Dean's dad isn't around, his mom is deeply broken, and everyone at school either hates him or fears him. That's just who he is. But then, he meets Lucy and learns that life can be whatever you make it, and no matter what cage you build, you always have the key. Drama One-act. 30-35 minutes 4 female, 4 male

At last -- Dave McKean's landmark Cages as it was meant to be seen and read: a true novel in visual form. Eight years in the making. McKean is an artist with something important to say. In Cages, he has created a fully-realized microcosm, a world consisting of a street, a night club and an apartment house. With this, McKean has a means to comment on mythology, art, God, creation, sex, love and hate. For McKean, Cages is, "the closest I've come to describing my world." And Cages is a beautiful world.

Recent and current crises in health, ecology, society and spirituality have lent the whole arena of liminality a new urgency and relevancy. Those who traverse the great transitions are rediscovering new ways of interpreting life through the liminal lens, a way to make sense of the great voluntary and unchosen transitions that characterize modern life. This anthology provides a unique overview of liminality as it gathers a diverse coterie of authors, disciplines, and contexts to explore its many facets. Distinct in its interdisciplinary approach, The Liminal Loop serves as an important source book for general readers, teachers, students, artists, counselors, spiritual guides, and social transformers. From liminal poetry and musical traditions to the strange vertical world of the rock climber, The Liminal Loop explores the swirling chaos on the other side of critical thresholds and suggests a pathway through the daunting middle passages of the in-between. With what can only be described as courage, the many authors of this collection dare to look uncertainty in the eye, knowing that this is a necessary journey, and that it is better to travel with a common band of pilgrims than to go it alone.

A “brilliantly conceived, funny” story cycle by the New York Times–bestselling author about a time-traveler’s quest to repopulate a far-future Earth (Kirkus Reviews). Hanville Svetz was born into a future earth that matches the sorriest predictions of Greenpeace. With most of Earth’s original species extinct, Svetz travels back and forth in time retrieving them. And when he learns that Mars was inhabited, and how the sapient Martian species were wiped out, he foresees that Earth could soon fall victim to the same fate . . . In Rainbow Mars, multiple Hugo Award winner Larry Niven “combines an original novella and five related short stories revolving around the concept of time travel—with a fantastic twist. Known for his hard science and imaginative storytelling, Niven now illustrates his skill at offbeat seriocomic sf” (Library Journal). “Niven’s masterly use of SF strategy hits every note, springing surprises and plot turns with dizzying pace.” —Los Angeles Times