Really Putnam?

Someone responded to my discussion of the McCarthy hunt and the Salem witch trials and Rudy’s questions: “Really, Putnam? You’re talking about them in the same sentence? There’s no comparison.”

Of course, the degree is different, however the concept, I still contend, is the same. I think groups—particularly strong powerful groups—have a fear of self-examination. I think individuals have a fear of self-examination. If we examine too closely we may turn up something that will change things or that will hurt or that will threaten our safe existence. America in the 50s was afraid of losing the “peace” we’d achieved after the war. The Catholic Church—or any strong religious group—is afraid of….what?....losing members? Losing control? How about the white slaveholders? They had a lot to lose if they honestly examined the situation they were in. Individuals avoid self-examination for fear of finding something that may threaten their healthy existence.

How the heck did we get on this topic? Oh, yes….Rudy. Dear Rudy. I love this character. In fact, each one of these characters in this play is so human…so wonderfully unique…so…struggling…I can’t help but love them. And Rudy questions. This questioning provides much of the conflict of the play. And it’s healthy conflict…and self-examination. In the 50s self-examination was shunned.

The beauty of working on a play is that we can explore whole new ideas and eras and issues and characters. It’s one of the huge benefits of working in theatre. Did you read Barbara Biddison’s response to one of the blogs a few days ago? We found, when working on UNDER THE LINTEL that our discussions ranged over huge territory. One thing lead to another…that’s the cool part…one thing does lead to another. We found our discussions when working on the play tied in to current news, books we had read, films we had seen, people we had known.

Great rehearsal last night. We went over the last scene a number of times. The whole family is in it—we still don’t have a Georgie yet—and this group really began to get comfortable with each other. Jeff is a natural jokester so he keeps us hopping with his RobinWilliams-esque banter. As the rehearsal progressed, everyone became looser. I’m hoping to plan some meals so this family can really get acquainted. (I don’t think you can really know a person until you have at least eaten one meal with them!)

A candidate for Georgie is coming tomorrow to rehearsal. He does not have Down’s Syndrome, but he is mentally challenged. I’m looking forward to working with him—I’ve met him once—and hope it will all work out.

My mind is also running in the marketing end of things: how are we going to get people to see this production? It doesn’t have name recognition and we are having to offer a disclaimer indicating that there may be some language that is potentially offensive to some people. That may keep some people away. (More on “context” in another blog.) It’s not a huge cast so we don’t have large numbers of extended family members who will come. One positive: Only Deb, Marie, and Jeff are from Wellsboro. Sophie and Thomas are from the Valley; Hunter is from Mansfield.  So we may get some new audience members from outside of Wellsboro. And over half the cast have never been in a HG play, so hopefully we’ll see some new faces. How to convince a community that live theatre is worth seeing is a challenge….and another blog.

Comments

[supra for kids]

let's join our hands together to stop this kind of wrong doings. It may risk lives in the future if we just let them continue.