SF Olympians

Often confused and possibly one-in-the-same, Nereus and Proteus were considered the kind, righteous, wise old men of the sea, aiding heroes in their quests. They are both known for their ellusive, shape-shirting natures — silently enduring their gifts of prophecy until they can be caught. Nereus, representing the pleasantness of the ocean, has traditionally been associated with The Iliad, where-as Proteus was featured in the works of Homer and was the herdsman of Poseidon.

With Nereus and Proteus, Colin Johnson wanted to explore the duality and dark consequences of the digital, anonymous, passive lives that plague so many from the millenial generation. What happens to a person once they have lost all their interpersonal connections, once they exist completely in their own head? Colin’s full-length play will feature one such individual, so alienated from the world around him, he develops an imaginary friend, who initially seems to help him turn things around. After some initial progress, his behavior begins to grow erratic and the imaginary friend’s influence begins to grow malevolent. Colin wants to develop this play for full production, utilizing multi-media tools (onstage cameras, live projections) to create the illusion of a documentary being made live in the theatre — then use it to become absorbed into a compromised mind in real time, with the help of various illusions and visual trickery

NEREUS AND PROTEUS by Colin Johnson
Directed by Vince Faso
Staged Reading on November 6, 2015

Colin is a writer, director and filmmaker who has been a Bay denizen since 2008. Locally you may have seen his work in SF Playground, Shotz, SF Fringe, Theatre Pub, Bay One Acts Festival, Pianofight’s Shortlived, Albany Film Fest, Image Comics, Awesome Theatre, Actors Ensemble of Berkeley and various other nooks and crannies. His work has also been produced and showcased in Washington State, Chicago and, most recently, Comic Con in San Diego. He co-founded Oakland’s BattleStache Studios, which just launched it’s first full-length web series, and is honored to be back at the Olympians Festival for a fifth year.