by Robert O’Connell
Special to the Weekly
Theatre is the story of us. It is how we remind each other who we are and what matters most in our lives. As we watch Willie Loman’s downward spiral, we recognize him and Death of A Salesman becomes about us. Shakespeare, in his tales of greed, passion, corruption and the lust for power, might as well have been writing for Sixty Minutes or the Washington Post. We know, too, who Romeo and Juliet are and understand the love they have for each other and we may even see our long-ago selves in them.
Live theatre audiences are transported in a way they can never be by television or the movies, even when those diversions are at their best. Not even good literature can equal the connection between the stage actor and the engaged audience member.
The first theatre productions were “morality plays”. Down through the centuries, we have looked for the moral of the story in plays and the lessons to be learned. Nobody attending a production of Les Miserables can watch the priest forgive the thieving Jean ValJean and not be moved by that act of charity.
Theatre helps us to understand the human condition. It helps us to see not only who we are, but who we can be, who we ought to be.
Live theatre also means the world to the people who make it happen. The actors and other artists who create the performance learn that they can be braver than they thought they could be. For make no mistake about it, this is a thing that takes courage.
Live theatre also gives the artists an outlet for personal expression like no other. Although it may seem that the accomplishment of producing a successful play may be fleeting, as compared, say, to a film, which may be seen to have a more permanent life, a community theatre director once told his actors on closing night, “This show may be closing. You may never play these parts again. But what you have created will live forever in your own hearts and in the hearts of those few who were lucky enough to be there to share it with you.”
A few days ago, on the ferry crossing from our island to the mainland, five or six young girls sat at a table. A few tables away, an old theatre director sat at another table and listened to the girls sing the songs from a musical play they had all recently seen. They were laughing and horsing around at first, but eventually, they became more serious, obviously being transported back to the live production and to those moments that meant something different to each of them.
The old director just smiled. He hadn’t been involved in the production that the girls had shared, and yet he felt that he had been there.
“The Road to Bethlehem”, also written by Robert OConnell, is to be performed as a Readers Theatre benefit for the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts and the San Juan County Arts Council, presented at the LCCA on Saturday, Dec. 19 at 7:30pm and Sunday, December 20th at 1:30pm. Tickets are adults, $10/students $8. Tickets available at Paper Scissors on the Rock, the Lopez Bookshop and at the door before each performance.
