The end is nigh. Like it or not, that's the cold, hard reality each of us must eventually face. But how prepared are we to deal with what happens--if anything--when we die? That's the question at the heart of Tandy Beal's HereAfterHere: A Self-Guided Tour of Eternity. It's a multi-arts concert where the great unknown is pondered through music, dance, video, theater, even some magic.

On March 28-30, the show comes to the Louis B. Mayer Theatre at Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara (at the corner of Franklin and Lafayette streets). It will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Beal, a director, choreographer and "dreamer," among other credits, says she and composer Jon Scoville created HereAfterHere in order to open up a community dialogue on this emotional topic. "I think this is on all of our minds, even though we generally can't talk about it because it's taboo. And yet it's in everybody's future," says the artistic director of Tandy Beal & Company. That's especially true for the estimated 77 million baby boomers (also known as the "silver tsunami generation").

Still, Beal presents a largly positive view of what's ultimately in store, with many "moving moments" in the show. "I'm a generally joyful person," she says, one who seeks "to make sure people are uplifted and not frightened. I want them inspired and not depressed."

"We need to live as fully and richly as we can, and taste every moment," she continues. As a performer and choreographer, Beal places special importance on the production's dance sequences, which allow the audience to "contemplate, to reflect on pure physicality." In effect, dancing is a vivid reminder of the grace and tactility of life itself.

Among the other highlights of HereAfterHere, which premiered in 2010, are clips from video interviews of ordinary people giving their take on what occurs when life ceases to be. Beal and company captured the views of more than 500 people of various ages, ethnicities and religions, then whittled the videos to about 20.

Among her favorites is a homeless man who opines, "Each one of us has a star calling out our name all the time, but you usually can't hear it. The moment you hear it, that's the moment you get to die." Another is a child who declares, "When I die, I want to be reading my favorite book."

Beal herself is opaque on what the hereafter is all about. "I don't want to say; I want to keep it open-ended," she declares. However, she's dead sure about one point. "This life is so mysterious to me that I can't not think that whatever happens is equally astonishing."

Tickets are $20-$40, $10 for Santa Clara University students with student ID. Available at scupresents.org.

Three related free public events are scheduled. They are "Present at the Passing," a workshop on end-of-life concerns, 7 p.m. March 26 at the Center for Spiritual Living, 1195 Clark St., San Jose; "Pondering the Imponderables: Metaphors in Science, Art and Religion," a panel discussion including Tandy Beal, 3 p.m. March 29, Louis B. Mayer Theatre, Santa Clara University; and "Lighting the Way: A Conversation about Spiritual Living and Dying," 7-8:30 p.m. April 3, Center for Spiritual Enlightenment, 1146 University Ave., San Jose.

See more here:

Santa Clara: 'HereAfterHere' a show that examines what lies beyond the great beyond