Changeling's Return

     Pike, a Chairman Emeritus of the New Playwrights Foundation in Santa Monica, California, presents his 21st Century musical as a screenplay, but has included an additional 48-page section on the mysteries hidden in the mythology, folklore, and supernatural elements underlying the out-of-body experience that inspires his tale. The 11-page interview of the author by acclaimed music journalist and pop culture historian, Harvey Kubernik provides a unique and informative introduction to this fascinating work of special interest to aspiring screenwriters, filmmakers, and pop music fans. (Includes Selected Bibliography)

     Changeling’s Return contains the complete screenplay for the surrealistic musical adventure of Morgan, an American rock star whose out-of-body experience, set in the contemporary Midlands of England, and in the supernatural realm of Morningstone, triggers a sudden and profound commitment to the environment and a dramatic change in his music, its lyrical content, and its purpose.  But whether Morgan has been enlightened or benighted by his mystical encounter with the otherworld is not clear.  What is certain is that one of three fates is sure to befall a visitor to Otherworld -- inspiration is one, but the more common fates are madness  . . . or even death.

     According to Western folklore, a changeling is a fairy or troll child placed in a stolen human baby’s cradle. In this tale, whether Morgan is an adult human, taken and pixilated in the supernatural realm, or a changeling, reared by humans, and who, upon being returned to his otherworldly roots, reawakens to his origins and returns to our world to fulfill his supernatural purpose, is deliberately left clouded. The story works either way. 

     Travis Edward Pike is a Hollywood entrepreneur and owner of Otherworld Cottage Industries with more than 50 years experience in entertainment. An award-winning writer, Pike is also a director and producer whose motion picture prep includes location scouts, script breakdowns, budgets and shooting schedules. His post production experience includes composing songs and scores for films, picture and sound editing, and ADR automated dialogue replacement). He wrote eight songs for the 1966 feature film, Feelin' Good in which he starred, was a popular New England singer-songwriter during the late sixties, and recently co-produced and published six current albums of his original songs from that era. A well-known storyteller, his critically acclaimed, 99-minute live performance of his epic narrative rhyme, GRUMPUSS, is currently scheduled for re-release on DVD in a 20th anniversary edition. Pike wrote and published his first book, Odd Tales and Wonders: 1964-1974 A Decade of Performance, in 2013.