posted 06-04-2013 10:09 PM               

(T)he play explores the immediate aftermath of the February 5, 2007 attack in which Nowak, a shuttle astronaut and veteran mission specialist, stalked Air Force officer Colleen Shipman to an Orlando International Airport parking lot and assaulted her with pepper spray.

posted 06-04-2013 10:18 PM               

Hanistarot, in association with Son of Semele, presents the world premiere of Starcrosser's Cut, a new play written and directed by Joseph Tepperman, with a live score by composer David Dominique.

Inspired by astronaut Lisa Nowak's 2007 arrest for the attempted murder of a romantic rival, Starcrosser's Cut is an inner-space detective story, a cassette symphony in the tradition of Krapp's Last Tape, and an indictment of the nihilism of the US Space Program.

Based loosely on the real-life transcript of Nowak's police interview after her arrest, a character known only as "Lisa" listens back to the tape, re-enacts her interview with the detective, and attempts to re-record it all.

Through a labyrinth of tape edits and revisions within revisions, the play takes an unflinching look at the "crimes that can't keep uncommitted" - those beyond guilt.

From jail cell to Space Shuttle, the mystery that emerges is not whether Lisa did it - it's whether a crime can cease to be a crime, or can cease to be entirely.

posted 06-04-2013 11:05 PM               

I'd also sort of like to know what a "cassette symphony" is.

posted 06-07-2013 06:13 AM               

Instead of a straight story, the 90-minute play written and directed by Joseph Tepperman is set inside Nowak's mind. Tepperman works in a dreamscape and the slippery world of memory. The play features two actors: Shawn Lockie as Nowak and Tom Collit as the detective who arrested her.

"The play is highly fictionalized," Tepperman said. "It's not meant to be the literal real world of Lisa Nowak. It takes place in the world of her imagination as she's remembering the case, trying to rewrite history."

Tepperman began working on the play in 2010. For source material, he used primarily transcripts from her interview with Orlando police. He also found inspiration in NASA emails written by former astronaut Bill Oefelein, the man in the love triangle.

"Hearing about this story, it resonated for me," he said. "I felt sympathy and compassion for Lisa Nowak. I guess we're all capable of doing something like she did given the right circumstances."

posted 06-07-2013 05:55 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
I guess the disclaimer "based loosely" allows the writer to claim "attempted murder" when the court dismissed any such charge as overreaching.

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