I’m currently attempting to create a new theater piece inspired by the writings of William S. Burroughs — particularly, The Nova Trilogy (or Cut-Up Trilogy ), as writer/adapter, and (eventually, hopefully) director/ designer, as well. It’s early enough in the process, however, that I’m not certain I’ll find the necessary hook to transform this massive, seemingly un-adaptable work of prose into a performance text.

Because early visualization is a crucial element for me when developing a new production, I always end up with a an enormous library of images that relate to the piece in some (often inscrutable) way. Some of the images are scavenged from the web, some from books, and some I create myself. Thus, the image above: a collage depicting Inspector J. Lee, an agent of the Nova Police, sitting in his time/space vehicle, and considering the giant centipede that returned with him from a trip back to the long-gone Mayan Empire.

(Lee’s vehicle is actually just a Linotype machine, which I thought had an unfamiliar, unwieldy, contraption-like shape that would make a perfect mode of transport for the Nova Police.)