TO PROTECT AT ALL COSTS

                              a play  

Logline:

 A brilliant but self-destructive astronomer and an inexperienced Air Force investigator are drawn into a government cover-up of staged UFOs, only to discover that the deeper deception masks a genuine nonhuman presence and a truth that will break her mind and claim his fate. 

Story:   

It’s 1980. Paula Brode, a brilliant astronomer wrestling with drug addiction, intercepts signals she believes originate from extraterrestrial sources. Meanwhile, the Air Force is trying to establish who is responsible for the mysterious jamming of its airwaves around the base near her observatory. Suspecting Brode may be communicating with the Russians, the Office of Special Investigations sends inexperienced agent Gage Fine to the case. He’s ordered to indulge her UFO theories by staging a UFO crash. When Brode discovers inconsistencies in Fine’s story, she confronts him, sparking a tense intellectual duel that questions the line between what is reality and who gets to control it. As her stress increases, she experiences unusual phenomena she cannot explain which shakes her confidence and deepens her dependence on drugs. Simultaneously, Fine’s search leads him to Bonanza Peak, and the underground facility there. Through dogged determination, he embeds himself within the shadowy organization that runs it. Brode soon intercepts signals from this exact group, never realizing that Fine has become part of the same secret military she is trying to expose. These transmissions reveal a direct link between the military unit and a nonhuman source, with messages hinting that the group operates beyond Earth. She tries to reveal her findings during a MUFON lecture but collapses under the pressure which the Air Force attributes to a drug-induced episode. By this time, Fine has been recruited by this troup at Bonanza Peak and encounters the truth lying at the heart of the mountain, confronting the fate that has been waiting for him.  

Florida Studio Theater Literary Dept.:

The play features well-drawn, fully developed characters with compelling arcs, particularly Brode’s gradual unraveling as her understanding of reality begins to fall apart. The relationships between the characters, particularly the history and tension between Hera and Brode, add emotional depth and complexity to the story. Its intriguing premise and unexpected plot twists keep the audience engaged while raising thought-provoking questions about reality and who controls it; strong pacing and fluid storytelling are complemented by well-researched military terminology that adds credibility to the world of the play.