The Antiheroes: Treatise of a Lost Soul
Logline:
In the crumbling heart of 1990s Detroit, a tormented Goth tactician and his misfit band of antiheroes navigate the shadows of a decaying city, raiding its ruins and confronting the haunting specter of their own mortality, as the line between survival and self-destruction blurs.
Synopsis:
“The Antiheroes: Treatise of a Lost Soul” transports readers to the dark, vivid streets of 1990s Detroit, where a group of rogue Goths navigate an urban wasteland. Guided by Fade, a man of ambiguous morality and constant introspection, the narrative blurs the line between reality and illusion. Sulfaro’s posthumously published novel, rich in atmospheric detail and existential musings, has drawn comparisons to literary giants like Dostoevsky and Kerouac. Accompanied by original music composed by the author, this work has also been adapted for the stage, offering a multi-sensory experience of a lost era.
Act 1:
Act 1
Into the Vortex
The story opens in 1990s Detroit, a crumbling urban landscape that serves as the playground and killing field for a group of rogue Goths led by Fade, a deeply conflicted antihero. Struggling with inner demons and a troubled history, Fade seeks solace in the alluring Goth subculture and its darkly sparkly nightlife at the infamous Leland City Club. Act 1 introduces the group’s dynamics and involvement in an increasingly reckless and violent nocturnal enterprise. Fade’s hand is forced when he and Krystina become victims of attempted robbery and rape. Fade’s inner monologue reveals his battles with guilt, existential despair, and self-imposed isolation. The stage is set for escalating moral compromises and deeper descent into oblivion.
Cinematic and theatrical possibilities:
Stunning haute Goth fashion, make-up, and dancing under strobe lights at City Club where some females are bare-chested except for duct tape criss-crossed over their nipples
Group profiles: Fade, Spam, John Scarecrow, Keith Ghost; Fade’s reluctant inclusion of Disintegration in the group
Fade’s sex appeal, androgyny, and charisma
Alley scene: Fade and Krystina are attacked by street thugs
Murder of Krystina to ensure her silence
Fade’s internal dialogues include how he made livable his “loft” in an abandoned building, his passion for androgyny and the Goth aesthetic, and growing concern about the impact of personal drug use on judgment as well as the group’s risk
Act 2:
Act 2 Spiral of Chaos
As the group ventures deeper into criminal operations, led by Fade’s strategic planning and Spam’s networking, they cross paths with dangerous adversaries in Detroit’s underworld. Tension intensifies as Fade becomes involved with a beautiful Goth, Niv, who is going through a bitter divorce from a dirty cop. This poses a threat to personal safety as well as the criminal operation. The introduction of new members to the crew, including volatile and unstable personalities, complicates Fade’s and Spam’s planning and execution of raids. A major heist at a crack house brings them face-to-face with life-threatening realities and inevitabilities. Despite the death of Disintegration during the raid, the brotherly bond remains solid between Fade and Spam, along with the unquestioning loyalty of two misfit partners, John Scarecrow and Keith Ghost. Fade’s inner debate becomes more probing and skeptical about determinism and the existence of a higher power as he crosses lines into actions unrelated to economic survival, killing because of pride, anger, and perceived injustices.
Cinematic and theatrical possibilities:
Tender scene between Fade and Niv at Elmwood Cemetery and his statements about the “sought-after human state” called love: “an elusive butterfly that will never land here;” “mortality renders all love tragic”
Action scenes: dog fight ring, massacre in a diner, crack house raid with Metal Joe who thinks he’s Elton John (humor) and the burial of Disintegration in factory ruins, murder of an obnoxious gay guy in a bathroom stall at Bleu Detroit, misadventures at a tranny bar with a wackadoo firefighter (humor), brutal killing of two aggressive gang bangers
Atmospheric internal dialogue about Fade’s love for the city, causing the reader/audience to see, feel, and smell the surroundings: the “fire in the sky” at the River Rouge overpass; the dregs, shamblers, hooker-addicts, and the unwanted in the dives on the Cass Corridor
Fade’s growing internal turmoil involving his feelings for Niv, moral lines crossed, and the inevitable—The Black Rabbit (death muse)
Act 3:
Act 3
The Black Rabbit’s Call
Following an attack at Fade’s loft that leaves his dog, Vader, and Niv dead, Fade summons the antiheroes to accompany him on a mission of revenge at the Lincoln Bar on Detroit’s southwest side where Niv’s ex-husband and other outlaw cops hang out. Spam questions the plan, but he, John, and Keith dutifully follow Fade into the bar, guns blazing. Fade regrets his sorrow-driven request, knowing he’s leading his friends to their deaths. The antiheroes do a service to the city in taking out the so-called cops. There are no survivors. Fade is the last to die after making it back to his loft to lie down beside the body of Niv. He is a tragic, lost soul who navigated a bleak and unyielding world, knowing that his actions were amoral even as he deliberated justifications and consequences. The last scene is a flashback of an unpleasant encounter with an ex-convict at a dive bar on the city’s southwest side. As the author intended, and as is often the case in life, there’s no satisfying resolution and multiple hanging questions. The ending reflects the hard-edged tenor of the antiheroes’ lives and their embrace of it, leaving the audience/reader to ponder: Were they criminal opportunists? Survivalists? Victims? Fade will require further thought.
Cinematic and theatrical possibilities:
Fade’s emotional response to the deaths of Niv and Vader, crying as he holds Vader, carrying Niv into the shower to wash the blood from her face and hair
Bloody shoot-out in the bar packed with dirty cops, including Niv’s ex-husband, Phil
Fade holds Spam as he dies
Mortally wounded, Fade crawls up the fire escape to his loft in an abandoned building to release the Black Rabbit and die beside Niv as Black Metallic by Catherline Wheel plays on the CD player
In the flashback: Cool, calm demeanor of the antiheroes (Fade, Spam, Disintegration) during the interaction with the ex-convict; opportunity for humor in the scene
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