One topic that I have neglected in my posts has been Theatre. I don’t know if I even mentioned it, I’m not going back to check, but I feel like I’ve left you all in the dark about that aspect of my life.
For a long time Theatre has been my life-blood. My mother got me involved in Theatre when I was 11, and since then I’ve been consistently active in making Theatre. When I started my undergraduate career at Butler University one of the classes we had to take as Theatre Majors was The Idea of Theatre, where we would look at some of the more influential people in Theatre history, their contributions, and different reasons people had for doing Theatre. Our final assignment included writing a short Manifesto that explained why we wanted to make Theatre. That was three years ago now and I don’t quite remember what I wrote other than that I desired to make Theatre that would bring meaning to people’s lives, cause them to think, and help make the world a better place.
In the intervening time my idea of what would make a better world has dramatically expanded, and I think my desire to use Theatre as the advance guard for Social Change has grown proportionately. For me Theatre has always been a way to speak to the silences in people’s lives, to start the conversation or change the narrative, and to provide meaning. Many of the most meaningful and spiritual experiences I’ve had in my life have been in the context of creating Theatre.
Theatre shows us who we are, it acts as a reflection of our brightest and grimiest selves. It also shapes us, molds us, and inspires us. Theatre has been used by anti-war activists, by those fighting for greater inclusion of the marginalized, by those seeking to bring joy, and because it is beautiful.
Theatre is a form of Creation, it is Art! For myself, my Betrothed, and many of my friends, it is life. Through theatre we can shape our own narrative. Maybe we aren’t included or loved by family or friends? Theatre provides us with a family and a way to tell stories of love and encouragement beyond all forms of exclusion, hate, and bigotry. In that way Theatre acts as an antidote to all the sickness and evil in the world, a place to both escape and explore, to revel and regret, to laugh and cry, to forget and to forgive.
Without Theatre I know I would not find life to be worth anything. Theatre is where I envision and live out my Utopia.
Where I Create instead of Killing.