Introduction

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Intro:

As lights go down we hear the following...

ANNIE

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take...

DARWIN

Annie!

Our impresario, illuminated by a single spotlight, is nicely dressed in front of a closed curtain. He welcomes our audience and introduces Pringle Stokes.

NARRATOR

Ladies and Gentlemen,
My esteemed colleagues and guests…
Let me bid you welcome
To this evenings events.
What you are about to witness,
What you are about to view,
Should not be construed as having anything to do
With impugning the reasonableness, rationality,
Inherent logic and capabilities of science.

So please,

Leave your reality checks at the door
Entry will cost you your credibility,
And suspension of a comforting belief
In the solid floor of civility,
Our society, supported by technology
Once grounded in empirical fact,
Is now adrift upon a numenis sea of being.

Conjure up if you will
A mind set sail upon the dream tide
Rounding the stormy horn
And tossed in to the deep end to drown.

Here in Tierra del Fuego,
I ask you to consider,
I ask you to concur,
I ask you to listen carefully,
Mostly to defer
Your incredulity.

This is only theater -
Merely a mirror held up to view.
So before you insist upon
Just the facts and the whole truth;
Awaiting definitive proof,
Resisting that this could ever be true...

Remember that evolution,
Or if you favor “descent with variation”,
Is only a theory.

Does it matter if in the end
All is sacred or profane,
When the underlying reality remains the same?
Semantics only confuse the brain
Leaving your faith shaken and reason deranged.
What is in this name anyway, will require greater minds
Than mine to explain.

The curtain parts - revealing the opening of Scene 1 - Pringle Stokes and Crew.
Background audio slowly builds - see act1 scene1 for details

Now, without further delay
And with all due respect.
The first captain of his majesties good ship Beagle.
Submitted for your approval,
One Pringle Stokes,
A man about to embark on his final iron ride.