politic

The past few weeks I revisited the community theater where I – more or less – grew up. I’ve been ‘away’ from theater for the greater part of two years – and out of the loop of my home base for seven. But not so much that I’m completely out of touch or blind to the things that have changed/improved… or just stood still with no remarkable alteration at all.

Of course – sadly – the thing that inevitably bubbles up in theater (of any sort) is politics. It’s always there. One can choose to pretend not to see, to not get involved, to just not give a good God damn. And, honestly, after years of getting embroiled in the petty squabbles and then getting my heart deeply bruised by them… I’d really rather not be bothered.

But as I sat in conversations and picked up the not so nice asides on both fronts of the battles, I thought… why? I was far enough out of the circle that I had affection for either side of the arguments, not to mention the distance of perspective to appreciate the validity of both opinions. But I won’t recap the details here. Honestly, the details of the disagreements fade from my brain – not so much as the surliness that escaped between such warm affection for the art and the process and the love of people within the theater.

I’m not naïve enough to suggest this lamentation is going to grasp a solution. And even if it did, I’m passing judgment where I almost have no right to do so. And yet, as a consequence of observing these little squabbles I will put the theater interest back on the shelf again. For a little while at least.

But, then, I come back to my work week desk and read the news articles about the election, about the economy, about all the stupid petty bullshit that we are arguing to decide who is right and who is wrong. Who should be in office. Who should have to pay money to make things happen. Who should make an effort. Who should have the right to make a rule. Who is worth caring about. Who should just be left to deal with it on their own.

And it’s not so very different.

Really.

I think it’s pretty obvious if you read this or the newsfeed from my Facebook profile that I’m not reticent about governmental politics as I am about theater. Maybe that was just where all that energy and anger redirected itself two years ago. I decided there were bigger fish to fry. That squabbling over season rosters and opening announcements wasn’t half so important as health insurance. And yet… the arguments… are, in truth just as petty and cruel and thoughtless… and oblivious to the fact that both sides of the fight want the same thing. More or less. We all want to be happy, healthy, and have the chance for a better world to live in. We just disagree about the way it is going to happen and get upset when someone else takes center stage.

And that’s the ugly nature that comes out in theater. When someone else has the limelight, the people in the wings don’t always appreciate the performance. It may be a different choice of interpretation – not necessarily a wrong choice. But because it is someone else basking in the glow, it is easy to point and peck at their weakness, their flaws, their oblivion. 

But maybe that’s the other thing that makes me feel like a square peg in theater these days. I like imperfection. I don’t always agree with it – but I think… I really do think that is what makes us human.

I just wish we remembered that we are all human and treated one another that way. With or without the curtain masking the scenes.