks? SoupTalks is three short plays inspired by world arms talks presented in and around a conference table installation with seating for 40 guests, who are served a supper of gourmet vegetarian soup from one of Seattle's finest restaurants (listed below) at the second intermission (around 8:30). 1. VOICE OF THE TURTLEDOVE, 1990 The OLD BLIND STORYTELLER, a life-size puppet, is assassinated before our eyes in 2042 - because he told the truth about the Turtledove, a plane lost over the Arctic Ocean while carrying the world's last symphony orchestra! 2. VOICE OF THE HOLLOW MAN, 1992 The ASSASSIN tells the story of Napoleon's invasion of Russia with the largest force ever assembled on the planet -- fully staged on our tabletop. 3. VOICE OF THE MACHINE, 1995-2000 The snows of Russia on our tabletop remind the ASSASSIN of the Arctic Inuit's story of the Franklin expedition and its hungry march to civilization. Written, designed and performed by WARNER BLAKE with GABRIEL C. BARON, DANA GORDON, and ERIN PHILLIPS. Associate Director: Jacob Hooker Contributing artists: Eric Riedel, Kathryn Rathke, Barry Wright, Lynn DiNino Featuring original music by Michael Shrieve & Aenea Keyes. This intimate epic of three plays for forty guests will be performed inside the brig at the former Sand Point Way Naval Base, in November -- the one year anniversary of its recall into service for the WTO incarcerations - and it will be the world premiere of my three part invention as first imagined fifteen years ago - a trilogy presented with a soup supper intermission! The SOUPTALKS began as a notebook sketch in 1985 inspired by the SALT and START arms talks going on at that time. Consequently, the plays are set around and upon a large conference table with seating for audience members on either side. Performances and soup were offered in my Seattle studio for a dozen or so guests until 1995, when the installation was expanded to offer raised gallery seating for an additional 30 guests and the individual plays were presented by ON THE BOARDS & CoCA in Seattle, the CENTER FOR PUPPETRY ARTS in Atlanta and at LA MAMA ETC in New York City as part of the 1996 International Festival of Puppet Theater. Since those first drawings for the project, however, the metaphor for the world order has changed dramatically from that of a wall - with two major powers in charge, to that of a web - where no one is in charge; and so I eagerly accept this opportunity to extensively revise and restage the entire work for the Puppetsoup-sponsored presentation (with CoCA) inside the former brig at Sand Point Way, a decommissioned naval base. After all, the SOUPTALKS' central question remains on the table - do we really want militarism to be our greatest social endeavor? Participating Restaurants Seattle Catch Seafood Bistro 460 North 36th Seattle 206.632.6110 Serafina 2043 Eastlake East Seattle 206.323.0807 Jazz Alley Restaurant and Night Club 6th & Lenora Seattle 206.441.9729 Divina Restaurant Concepts Langley 360.730.1568 Macrina Bakery 2408 First Seattle 206.448.4032