While all of us can name a few dozen very important, very specific dates from the past, and why those dates mean what they mean, there are far fewer future, still-to-come dates that possess the same gravitas or garner our interest.
Of course, right? Because the future hasn't yet happened (spoiler alert).
Then there's Dec. 21, 2012, or, as many people know it, the end of the Mayan Long Count Calendar.
The date has assumed a tremendous amount of mystique over the years, both via sober historical study and razzmatazz action films (two areas that don't bump up against each other enough, in our book). Is Dec. 21 simply another day, or is it an ending, a beginning, a transformation, or something we can't predict?
The legend that precedes it can make it difficult to remember that this date is a real square, with a number in the corner, on our calendars.
"The Edge of Forever," a chamber operetta "inspired by the ending of the Mayan Long Count Calendar," is scheduled for, you guessed it, Friday, Dec. 21. As would make sense. Also, it's a one-night-only performance, which again fits the theme of being on the edge of forever.
Elizabeth Cline is the writer and director while Lewis Pesacov of Afro-pop band Fool's Gold created the music. The show will include traditional strings and percussion as well as eight-sine oscillators, conch shell trumpets, and other offbeat instruments that will change up the tonal and emotional character of a traditional operetta.
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And the show's themes? There are a few, as suits the epic topic, but look for references to Mayan beliefs and culture as well as "the moment of transition" that the calendar predicts.
Tickets are $12. The operetta will take place in Los Feliz at the Philosophical Research Society.
Where will you be on Friday, Dec. 21?
