
Written by E.J. Gold and performed by the Voyager's Guild, the Triad play is recorded with one character on the left channel and one character on the right channel. You play the tape through both channels and hear the complete performance or you may play the tape selecting only one channel. In this case you will be able to read the lines opposite the selected character.
The transcript presents a surreal, recursive, and existential narrative of a consciousness trapped in an endless cycle of perception, self-awareness, and simulated existence. The speaker cycles through moments of panic, realization, exhaustion, and revelation, questioning their reality, identity, and whether they are being watched or manipulated. The experience oscillates between a dreamlike metaphysical space and tangible sensory details, blurring the lines between self and environment. The narrative explores the tension between personal agency and inevitability, evoking themes of solipsism, cosmic absurdity, and a desire for escape from the endless loop of self-awareness.
The speaker appears trapped in a cyclical, recursive state of existence, shifting between different modes of awareness—sometimes perceiving their surroundings as a simplistic room filled with a limited set of objects (teddy bears, a wig, a Captain Walrus, videotapes, books) and at other times experiencing grand, cosmic revelations. They struggle against an oppressive stasis characterized by endlessly repeated patterns. Attempts to escape—whether through physical movement, death, or altered perception—only lead back to the same existential loop.
The transcript contains intense emotional fluctuations, from panic attacks and suffocating confusion to brief moments of transcendence, realization, and cosmic hilarity. The speaker grapples with fundamental questions of personal identity, the legitimacy of physical sensation, and their relationship to the perceived universe. They recognize patterns in the surroundings—objects appearing to hold entire universes, a library encoded with multidimensional meanings—yet remain unable to find true release.
Intermittent dialogue suggests the presence of another entity—perhaps an internalized aspect of the self—acting as a cryptic guide, responding to the protagonist's existential despair with detached, sometimes mocking commentary. As the experience unfolds, the speaker's sense of self dissolves and reconstitutes, looping through revelations about time, simulations, and an overarching sensation of imprisonment. The absence of a clear resolution cements the text as a meditation on entrapment within an abstract reality, where all answers only lead to further uncertainties.
A surreal dreamscape depicting an individual seated in a dimly lit, minimalist room filled with ambiguous, symbol-laden objects—a child's teddy bear, a black wig atop a dresser, VHS tapes, and an old television set emitting a faint glow. The floor and walls seamlessly stretch into deep cosmic space, containing swirling galaxies and abstract, floating symbols. The individual's body exhibits distortions—melting into the floor, stretching, or fragmenting into translucent overlays of themselves. A shadowy watcher, barely perceptible, peers through a distortion in the space, observing. The atmosphere should convey existential dread, recursion, and the sensation of being trapped in an infinite loop.