For the first time in their history, the 2010 CBC Massey Lectures is a work of fiction. The most prestigious and eagerly anticipated lecture series of the year – is being delivered by acclaimed novelist and visual artist Douglas Coupland.

Recorded live in Vancouver, Regina, Charlottetown, Ottawa and Toronto, Coupland's 2010 Massey Lectures entitled “Player One” is a real-time five-hour story set in an airport cocktail lounge during a global disaster. Five disparate people are trapped inside: Karen, a single mother waiting for her online date; Rich, the down-on-his-luck airport lounge bartender; Luke, a pastor on the run; Rachel, a beautiful young blonde incapable of true human contact; and finally a mysterious voice known only as "Player One." Slowly, each reveals the truth about her/himself while the world as s/he knows it comes to an end.

In the tradition of Kurt Vonnegut and J. G. Ballard, Coupland explores the modern crises of time, human identity, society, religion, and the afterlife. The lecture series asks as many questions as it answers, and the audience will leave the story with no doubt that we are in a new phase of existence as a species -- and that there is no turning back.