THE STAGE 32 LOGLINES

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RESONANCE
By Sharon Curcio

GENRE: Action
LOGLINE:

A rejected theorist’s paper on arctic ice melts, land rise, and noise sites proves true fifteen years later, and two scientist friends rush to locate him to control the site noise, but the Pentagon arrests the three scientists, so the theorist’s teen protégé (and friends) field their  daring experiment.  

SYNOPSIS:

Three middle schoolers grow up to become geophysicists after experiencing a real earthquake on a science field trip. As Ph.D candidates they all go to a lecture on the famous resonances of the Tibetan singing bowl. One of them then creates an eerily prescient thesis paper linking Artic ice melts to resulting earth noise phenomena. This controversial paper gets Dan Crisdale expelled from his Ph.D program, while his childhood friends, Lea and Mitch, complete theirs. With grief and resentment Dan sheds academia, changes his name and fifteen years later is teaching in a suburban Memphis high school.

When earth rise from artic ice melts is detected in Greenland proving the Crisdale theory, Lea and Mitch seek Dan out. One of Dan’s students, Jimmy Hunter, thinks his teacher, Mr. Gearns, knows more about the earth noise phenomena that is occurring in pockets worldwide, is unnerving local communities and a noise site has erupted near Gearns’ high school. Jimmy accidentally finds the Crisdale thesis online, notices the likeness of Crisdale to Gearns, and posts a current picture of his teacher on the net. The next day Jimmy confronts Gearns (Dan) with his thesis then gets a call from Lea and Mitch.

Lea has used a small grant from MIT to investigate the earth noise. Mitch and Lea shared maps of the noise pockets with the National Geospatial Agency, but NGA tells them that the Pentagon has taken over the noise project. Mitch then asks Jimmy’s brother Derek to arrange a Pentagon hack to get the noise site ops data. The three scientists agree on an experimental method to quiet the earth sounds, then fly to L.A. with Jimmy to get what they need. The four break into a museum to steal a singing bowl. When M.I.T. notifies Lea’s boss (Dr. Maird) of unusual spending on her grant-linked credit cards, Maird flies to Washington to get a briefing on the Pentagon noise ops plan from his friend, General Guice.

When Lea, Mitch, Gearns and Jimmy return to Memphis, the three scientists are brought in for questioning by the FBI on the Pentagon hack. With the scientists in custody, only Jimmy escapes to implement their planned field experiment to quiet the earth noise. Jimmy, his brother, Derek, and his girlfriend Diane, and Gearns’ wife Kate then assemble a hundred teens. The teens communicate using an owl embedded with a URL that gets them to the site to sign up and get instructions to load the necessary frequencies onto their cells and head to the noise site. Meantime Dr. Maird shows up in Memphis to try to get the Pentagon to step down. The kids march onto site interrupting Pentagon explosions, then launch in unison the frequency loaded on their cells. The cell to earth resonances match, the sounds lifts gloriously for sixty seconds then all goes stunningly quiet. The kids leave in hushed awe, triumphant.

Last scene is on a windy beach in N. California. Dan/Gearns is awarded his Ph.D. from Mitch’s Department Chair, Jimmy gets a scholarship, and the Pentagon gives the research team experimental two-manned kites to fly. At the end Mitch asks Derek quietly how he got the hack done and Derek replies : “Anonymous.”

Nathaniel Baker

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Rimi B. Chatterjee

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Nate Rymer

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Rimi B. Chatterjee

I’ve3 been a longtime lay student of climate science as well as a career acaddemic in the humanities, so I understand the concept of earth noise, but I think this summary would have greater visibility if you could slip in a little explanation of why the average person should care about earth noise, what it means and what is the Crisdale theory. Otherwise loved the drama and the action. 10/10 would watch.

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