The Spirit of Invention

Written by @AceAstro, @Outbound, @Pi on my Cake, & @D Hulk

The Inventionarium Theater

Our theater, The Inventionarium, stands like a beacon in the central core of CenterCore Expo. The entrance marquee is dominated by a large lightbulb, which stands as a universal symbol of invention. Especially at night, the lightbulb’s transcendent glow beckons guests from throughout the land, made all the more alluring by the flickering neon coil within its translucent outer shell. A row of searchlights dots the base, bringing to mind a beautiful retro-futuristic Art Deco of yesteryear...or tomorrowyear.

Beyond the central bulb, the circular Inventionarium is a study in carefully minimalist design. Sleekly upwards-curving marble walls in blue & white show little hints about the impressive interior. A mosaic mural lines the theater’s upper rings. It features SMRT-1 gesturing his robotic arm out into the firmament, conjuring up a timeline of mankind’s greatest inventions...and a preview of the show within.

Preshow

Upon entering the building, we see a whole collection of old inventions on display in the museum hall. Telegraphs, typewriters, the cotton gin, and all sorts of other knacks and devices are displayed as a small sampling of the show within. After waiting for the next show, guests are lead into a dark room with a small stage and a screen. On the left wall of the Preshow theater are doors leading to the main theater.

The lights dim and guests can feel a slight wind as the shadow of Eureka comes onto the screen. It seems like she's trying to talk to us, but is unsuccessful. After some thinking, a "light bulb" moment happens, and she starts conjuring up clouds and smoke. While she's doing this, we see smoke come onto the stage, with different colors and sounds. Then, in a short blast of smoke, SMRT-1 rises out of the stage floor. After some recognition of his surroundings, he turns to address the guests.

Well, hello there! You startled me. My name is SMRT-1, which stands for Sound Modifying Response Telecommunicator 1, or Smart 1 for short. Eureka has a wonderful, wonderful presentation for you all today, which is going to chart the history of inventions!! I'm so excited, and so should all of you, because that's why your here, is it not?

A few sounds and lights illuminate from the animatronic.

Oh goodness, it's about time for the presentation to start! I better get going, and nice to meet you!

He dissapears in another puff of smoke, and the theater doors open to reveal the main theater. Before the show starts, SMRT-1 can be heard reminding guests to neither eat, drink, or smoke during the presentation, and to watch their kids.

Act 1

Introduction to Eureka

The lights dim, leaving seated guests in pitch darkness. A female voice speaks overhead.

Welcome friends, to a show of progress and innovation. Humankind’s accomplishments rest on what came before. Little moments, small upon discovery, that transformed the world as we know. Today, we celebrate these great small moments.

As the voice speaks, electric led lights rapidly shimmer on and off, increasing in scale until the voiceover stops, and all light fades again.

Then, a single spotlight appears at the center stage. A tall puppet, in the style of Tapestry of the Nations, is standing silently. The puppet -- Eureka, Goddess of Innovation -- begins to move as the music swells. The single spotlight follows Eureka as she flies around the dark stage, and as Eureka passes by, we find actors and puppets standing in place, representing different inventions. Eureka and the spotlight continue past, enclosing the inventions back into the darkness where they freeze, before moving to the next stage of progress. Finally, the music reaches a climax, and the lights finally rise on the stage revealing all the actors. They all dance in choreography to the Eureka puppet’s wavy motions before the song ends, and the lights go out again, with Eureka disappearing backstage.

Fire

Darkness again. A caveman huddles by a pile of rocks and sticks, shivering. The caveman begins rubbing the rocks and sticks together in the cold when… fire! Giant fire-red party streamers emerge from backstage, lifted by wind machines. The caveman, excited, begins running across the stage, acrobatically jumping and flipping as he or she rubs the stick and brings above more “fire” around the stage. The theater heats up as the fire takes over the set, and the caveman realizes they have gone too far.

Desperately trying to escape, the caveman finds they are trapped, surrounded by fire. They return to their original huddling spot, though now rather than cold, they are blistering in heat. When all seems lost, thunder strikes and a sound effect of rain is heard as the wind machines backstage turn off, and the party streamers fall down, saving the caveman from a very hot death. Now back to shivering, the caveman lights another fire, but is careful not to overdo.

Domestication of Animals

Magnificent puppets, each consisting of two puppeteers, gallop onto the stage. There is a horse, a cow, and a goat. The three run around the perimeter, when suddenly, a league of acrobats crawl down on ropes overhead. Landing at center stage, they pull an invisible rope around the cow, causing it to struggle in protest. After much effort, the cow relents, becoming friendly with the humans. The group then tries to rope the goat, by the goat is much more resistant, standing tall to kick one of the tamers down. But even more effort, the goat also relents and becomes friendly.

Now there is only the wild horse to tame. The horse is the hardest, as the group pulls and pulls in an invisible tug of war… when the horse breaks free! Angered, it gallops around the tamers menacingly, threatening to run them over, when one of the tamers does a great flip and lands behind the horse, roping and domesticating the animal.

With all three animals domesticated, the humans and puppets run about merrily. The cow, goat, and horse all now quite fond of the humans… a bond that will last for generations to come.

Invention of the Wheel

A more comedic act follows as an ancient inventor stumbles about crafting a wagon’s wheel. First, the ancient inventor tries a square wheel, but it is too hard to push. The silent inventor has an “a-ha” moment: triangle wheels. Alas, they do not work as intended. As the inventor imagines new ideas, acrobats mimic the shapes behind. The inventor becomes more desperate, creating trapezoid wheels, star wheels, heart wheels, and moon wheels… before finally thinking of the circular wheel. As the inventor brings out the wheel, the acrobatics begins to move, taking the shape of a circular wheel moving across the stage. Wheels are everywhere, and the inventor ponders their brilliance. It only took until the seventh try!

Chinese Fireworks

Boom! Fireworks emerge on projections behind, as the invention of the firework (200 BC) is given its due celebration. The dance is choreographed to the booming of the fireworks behind, while acrobats are flung into the air like a firework: spreading their arms and legs out as they reach the top before tucking back in to be thrown up again. This song ends with the climax of the firework show, as dozens of rockets are fired into the night sky.

The Compass

After the fireworks extravaganza, the stage resets. When the lights return, mist has covered the floor. A single explorer, kneeling on a rock, stares into the horizon. A ballet dancer rises from the sea, and an act follows, representing the spinning of the compass. As the ballet continues, the explorer awakens and begins following in the directions the ballet points, excited by his "new discoveries". With the compass, the horizon is no longer the edge of the world… it is a beckoning call for new opportunities.

The Printing Press

Johannes Gutenberg arrives with a portable printing press, beginning to print. As he does, a “tick, tack” rhythm emerges, and tap dancers arrive on set choreographed to Gutenburg’s printing machine. While the tap dancers mimic the printing press, Gutenberg races around with new books, handing them to unsuspecting actors around the set. Though first confused, the actors soon also realize what this invention means, and they begin to race around as well, books in hand. As the tap dance concludes, everyone races to get books, with pages of printed paper falling from the sky.

Da Vinci Gliders

The stage dims to sweep up the paper and bring in the next set. As the lights fade back, we see Leonardo Da Vinci slaving away in his office. Trinkets are a-bound, from the Mona Lisa to a schematic of the first tank. Da Vinci is making the latest in his series of brilliant inventions: a glider to allow flight. As Da Vinci draws his invention, it appears above him like a dream. An actor is strapped to a replica of Da Vinci’s schematics, with strings attached to the catwalk above. This allows the actor to “fly” around, as a relaxing and classical melody plays. The glider is a spectacle to see, especially as the rider performs increasingly dramatic and impressive feats.

Though Da Vinci will never see this reality to be true, his schematics, inspired by such dreams, would inspire generations to come.

Industrial Revolution

The entire cast arrives to mark the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. In choreographed dance, they “work” on the assembly line, as new products and made. Steam emerges from behind the stage, while projections show new opportunities made possible by this revolution in the industry: steam trains, looms, the cotton gin, and more. As the cast works down the assembly line and a train engine blares behind, more and more inventions are shown… concluding with Eureka’s grand return, running across the stage as a new era dawns on mankind… an era of inventions!

- END OF ACT ONE -

ACT 2

The Telegraph

The lights are dark across the stage except for a single spotlight on Eureka. She introduces this new age of invention and discusses how the groundwork was now laid for an age of rapid discoveries unlike anything seen before! While she is talkin, the crew are setting up some sets and props for Act 2 while the cast gets ready for the second half.

The stage lights up again as Eureka tells us this new age started with a new form of communication and we see wire connecting different points. The wires are all next to different percussion instruments, including many make shift ones similar to Stomp. Every time a beat is hit, LEDs hidden in the wires send a light down from one connection to another. Louder beats, brighter lights. Different tones of beats have different colors with multiple tones combining as blended colors. Performers do an amazing percussion act as the lights add an a whole new level of spectacle to it! All being symbolic of the Telegraph and morse code communication.

The Telephone

The telegraph section leads immediately into the next one with only Eureka saying, "Dots and dashes were only the beginning, very soon we could send our voice across the world," as a transition. The drummers and percussionists stop banging on things and start an acapella performance. To keep with the non-traditional nature of this show, their song doesn't have lyrics. It is more of a scat/beat box orchestra. The lights on the wires which was just bursts before are now a technicolor spectacle of non stop lights.

Tesla & Electricity

The lights drop as Nikola Tesla comes out with a spotlight on him. We see him fiddle with something trying to harness and understand electrictricity (The wires are put away in the dark as he is doing this). He flips a switch and a lightbulb on his desk lights up. He holds it (He's Tesla, it doesn't need a socket to work) in his hands and marvels at it. Then, much to the shock and befuddled amusement of the audience, he throws the glowing "lightbulb" at the ground. It is surprisingly bouncy and comes right back to him.

This triggers the lights to rise in the theater and the synth wave soundtrack to pick up as jugglers perform an act tossing around "electrons." After a bit, Tesla pulls the lever again, the lights in the theater drop, but the "electrons" and "lightbulbs" being juggled all light up. At the end of the act, the lights all drop again.

Wright Brothers & flight

The theater is quiet for a second so the audience can catch their breath after the first three very high energy performances in Act 2. We then see the Wright Brothers come out on a bicycle built for two with a spotlight following them. They make a quick loop around the stage before stopping at their work desk that was set up in the corner of the stage in the darkness. They pull out blueprints for different gliders and early flying machines. Each blueprint they pull out, the lights rise on a different Aerial Silk Dancer with a costume that represents that prototype. The Aerial Silk routine is a staple for shows like this and always a lovely fan favorite and this one is sure to dazzle as we see them represent the thematic evolution of man's quest to soar through the sky!

Early Computers

The lights drop so the performers for the next act can set up. Meanwhile, Eureka comes back out to say that a new invention was about to be made that would catapult us into the future faster than ever before: The Computer.

"Though first, we had to teach these machines a new language. One that would allow them to process untold amounts of data. All through the simple use of Ones..."

The lights come up to see a marching band. Their outfits are made of a reflective material on the back half that glows under the light.

"...And zeroes"

The marching band does a quick About Face (Turn around) revealing that the front half and their instruments are all jet black and matte. Making them virtually disappear even with light shining on them.

"And with this binary code, these machines were able to do astounding things."

With that, Eureka leaves the stage once more and the marching band performs a stellar routine. One full of About Faces staggered throughout the band. This visually represents a constant changing between the 1s and 0s of binary code as computers operate. As well as just being a very fun visual in its own right.

Rocketry and Space

"With this new technology, mankind's imagination was no longer bound by the atmosphere," Eureka says off screen as starlight is projected throughout the theater. A female dancer performs a ballet on one side in an outfit inspired by the moon. Shortly after, a male dancer enters from the other side in an outfit inspired by early space suits. Eagle eye fans will notice these are the same dancers as from the Compass scene.

After their short dances apart, they come together. The story of man trying to reach the moon as she plays coy and shy, teasing him, can be seen through their beautiful movements and the lovely synth wave soundtrack arrangement. The dance takes new height both figuratively and literally when we discover the dancers have been hooked into wires and their ballet begins to soar through the air. They spin and flip through the sky. They touch the ground only to take zero G leap across the stage. The dance above our heads and end up in each other's arms in a beautiful performance.

The Internet

The lights drop giving crew time to set up the next act and the audience time to decompress briefly before the 3 part grand finale which starts with the rise of the internet. We hear the iconic sound of 90s computing: "You've got mail."

The lights raise and we see the wires from the start of Act 2 have been set back up! Their lights are going crazy as the world is now more interconnected than ever! The jugglers, percussionists, and Aerial Silk dancers all come out to show this explosion of technologies and ideas that started with the rise of the internet. While projections show the world being connected with lights across the globe (Even utilizing some footage shot for the internet sequence in the Jeremy Irons version of Spaceship Earth as a fun Easter egg).

The Near Future

Eureka can be heard during a brief lull in the chaos telling guests that the future is theirs to create! But remember that it is built on the backs of giants. The story of tomorrow started long ago. And it is up to all of us to carry the torch onward and keep the Spirit of Invention alive!

We then see SMRT-1 from the preshow in projection form as the projections show off the inventions of today and what they could mean for the next 5-10 years (this section gets updated annually with it's debut being billed as a New Year's Eve event for the park)! The same performances from the previous scene continue on, but now accompanied by some favorites from Act 1 showing that the future is the culmination of the past. Specifically the tap dancers (who can dance in time with the drummers to create an incredible percussion backing to the music) and the animal puppets. A big, bombastic, and beautiful finale that is suitably grand for the subject covered!

Finale with Eureka

The actual finale is lovely and calming bringing the energy back down a bit. Offering audiences a chance to reflect on the weightier themes while giving this show a distinctly different feeling to traditional theme park shows. Eureka comes out and sings an original song dedication the themes of progress and invention. The other acts all discretely exit the stage except for the ballet dancers from the compass/moon scenes who perform a simple interpretive dance to Eureka's song. A low key way to remind guests that this show is more than just spectacle, it is inspiration!

- END OF ACT TWO -

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