HETEROTOPIA

A Rock Opera in two acts from Schooltree

[Text from the libretto including lyrics, character info and plot synopsis.]

Dramatis Personae

narrator

suzi - our hero

cat centipede

zombuzi (aka zombie suzi)

metanoia

shadows

enantiodromia

ACT I

Synopsis

(Prologue) Suzi is a modern underachiever, clinging to yesteryear's now-defunct dreams of rock-n-roll stardom. Her life became progressively darker as she found ways to support herself outside of the fame and fortune she thought was her destiny. And easier money came with a high cost. (Rocksinger)

A disillusioned Suzi reflects on the bullshit of contemporary life. In her despondence she sees having a soul in these empty times as her biggest problem, and makes a wish - someone please take it away. (The Big Slide)

Moping around the city one night, she sees a strange shadow, which is revealed to be a stray cat with a hundred legs. Disgusted and fascinated, she follows it through the streets. When it slips down a manhole, she falls in after it. Instead of falling into the sewer, however, she finds herself spiraling into an abyss of nothingness, where she experiences the dissolution of her ego in the face of the existential insignificance one usually goes through when tumbling through a seemingly infinite abyss. (Cat Centipede, The Abyss)

She awakens at home, apparently having dreamt it all. But something is weird - she just walked through a wall. She sees herself outside herself and realizes she’s having some kind of out-of-body experience, her body walking around on its own like some kind of zombie. She calls out to someone, anyone, but no one can hear her from the other side - no one except her zombie body, who, seeing her in the mirror, antagonizes her, driving her out and claiming her body for itself. (Radio, Walk You Through)

Exiled to the streets, the world is still concrete and traffic, but superimposed upon it is a strange, psychedelic, surreal world of nightmares - the edge of a dream of a madman. Her senses are deranged; she sees sounds, falls down into the sky, shadows get up and walk off the walls. Suzi sees people “stuck in time," subject to all kinds of horrific things of which they’re not the least bit aware. Disoriented and freaked out, she refuses to believe what she's experiencing is real. (Edge of a Dream)

Metanoia, a leitmaiden, appears and explains that Suzi is in the garden of the archetype - a place of pure ideas, outside time - where all dreams conjoin. But this world is troubled; she warns Suzi of the shadows around her, and that the longer she stays the more she risks never being able to return home. Perception in this space is via Suzi’s mind instead of her physical senses, and she must learn to orient herself this way if she’s to survive and get back to the world of light and sound. (The Leitmaiden)

Suzi is then told the story of Enantiodromia, a leitmaiden of ancient legend who is said to be part of the origin of this dream world’s turn to darkness. Long ago, she brought balance to the land with her fair hand, taking opposing extremes and bringing them together. One day, as she was sitting under the willows by a river, a spell was cast upon her by a mysterious shadow. Her fair hand turned black and she plummeted to the bottom of the river, where she sleeps forevermore. The river itself became cursed, and calls a siren song to all who come near to drown themselves in sweet annihilation. As a ghost walking between worlds, Metanoia tells her, Suzi can do things the inhabitants of this world cannot, and if she’s able to get to the sleeping Enantiodromia and wake her up, she may be able to help her reunite with her body. Suzi sets out on a journey to the river. (Enantiodromia, Specter Lyfe)

Songs & Characters

Overture
Rocksinger.........................Narrator
The Big Slide......................Suzi
Cat Centipede...............Narrator, Suzi
The Abyss...........................Suzi
Radio...................................Suzi
Walk You Through…......Zombuzi
Edge of a Dream.................Suzi
The Leitmaiden..............Metanoia
Enantiodromia............Suzi, Metanoia
Specter Lyfe.......................Narrator

Rocksinger

narrator:

suzi tried to sell her soul

for a piece o' rock and roll

got a good tip and a dirty cough

going in the back room to wash it off

backseat of a camaro

got a ride to save her soul

pitstop in the parking lot

never made it to the saving spot

suzi tried to just get by

lazy, tired, and bored with life

so she found the work that pays

souls come kinda cheap these days

suzi was a rocksinger

nobody told her that rock and roll is dead

The Big Slide

suzi:

see the rays of the neon sun

shining its light

on a plasterboard horizon

i stare at each night

outside morning is coming on

glowing in the fluorescent dawn

gotta feeling that’s oh so strong

here in my heart

guess that feeling was oh so wrong

cause i’m back to the start

steam is rising in the glow

up from chemical rainbows

my illustrious career

in handjobs blow and beer

it’s the end beginning all too clear

my degeneration is complete

the end of history

when icons crumble to the sea

there’s oblivion in the air

on the road to nowhere

no one can say where all of us go

into the drain where the rainbows flow

i don’t think i wanna know

see the ladders we all can climb

up up we go

to the top of the biggest slide

back down below

my head is a hole

someone please amputate my soul

in this perfect world

all the bullshit swirls

the mind of the everygirl

all the lights that catch your eye

the glittering of lies

where hope can go to die

Cat Centipede

narrator:

another day, the boredom the malaise

sitting in traffic’s yellow haze

the wind blows, the windshield

cracks under the weight

if just for a moment, she hesitates

in this cage, there’s no way she can take it

another day, another day

she can't breathe, she can’t see, she can't feel

how are we to know what’s real

from our cages of steel?

suzi:

i was walking the streets

i was thinkin that i was beat

i was beat

then there was something i saw

maybe nothing at all

maybe a shadow

on the wall

shadows

shadows in light

shadows

shadows in light

i've seen

running on a hundred legs of speed

cat centipede

living underneath our feet

cat centipede

this is something we made

with our garbage and with our waste

and with our hate

so i followed it down

through the alleys, across town

down to the drain

where the garbage and the runoff meet the rain

shadows

shadows in light

shadows

shadows in light

i've seen

running on a hundred legs of speed

cat centipede

living underneath our feet

cat centipede

what goes on beneath the surface

we may never know

creatures coming up from below

from below

The Abyss

suzi:

if the high

gets so high

and the low

so low

that they slip

over the edge

and begin

to converge

but now that i'm falling down

into nothingness

the void you gaze into

is gazing back into you

could this be what it means

to be free

i am no longer bound

by reality

in the meaninglessness

all forms revolve

and begin

to dissolve

now that i'm falling down

into nothingness

the void you gaze into

is gazing back into you

the eclipse of the i

of my mind

insignificance

is infinite

drifting through the abyss, the mind is purged

we begin

to converge

now that i'm falling down

into nothingness

the void you gaze into

is gazing back into you

spiraling into otherspace

Radio

suzi:

i am awake

things are the same

and yet they seem to be… strange

and stranger still

i’m in the hall

i've walked right through the wall

i am here, but not here

i can shout but nothing comes out

hey, can you hear me now?

just like i’m on a radio

on the radio

hey should i keep it tight

do i go towards the light

can a soul radio

from the other side?

i see myself

there where i’m not

an empty gaze without thought

she's like a zombie with no soul

moving in stereo

haunting you from without

must get through though i don't know how

hey, can you hear me now?

just like i’m on a radio

on the radio

hey should i keep it tight

do i go towards the light

can a soul radio

from the other side?

Walk You Through

zombie suzi:

come on baby now don’t lose it

there really ain’t nothing to it

i just need ya body to do it

you just need me to walk you through it

walk you through

c’mon child let’s not mess around

you can’t stop it from going down

you can scream you won’t make a sound

just let it happen cause it’s mine now

it’s mine now

this sack of bones was just your ball and chain

you weren’t doing much with it anyway

don’t fool yourself for another day

you always wanted it to end this way

oohhhh

it’s mine now

na na na na na na na

it’s mine now

Edge of a Dream

suzi:

step outside

cement and barbed wire

the screech of tires remains

i hear a call

the twilight talks

the shadows walk

right off the wall

and it’s hard times for the waking

there’s a hole in the night

and it’s letting out all of the light

here come the nightmares, everywhere i see

freaky things round me

i don’t believe, my senses must be deceived

here on the edge of a dream

of a madman

all around

the people are down

they’re stuck in the ground

where they slowly drown

hear the chimes

they’re stuck in time

the gears, they grind

but they don’t seem to mind

and it’s hard times for the waking

there’s a hole in the night

and it’s letting out all of the light

how do i break this dream

this shit is getting weird

the streets are mouths that sigh

they open up

to eat me alive

down i go, back to the sky?

flash of light

hits the sky

it breaks my eye

with a crash of the sight

see the sound

sideways on the ground

i been walking down

all my life

cuz it’s hard times for the waking

there’s a hole in the night

and it’s letting out all of the light

here come the nightmares, everywhere i see

freaky things round me

i don’t believe, my senses must be deceived

here on the edge of a dream

of a madman

The Leitmaiden

metanoia:

human child

on the road of trials

what will you find

in the light

you use your sight

here it’s your mind

the edge of every dream conjoins outside of time

in the garden of the archetype

there are shadows around you

and the longer you stay

the more you'll forget you

you'll lose your way

little ghost

on the radio

you are alone

calling out

to those around

won’t get you home

the world is inside out, you’re outside of your skin

now you can see what lies within

there’s a chance you can save you

at the end of the night

but there’s a long way before you

to return to the light

human child

there’s much yet to find

human child

on the road of trials

Enantiodromia

suzi:

tell me once again

the tale of the leitmaiden

who brought proportion to the land

with her fair, fair hand

metanoia:

according to legend

balance she did defend

taking all the opposites

into their synthesis

and on a day much like today

where the willows sway

a shadow came, her name betrayed

enantiodromia

down with a splash, a spell was cast

that fair hand turned to black

and at the river’s undermost

she sleeps forever more

suzi:

tell me once again

how the night began

and shadows came to walk the land

without her fair fair hand

metanoia:

everything in this dream

turned into its extreme

without the hand to draw from the abyss

there was no synthesis

now the river calls to those

about to give up hope

upon the waves they’re looking and

they’re falling falling in

say goodnight, utopia

enantiodromia

into their darkness they are pulled

by her black, black hand

lost in her own dark dream,

her powers dormant in the deep...

as a ghost you have a power of your own

resist her song, wake her up

and she might help you get home

Specter Lyfe

narrator:

do you feel a chill in the air?

gives you quite a scare

you wheel around to see

but there’s nobody there

little suzi specter

trapped in otherspace

she’s with us in the room

and yet she’s no place

where do you go when you are

outside of space and time

no one can hear or see you

that’s just specter lyfe

how are you gonna get back

to your world of neon light?

where is your home now suzi?

do you feel a presence afoot

you’d feel it if you could

y’know there’s something

strange in your neighborhood

little suzi specter

trapped in otherspace

a time inhabitant

with no time or place

ACT II

Synopsis

Suzi encounters three shadows who taunt her for her ghostly “condition.” We’ve seen how this story ends, they prophesize, and you’re already dead, just like the rest of your kind. (Dead Girl)

Metanoia reaches out to Suzi after this altercation and teaches her the power of the strange - throughout your experience you will encounter strangeness, you yourself will become strange, but don’t be afraid - form is illusory, lines can be broken down and shaped by your will. Use the strange to adapt yourself and the world around you. (Turning into the Strange)

As Suzi moves through this world and tries to adapt, she begins to realize she’s spent her life overcome, in a cycle of unwitting self-destruction. She’s been a sort of ghost all along, but feels more uncertain and insubstantial than ever now (for obvious reasons). She feels unsure whether it’s her life as a human or her life as a ghost that’s the “reality." Metanoia offers some perspective on this - all these things that make being a ghost hard are also what make it extraordinary. You are alone, but that makes you singular; you can’t touch anything but you can move through walls; the lines of reality are broken so nothing confines you. This is what will enable you on your quest: the power of the ghost. For a moment Suzi sees clearly the path before her. (Edge Annihilate, Power of the Ghost)

Suzi passes before a mirror in which her zombie body confronts and warns her not to go near the river, from which no one ever comes out alive. Go there and you’ll destroy us both, she says. (You & I)

Suzi is derailed by this exchange and begins to lose herself and forget where she is going. It feels like she’s been on this road forever - or maybe just one really long day. Under a lamppost she sees a flash of light - it’s the centipede cat, which she now barely recognizes, as if from another life, and follows once again. It leads her to the river. (Into Tomorrow)

At the edge of the river its siren song calls to her, offering solace, peace at last; all she needs to do is leap into it. Suzi knows she must jump in with her resolve intact or be swallowed by the abyss. She falls in and sinks. At the bottom of the river, she begins to dissolve, but at the last moment remembers what that she has learned in Otherspace and uses it to move through the meaninglessness "like a ghost through a wall." (The River, Bottom of the River)

Beyond the "wall," Suzi finds and awakens Enantiodromia, and asks her to take her fair hand and make her whole again. But awakened Enantiodromia is changed from her former self; looking around at the darkness arisen during her slumber, she is the black-handed reaper now, bringing balance to the land once more, now by using her black hand to annihilate that which does not belong in this world, and attempts to begin with Suzi. Suzi pleads with her to stop, explaining she is only half of what she’s supposed to be, telling Enantiodromia of her quest though endless night outside of time to wake her. "I am not a shadow, just a girl; an exiled soul in the wrong world." Enantiodromia tells her that she's been in this world too long and is no longer just a girl; she cannot return her home. But as repayment for awakening Enantiodromia, she allows Suzi the chance to go back to take control of her zombie body, and return as one to her, at which point she’ll take them both together to the next place. (Enantiodromia Awakens)

Suzi returns to the mirror and faces her self, finally understanding the power of the ghost, making a connection between worlds and operating her zombie body like a puppet, using her will to control it. They merge, not quite whole but moving together, and slowly march toward Enantiodromia the Reaper. As Suzi gets ever closer, she becomes sick with disease as her body fails. But she marches forward nonetheless, facing the end, she is ready to become whole, if only to die in doing so. Enantiodromia takes her hand. Suzi’s body is destroyed and she dies in a triumphant blaze of glory. (Zombie Connection, Keep Your Head, Day of the Rogue)

Having achieved mastery in both worlds, Suzi is able to use her mind to grow her body from her head like a seed in the air downward to the ground. NeoSuzi glimpses what utopia could be for the first time, as something that can never be possessed, but experienced. (Utopia)

Songs & Characters

Dead Girl..............................Shadows
Turning into the Strang........Metanoia
The Edge Annihilate................Suzi
Power of the Ghost.............Metanoia, Suzi
You & I.................................Zombuzi
Into Tomorrow.........................Suzi
The River..............................Enantiodromia
The Bottom of the River..........Narrator
Enantiodromia Awakens.........Suzi, Enantiodromia
Zombie Connection...................Suzi
Keep Your Head..................Suzi, Metanoia
Day of the Rogue..................Suzi
Utopia.................................Suzi, Narrator

Dead Girl

shadows:

what’s the deal with the basket case

walking round like she own the place

bringin' us down with her dour, sallow face

i heard she’s up on rocknroll

couldn’t sell her immortal soul

tryna front now she’s apparitional

we're seeing right through

there’s not much to you

look at the pale girl

show her a mirror

y’know she sees it but she don't believe it

you’re just a dead girl walking through the shadows’ light

diddy dum where you coming from?

diddy doo where you going to?

diddy day you should go away

she thinks she’s cool walking through the wall

she on a trip since she had a fall

but she ain't much of anything at all

we're seeing right through

there’s not much to you

look at the pale girl

show her a mirror

y’know she sees it but she don't believe it

you’re just a dead girl walking through the shadows’ light

standing in our light

you try and you try

to tell fear that it lies

but there’s something naggin inside

that says you know that the fear is right

we’ve seen how it ends

and you’re already dead

just like the rest

dig the chick in the cellophane

with a look like she hit a train

haunting us with her morbid pasty stain

go ahead girl float on by

you’re hovering near the afterlife

cha gotta know

this ain’t where you go

when you die

we're seeing right through

there’s not much to you

look at the pale girl

show her a mirror

y’know she sees it but she don’t believe it

you’re just a dead girl walking through the shadows’ light

Turning into the Strange

metanoia:

all things will change

in your own home you can be estranged

one day it’s yours, of course

then before you know

it’s turning into the strange

all things will change

in your own self you can be deranged

one day you’re you, through and through

then before you know

you're turning into the strange

tracing the lines

outside of time

stuck in the confines of your mind

your sense of form is a part of you

you can make it part of all you do

you can understand all it constitutes

inside of time

form is just illusory

you can break it down like 1, 2, 3

only then can you be free

all things will change

if you have shapes they can be rearranged

parts can be moved, and they do

you can do it, too

turn it into the strange

even the sameness is subject to change

even the normal turns into the strange

so turn it into the strange

The Edge Annihilate

suzi:

feels like i’ve always been floating

where i stand

now that there’s nothing to stand on

where i am

into nothingness i slipped and fell

gazing into it i saw myself

is this truth or something else?

round and round she goes

where she stops, no one knows...

there’s been too much confusion

in my life

hanging on to illusions

in my life

i remember walking through the wall

am i awake now, did i dream it all?

why i’m here i can’t recall

my life before

still the feeling is strong

and it’s been there all along

that you could spend a life on the edge annihilate

without even knowing you’re looking over it

Power of the Ghost

metanoia:

you were looking for something to hold on to

you ran into the wall but you passed right through

all along the illusion was true

the illusion

illusion is you

that’s just the power of the ghost

you been waving to people who cannot see

you been running from shadows you don’t believe

all the while you were losing the lines of, the lines of reality

that’s just the power of the ghost

suzi:

i been so alone

so far from home

here nothing’s as it seems

who knows which one is the dream

i’m no hero

just a lost soul

in this world that's in between

where there’s nothin stoppin me

...suddenly it’s all clear, i can see i can see i can feel

the power of the ghost

You & I

zombuzi:

at the edge they kneel

they'll never feel a love so real

falling in, the lover sighs

and won’t come out alive

you’re on your way

gone down to where those willows sway

capsize, baptized

and won’t come out alive

you won’t come out alive

from the river

you and i

were meant for this divide

the mirror that’s between us doesn’t lie

we are things you can’t unite

and you’ll find that if you try

we won’t get out alive

you think you’ll be delivered

ya gonna drown in the river

Into Tomorrow

suzi:

I don’t know how long i’ve walked this road

don’t where i am or where to go

feels like an endless age

maybe it's just one day

outside of time there’s no line to cross

i had a plan but the plan was lost

there’s gotta be some way outta here

someone turn the lights on, make the shadows disappear

under the lamppost a flash of light

if i had eyes i think i’d be blind

something is there that i’ve seen before

slow down, i’m coming, i'll follow once more

over the broken pavement

breaking the mind's enslavement

go now and i will follow

take me into tomorrow

it’s not in the way that i’m seeing things

it’s not in the way that i’m losing it

i gotta believe it now

just gotta believe it now

baby it’s time for me to blow

i can’t wait around for tomorrow

i was a fool then but now i see

I hear someone screaming

oh no it’s just me

over the broken pavement

breaking the mind's enslavement

go now and i will follow

take me into tomorrow

and if there’s no tomorrow

just get me out of here

The River

enantiodromia (asleep in the river):

i am the blackness, the lost lenore

i am the ghost you've been reaching for

i am the river, the open door

i see the weariness in your eyes

how tempting, the sweetness of your demise

i know the reason you writhe

i am your deepest, your darkest dream

i am the secret you cannot keep

i offer solace, all you need to do is leap

i am the reaper, the end of war

i am the peace you've been yearning for

and i am the current you can't fight anymore

come to me

At the Bottom of the River

narrator:

at the bottom of the river

she will stay forever

in the meaninglessness she dissolves

unless she can strengthen her resolve

and move through it like a wall

like a ghost through a wall

[Enantiodromia Awakens]

suzi:

tell me once again

the tale of the leitmaiden

who brought proportion to the land

with her fair, fair hand

enantiodromia:

the world’s grown dim with shade

i’ve slept too long this day

now i rise again

suzi:

o great siren of the riverbed

now that you’ve awakened

can you take your fair hand

and make me whole again

enantiodromia:

the answer is no

i am the reaper

and with my black, black hand

i shall cleanse the land

let ruin make things right

come forth, be purified

call for mother, she won’t come

run for shelter, there is none

light closes in around you

we are the swirling point of truth

suzi:

STOP

through endless night, outside of time

on the edge of a madman’s dream

half of what i’m supposed to be

i’ve fought my way to rouse you from your sleep

estranged, deranged, turned into the strange

by the power of the ghost i have been changed

but i am not a shadow, just a girl

an exiled soul in the wrong world

and if you take me, incomplete

what is to become of me

what about utopia

enantiodromia?

enantiodromia:

you’ve been astray too long, too far

i cannot say who or what you are

but for waking me you shall be repaid

if to be whole is your wish, there is a way:

find yourself, face your face

make a connection through otherspace

you can’t go back, but i will take you to the next place

suzi:

what am i now that i’ve been lost so long?

where am i now that i’ve gone so far from home?

i’ve been searching all this time

the mirror between us all the while

but how can we unite for a moment just to die?

i’ve come so far only to find

no one gets out alive

enantiodromia:

you know what to do

metanoia (in the distance):

little pale girl, look in the mirror

enantiodromia:

it’s always been you

mirrorwalk

enantiodromia & suzi:

mirrorwalk

enantiodromia:

and in the in-between walk hand in hand to me

Zombie Connection

suzi:

where the rabbit meets the hole

d-d-d-d-d-down to the cortex folds

of my mind

there’s a shadow on the line

with a face that looks like mine

that’s my ride

there’s a way that i can pull

strings that are invisible

on myself

so i’m taking back control

making the connection

a zombie to a soul

where the highs meet the lows

d-d-d-d-d-down to the blood that flows

through my hands

where the shadow meets the wall

where the socket meets the ball

that’s where i am

so it’s gonna be tonight

no i cannot lose a fight

with myself

now i’m taking back control

making the connection

a zombie to a soul

i am the sky

i am the ground

i am the fog that surrounds

so i'm summoning all my will

summon all my will

and i’m coming in for the kill

come in for the kill

and i’m ready to lose it all

yeah i’m ready to lose it all

Keep Your Head

suzi:

i can feel it

the blood and bone

i can see now

with sight alone

i can feel her

the reaper knows

to her i go

though i may not be going back

i’m taking the black

metanoia:

keep your head

the time has come

keep your head

we’ll meet again

Day of the Rogue

suzi:

on this road i'm feeling weird

much worse than i feared

don't get psyched out, fight the urge to flight

get me to the end of the night

on the road

to the light

of the day

of the rogue

now diseases putrefy

blindness takes my eyes

stumble forward, my legs struggle with each stride

get me to the end of the night

on the road

to the light

of the day

though i walk to my demise

i will fear no evil

in darkness or in light

world of shadows, hear me now

i won't fail, somehow

only one way to get to the other side

i will reach the end of the night

on the road

to the light

of the day

by and by, i come

day of the rogue

Utopia

from my head i’m rolling it out

rolling it out

from my neck i’m growing it down

growing it down

til i hit til i hit the ground

i am matter and motion now

if the door to the dream is closed

that’s just a door that you can’t control

then you know

you never really have it but you can go

utopia

diving into the sun

you find it then it’s gone

from my head i’m reaching it out

reaching it out

from my thoughts i’m thinking it down

thinking it down

til i hit til i hit the ground

i am matter and motion now

if the door to the dream is closed

that’s just a door that you can’t control

then you know

you never really have it but you can go

utopia

diving into the sun

you find it then it’s gone

keep your head

where the zombie meets the ghost

where the rock meets the roll

where the solid meets the soul

Glossary

Leitmaidens  are helpful routing-spirits (literally, “guiding maid”), luminous beings of Otherspace who are each endowed with a unique ability she uses to maintain the ecology of the unconscious realm. They are sometimes mistaken for the Judeo-Christian religious concept of angels. 

Otherspace is the parallel world through which Suzi journeys as a ghost. This place is an ancestral repository of dreams existing invisibly alongside Suzi’s material world, inhabited by creatures not unlike Jung’s archetypes, or Plato’s Forms. It both reflects, distorts, and shapes the world of the waking.

Time-inhabitants are those who dwell exclusively in the material realm, limited to moving in a linear progression through time in which events can be experienced exclusively from the past through the present into the future.

Mirrorwalking  is a mythical skill described as "the ability to influence the material world from the unconscious realm.”

Story, lyrics, and music by Lainey Schooltree
Copyright Schooltree 2017
http://schooltreemusic.com
schooltreemusic@gmail.com