
Karl Schackne
When I received our prompt - Welcome to the 2014 Super Heroes Conference at the Airport Marriott, Toledo, Ohio, it was a happy coincidence because my mother's from Toledo and I've been there to visit family many times since childhood. So, naturally, I went immediately to Google maps to verify whether there's actually an Airport Marriott in Toledo...and in fact, there is. Then I got really excited about sprinkling in some real Toledo stuff that only Toledo people would know!
So I started thinking about the goings on at a conference and it hit me - of course! There's gotta be a keynote speaker. Usually someone famous, right? Somebody everyone wants to see...say, the local bigshot superhero who's always saving Toledo from...well, probably not much of anything since it's Toledo. And what if the speaker doesn't necessarily have his shit together, so someone else is thrust into the limelight. I mean, what if Bill Gates is supposed to speak at Microsoft World and at the last minute he can't make it, so some low level assistant...hmm, a sidekick maybe...gets tapped on the shoulder and told, "Go talk. You have five minutes to scribble out something on note cards." Great opportunity to rise to the occasion, right? Or fail miserably. You get the idea.
See SUPERHEROES CONFERENCE OPENING ADDRESS as part of SUPERHEROES, July 17, 19, 24, 31 August 2, 7, 14, 16, 21 Thursdays & Saturdays at Exit Theatre.