Friday, December 16, 2011

Life Examined

Theatre is life examined. A reality intentionally crafted—the great paradox. Theatre, like all other forms of art, reflects the human experience. Telling stories that need to be told, have never been told, or are worthy to tell again is what preforming arts is about. Our stories are what compose the very fabric of our beings, and by telling stories we remember and we grow. Through telling stories life can be shared across boundaries of gender, race, age, and life experience. Theatre unites people by forming common experiences and modeling memories. Those that are crafting the story transform into pieces of a greater story, all interacting, shifting and changing and all vitally important. Those that sit in the audience are not just merely spectating and being entertained, but they are being shaped in some small way, and together as an audience they share that experience. The imagination that creating a show requires forms a unity that is genuine and quite nearly tangible.
Theatre is all of the things above, and for me it is also a home. In the artistic process of creating a show I learn more about myself, relationships, life and the world around me, than I do in any other art form.  The community that builds on a stage is where I feel safe to be vulnerable, and only in a place of vulnerability is there true honesty. There's a freedom in becoming something other than myself-not something false, not a lie, but just something other. I share moments, emotions and histories with my character. It’s ironic, but by creating a character and a story I come more into my own character and I live more presently in my own story. Theatre is my own life examined.


This fall I was in the production Hideous Progeny by Emily Dendinger. I grew quite close with these wonderful and silly people as we worked hard to do Dendinger's witty script justice!
These two beautiful ladies swiftly became two of my best friends. I was very blessed by them and we learned so much during our work on Hideous Progeny.

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