posted August 20, 2005 10:32 PM               

This mission patch signifies the final mission of the Apollo program of lunar landings. It shows the crescent Moon and Earth lined up with the brilliant Sun on a star-field backdrop. The three large stars near the names signify the three crew members of Apollo 18. The nine medium-sized stars represent the previous Apollo missions to the Moon (Apollos 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, & 17). The two smaller white stars, near the Earth, signify the two Earth-orbit missions of Apollo (Apollos 7 & 9), while the single small gold star honors the crew of Apollo 1 (Grissom, White, & Chaffee), lost in the launch pad fire of January 27, 1967.

Above is the patch designed by Larry Evans and rendered by Robert Kline for the August 2005 production of Darkside.

The limited edition patch is now available for purchase as a souvenir of the production. It is available at the Empire Theater in Santa Ana, California, or can be purchased by mail order. Contact mach25@sbcglobal.net for further details or use the ordering information below.

Proceeds of patch sales above production costs will be donated to the Rude Guerilla Theater Company and the Orange County Space Society.

To order patches by mail, send a check or money order made payable to the "Orange County Space Society" or "OCSS" to:

Darkside Patch
c/o Larry Evans
25671 Le Parc, Unit 89
Lake Forest, CA 92630

Patches are $5.00 each. Shipping and Handling is $2.50 for up to 5 patches on the same order.

A wide variety of "Darkside" and "Apollo 18" logo items are available through Cafe Press. Click the links to go directly to the order page. (Note that the patch is not available through this site.)

Cafe Press: Darkside

posted August 21, 2005 12:41 PM               

Here are a few reviews:

quote:

---

"In director Sharyn Case's staging, Darkside is a perfectly crafted mixture of sci fi, suspense, humor, and drama, as much an examination of the "inner space"--what goes on inside the mind, and heart, of an astronaut--as of the process of space exploration." Backstage West - Eric Marchese

"This compact play, humorous as it explores the frontiers of mind and space, is a highlight of the local season. The current Space Shuttle missions' revival, whose issues mirror Apollo's, makes it a must-see. "
Star Progress - Anne-Margaret Bellavione

Ken Jones' 1987 play Darkside is one of the rare theatrical forays into the final frontier. At its best moments, this Rude Guerrilla production shows that theater's greatest asset - the power to prod the imagination and convey dramatic emotion through words rather than visual stimuli - can work even when it comes to space travel. The play vividly captures the intense tension and loneliness of two men trapped on the surface of the moon while their fellow astronaut, helplessly orbiting around them, desperately waits for a successful lunar launch that will unite them with his module so they can successfully return to Earth.
OC Weekly - Joel Beers

---

posted August 21, 2005 09:08 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Richard:
I seem to recall that Michener basically wrote the same plot for Space many years ago. So, is this really a new idea?

---

If I recall, the landing crew of Michener's Apollo 18 weren't stranded on the moon; they got irradiated by a solar flare, lost consciousness before they could rendezvous with the CM, and the LM crashed on the moon.

I read "Space" over a decade ago and found it a bit of a slog. I didn't hate it, it was just a typical Michener epic that tried to tell too many stories at once and couldn't really do any of them justice. JMO.

posted August 22, 2005 11:09 PM            

At the New Jersey get-together Buzz Aldrin was asking people from Southern California if they had seen the play yet, and seemed very keen to go himself. I later heard him telling Dave Scott all about it too.