On Immortality
A Dialogue by George Santayana, set to music by Don Stratton, directed by Dan Barrett, with Nancy Ellen Ogle and Gregory Shaw as narrators and the Swingmatism Jazz Ensemble.
An ancient Greek myth about the after-life turns out to have been true. A stranger who has recently died finds herself on a raft crossing the River Styx, being ferried along with other newly departed souls to the Island of Remembrance by the god Charon. In this modern version of the myth, Santayana engages the departed soul in conversation with the gaunt ferryman, exploring issues of life and death. In Santayana’s view, truth is simply everything that has actually happened; as such, it is impossible for anyone to live in the present and, at the same time, live in the truth. On realizing this view, the stranger becomes liberated from previous notions about living and dying and is newly able to…
