[Reviewed by Suzanne Birrell]

I went to see the Oakland version of the show Encyclopedia.
The topic was “The Future”: The spoken word, the media.

An entertaining evening, profound and wisdom filled
Of rhyming words and meter, the Oakland genius spilled.

To a full house of erudite patrons, who hung on clever words,
Though some did miss a reference picked up by only nerds.

Josh Merchant gave us “Negrodamus”; Political wit and absurd predictions,
Superimposing fact with fiction in humorous futuristic depictions.

In her Alternative History of the Furure, Liz Green entertained with a narrative
A True revolutionary gay guide- a counter relationship comparative,
Where “love is a capitalist construct,”
And where it is “best not to hope, just adjust.”

Colonization of Mars was the topic presented by Toaster
Who gave us insight through eyes of a janitor, a sociological coaster.
Who describes masturbation in the gravity chamber and its many calming effects.
It used to be that everyone used this chamber, our janitor recollects
And in further pondering the present future, the janitor did extol,
“We’re all Fish. It’s easy to be selfish when everyone lives in their own bowl.”

Fearless leader, Jen Jen, extolled the virtue of tourism in space
Where the moon was set aside for theme parks and Disney led the race!
You too can experience every war ever fought on earth in the attraction know as Combat land.
Too young to remember? Revisit California in the moon base place of Fantasyland.
A meaty topic, a tasty narrative, profound insight to whom we are today.
Where meat feels no pain when it’s killed, and we eat it anyway.

All presented facts and all presented fictions.
Dahled checked the facts and presented contradictions.
“God is not a musketeer.” he announced. We were not surprised.
“God is just Goofy,” he then thoughtfully surmised.

Caitlin Girl addressed the nerds but translated first for a stoner.
I laugh so hard, I almost cried, and I was not the loner.
The Big Crunch parallels the Big Bang resulting in dimensionless singularity.
Though I’m not exactly sure for through the stream flowed such hilarity .

Reanimating the Cryogenically Frozen is somewhere between science and fiction
Abdul Kenyatta described facts, figures, anti freeze in the veins, and ice crystal restriction.
Reanimating the cryogenically frozen would create a living dead, Abdul deduced
A new race of men that we can all hate would be to the new world introduced!

Patrick Oshlund presented his prescient predictions of global pandemic
Back to 2112 where boredom bores and other thoughts polemic
What to do in the futuristic dome?
Get back to basics–sexology! and focus on testosterone.

On stage again, Liz Green spoke more of Doctor Who
Whose life is complicated by hearts which number two.

Then Chris Chandler summed up the night with Future verses Past.
Where Hope says what you want hear without even being asked,
Where History always shows up with Regret, Recrimination, and Denial
Where the party always breaks up when Truth walks down the aisle.

I so I spent a lovely evening absorbing East Bay wit.
Entertained and enlightened by poetry and skit.
I highly recommend it to those who sometimes think
that there is more to life than the Television link.