About a year ago I sat beaming in one of the last rows of a church I was once forced to attend weekly as a little boy. Many years had passed since my Catholic school days, but this afternoon all seemed to come full circle. One of my best friends was exchanging vows with the woman he planned to spend the rest of his life with. It was a wonderful day.
Just a few months before I sat in the same church for a very different event. Another classmate was mourning the loss of his father. Both were, in some sense, a celebration of life -- what was and what will be.
Looking back I was struck by how the same place could be used for such distinctly different events. And as things often do, it reminded me of creative expression, more specifically the theater.
A place of worship is in some sense like a theater -- a place where people gather to listen, to reflect, and hopefully be moved in some small way. Enthusiasm isn't unique to one place or event and will hopefully accompany you regardless of your endeavor. It does after all mean, "to be filled with god."
When I think back on my relationship to the theater I reflect on the many different roles it's played in my life. It was the foundation for dreams -- GIANT dreams. Some realized, others that remain dormant.
It was at times the source of enormous joy and laughter. I recall life lessons expounded on the cold surface of our black box theater as theater giants like Kristin Linklater, Anne Bogart, Andrei Serban, and Niky Wolcz shared their wisdom.
Finally, the theater could also be the root of great pain -- a mirror in which we were asked to take a deep look into, questioning our most intimate thoughts and the source of our unrealized potential.
What makes these places of gathering, of sacrifice if you will, so special is the breadth of perspective they offer. You can feel so much and so differently depending on the setting.
It's through that stretching of emotions and thought that our ability for creative expression also widens. We feel more, see more, know more, and as a result are hopefully willing to share more.
The essence of performance is when we bring all those truthful experiences to the stage bringing light to our humanity no matter how beautiful or ugly.
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