In The Dark (Part 2)

In The Dark (Part 2)[1]

Series
Work In Progress
Original Broadcast Date
1992
Cast
Joe Frank
Format
Absurd Monologue, Narrative Monologue, Scripted Actors, 1 hour
Preceded by:	In The Dark (Part 1)
Followed by:	Two Babes

Max, the night watchman, wanders along hallways and up and down staircases, making the rounds of a towering office building.

In The Dark (Part 2) is a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series Work In Progress. It was originally broadcast in 1992.

Synopsis

Max is a night watchman with a blind dog. He remembers a love affair. An answering machine message from his boss, telling him that the staff is trapped in the building because of gunfire and that he will need to work overtime for the rest of the week. He's been in the building ever since. "The discovery that you've lost your way in life..." Opening office doors and finding oneself in another world. Being an idea rather than a person - "... a concept drinking a coke" A blind guard dog, an arthritic surgeon, a lawyer with brain disease, and a scarred model. Max finds himself on stage. A man speaks nonsense in English with mangled Spanish words: tortilla v/s tortela, tell me the truth now, la cucaracha, etc. Max finds himself in a woman's apartment, we hear the woman with her husband. Max ends up in Joe's studio. Joe spits at his engineer. A man in a phone booth describes trying to get into a fortified building. Buddhists justify making false promises to solve peoples' problems: the parable of the child in a burning house, the fire sutra. A question mark v/s a period. Zealots, a man lost in a forest. Bishop Berkeley's fossils as tests of faith argument. Eternal questions. A man dreams a lifetime, wakes up, and later meets his children from the dream. Pascal's defense of faith, and following one's heart. One cannot know the sacred. Joe and Theo Mondle sing "Me and My Shadow," and go out for a beer. Joe is unhappy with what he's accomplished. Theo interviews a homeless guy. Tinny voice: slashing oneself with a champagne bottle on a veranda, an escalator filled with people who turn into animals. Joe coaches an actress on the hotel room scene.

Music

• "The Player" - Thomas Newman (from The Player, 1992) | YouTube

• "Sex" - Thomas Newman (from The Player, 1992) | YouTube
• "Desert Drive" - Thomas Newman (from The Player, 1992) | YouTube
• "Me and My Shadow" - The Jazz Masters (from Smooth Jazz) | YouTube
• "It's Nice To Have Money" - Glamco Productions (from It's Nice To Have Money, 1991) | YouTube

Shared Material

• Raymond/Third World Country

Commentary

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