Addiction | “…compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli, despite adverse consequences…”  It’s one of the underlying themes of the relationship between the characters of Gertrude & Grace in the books, music, and live show from our Null Paradox interactive rock opera.

Null Paradox | Addiction
Jill Billingsley (Grace)
Photography by Tom Libertiny

While Gertrude is addicted to Grace’s extroverted, bigger-than-life persona, Grace is also addicted to Gertrude because she’s the only person who she can count on to help her achieve her outlandish ideas.

I can’t explain
Why my love feels insane
No way to contain
Your truth just feels like pain
Get out of my brain

The relationship between Gertrude & Grace is on a downward spiral.  Often, addictions don’t end well and that’s one of the questions we address during performances of our interactive rock opera.

Null Paradox | Addiction
(counterclockwise) Jill Billingsley (Grace), Lauren Zoeller (Gertrude), Aimee Funk (Crank 1), Leron Stafford (Seth), Brent Petrichor Gensheimer (Crank 2), Valerie Frawley (Sound Engineer)
Photography by Tom Libertiny

Is there a way to breakout of addiction?

During our live shows, we reverse roles with our audience, and you become the performers by deciding the outcome of our show.  But we also wanted to share the interactiveness and role-reversal with a wider group of people across the world to understand your viewpoint.

Which leads us to a new short film we’ve just completed shooting called, not surprisingly, Addiction after the name of our song.  Actually, that should be films.

Can and should Gertrude & Grace break out of their mutual addiction.

If your answer is “yes,” then we’re interested in knowing how.

If you answer is “no,” then we’ve created two scenarios through our films on how Grace’s addiction could end.  Which ending do you prefer and why?

Your thoughts will help us to understand your viewpoint about these two characters and will affect an upcoming re-write of our live show’s script as we prepare for our 2018 tour.