“The Closest I’ve Come to Death?” A query that comes with a story of impatience, indiscretion or poor judgement. For Alec Effson, it is a question that repeatedly asks why she is on a battlefield, what she expects to gain from the experience and who she will be when she returns to a life that is safely behind the front lines. Her story is one of ambition, of a desire to be stronger, smarter, more influential and a reminder of the costs demanded of such desire. .

Complete Performance of “Your Results May Vary.”

Cast,

[24360]

Not as expected. Battles never go as planned. A research team in the field adds another complication to the story. Partly fighters. Partly observers, though not exactly innocent. Our professor is retreating through the back country, looking forward to seeing her friend and sharing her accomplishments. But this is the end. And it ends the only possible way a battle can end.

Act 5 of   “Your Results May Vary.”

Cast,

[24360 Act 6]

Small shows.  A single vehicle and a couple of entertainers. But they were the ones who engaged the front line troops.  They went to the battle, to the, places where the USO didn’t go.  They saw the war as it was and helped the soldiers to their do their job.  They also found themselves in adventures of their own.   .

An excerpt from Chapter 15 of Robert O’Connor’s novel “Jeep Show: A Trouper at the Battle of the Bulge.”

Available from Amazon and bookshop.org.  

Cast:

[25205 Act 5]

The day has come.  The hour has arrived.  The troops are deployed against an insurgent stronghold.  And Professor Effson has gone to the battlefield to study, to observe, to see how the residents behave in combat.  One small change and with that change, her work hangs in the balance. 

Act 5 of   “Your Results May Vary.”

Cast,

[24360 Act 5]

A preliminary visit.  A warning shot at an awkward time.  A suggestion that the local population might not as welcoming as they might appear.  An angry research director, who had to drag a research team to the battlefield when they claimed that they could do conflict research from the safety of their laboratories.  Military and scientific research.  Pressure is applied and the mixture goes badly in Act 4 of “Your Results May Vary.”

Cast:

[24360 Act 4]

The end of the town.  Don’t go down.  Don’t ever go down, as the song says, if you don’t go down with me.  Preparing to visit the battle.  Learning  to negotiate a small town only a few miles from the conflict.  Two things that are not that different when  the town is Kapu Varo.  Alec Effson gets a dramatic lesson in Act 3 of “Your Results May Vary.”

Cast,

[24360 Act 3] 

The Dark Angel visits the battlefield. 

She carries her paperwork and her description of research to be done. 

How close does one ever come to death? 

Can we refuse to accept it just the way we refuse a mistaken delivery?

Alec Effson has her own questions.   Act 2 of “Your Results May Vary.”

Cast, in order of appearance:

[24360 Act 2]

The story begins.

A distance battlefield.

A recent defeat.

And a woman who needs an answer to the question “How close I have been to death?”

First act from the show “Your Results May Vary.”

Cast, in order of appearance:

[24360 A1.0]

Professionals need professional help.

  Dr. May visits his colleague Dr. X-Tra over his psycholinguistic crisis that is driven by one, very specific word.  

Dr. X-Tra, in his turn, has many ways of thinking about this issue.

A third scene from the practice of a San Franciscan Black Psychiatrist. 

Cast, in order of appearance:

[24215]

Warning: This episode contains language that some may find offensive.

Produced by San Francisco Recovery Theatre and HWMS Audio Theatre

One a scale form 1 to 7, how is close is close?

This is warfare.  Mostly death is far, far away.  A score of 7 on a Likert Scale.  But there are moment, moments when it is much more intimate. 

This is warfare.

Hours of boredom punctuated by moments of shear terror.

That is warfare.

Alec Effson volunteers for logistics duty and receives the delivery of something that was not  expected. 

A scene from “Your Results May Vary.”

Cast, in order of appearance:

[24360 s 4.0]

Full Show Coming Fall 2024