CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America’s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly, a “monk for the modern age” by George Parker, and “a true Renaissance man of the modern era, diving headfirst into comprehensive, open-minded study of realms obscured or merely obscure” by Clint Marsh. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.
"For the ancient Greeks, the god of theatre was Dionysus—the 'god of the mask.' Initiation into the mysteries of Dionysus was a passage through ecstatic possession and transformation into the mysteries of identity—appearance and reality, death and rebirth. This god with many faces was also the 'god of confrontation' whose entranced eyes 'cannot be avoided'" (Mask Improvisation for Actor Training & Performance: The Compelling Image, 1996). Illustration from Plays For Players And Guide To Play Production by Verne E. Powers, 1957.