The Peace Mission

What if God sent his only son down to earth to teach that boy a lesson?

From a Letter of February, 1997

The peace mission (performed twice at La Mama La Galleria) is an assignment that Dexter and Diedre, an excellent couple from outer space, bring to the people of planet earth. (They have been sent to earth by their parents as part of their education.) Embarking upon this mission, they neutralize a U.S. Militia group and provide a space program to enable African nations, behind in colonizing the earth, to colonize other planets.

Diedre, a color-schemer, thrives, while Dexter, statistician, weakens and lashes out at petty disturbances as his health gradually fails. The more uncomfortable he becomes, the more damage he does ("It wasn't the breathing so much as the blood it was pumping"), especially when he tries to satisfy for himself the basic needs of rest, food and sex. His acts of desperation become destructive. What is the deep-rooted source of his problem? His earthly adaptability switch is off.

I have a question about the DNA ribbon where this switch is located. (They pull out the ribbon like a tape measure.) What is the significance of the helix in the DNA? I overheard fellow at a bar describe a break in the helix as the renegade gene that is the source of all cancer growth. (I believe good theatre educates its audience, yet I have no expertise in these areas.)

Another spouting of medical related text occurs when Diedre teaches fencing to the militia group. During the lesson, she opens their eyes to their internal organs. What can improve upon and increase the accuracy of the following:

"Boys, here is a sword which I will use as a pointing device. What's here? The stomach. What's here? The intestines. Good, but what's here? Don't you know? It's amazing how little you know about what goes on inside you, but I know. Those are your kidneys. They filter liquids and cleanse as does the liver, and when the liver goes, you die. Drink plenty of water. The gall bladder, the isles of langorhan, the spleen, the reproductive organs, all covered in skin. Skin's an organ, it's your largest organ."  She disembowels them, then, using her skill, puts everything back inside them again. 

Have I left out anything?

Finally, there is a Peace Mission tango reference. Dexter tries "apache dancing, French tango, heavy on the hair pulling and tossing against the wall."

I love the tango, its piano music and pantomimed stories. I know the basic step and want to know more about its origins, arrabels and the song of the loco.

Indeed there are days when I want to know everything.  Love, Peter
dizozza600@cs.com