Survior! Pan Historiaby Iva Clishmaclaver
Survivor! Pan Historia, a new story/game, hit the scene in July and the body count has been rising ever since. The first episode, Rasgones del Coya, is proving to be fatal for the dedicated cast and crew. The story is an archaeological adventure set in the Peruvian Andes. The cast includes the local folks, a team of archaeologists from two competing universities, and a film crew from the discovery channel. Tayven Steele, cast in the role of Derek Jones (archaeologist from Harvard and recently deceased) says he wouldn't have missed the action for anything. "Well, it was fun to try something so completely different," Steele said. "There are some great writers in the novel and it was fascinating to watch them pick up these sketchy character outlines and turn them into real flesh-and-blood monsters... er... people you care about." Steele went on to say that death hasn't been a bad thing for him. "These white robes are really cool and I've learnt three new chords on the harp this week!" The premise for the novel is pretty straight forward: Nobody gets out alive. Every other week, the cast votes another of its members into oblivion. The writer than has one week to write a grand death scene and bow out of the story. Then it all starts again. The winner is the last member of the original cast drawing breath. The players are competing for a special winner's plaque, a pair of panickels, and undisputed bragging rights. So far cast members have exited the story due to internal injuries suffered at the hands of local coca growers, knife wounds suffered as the result of a psychotic break, and suicide. The players jump into a preset scenario with a preset character list, explained Captain Winston Salem, casting director for Survivor. "It's kind of like a play with a cast list," he said. "Only there's no script. When I create the cast list, I try to include only the essential details, give the writer plenty of room to develop the character." In spite of certain death for the players, there seems to be no small amount of enthusiasm for the game, according to Saoirse Uí Niall, producer/director for the current episode. "We still have new people joining up," Uí Niall explained. "Even though the late comers can't compete in this round, people still want to be a part of the story, get some practice time in before the next episode starts." Uí Niall said the next episode, High Rise: An Urban Adventure, is currently in pre-production, and she expects that the story will be opened for auditions by the end of October. "I'm looking forward to the next episode," she said. "There are a number of folks waiting to jump in and test their storytelling skills against some serious competition. It should prove to be great fun!" |
