The power of imagination appeared evident this Sunday, as the cast and crew gathered to strike the set of the fall production, Six Degrees of Separation. How disheartening it seemed that so much work could go into this creation, only to be taken apart in a few hours. And so it appeared that once the stage was bare and the props were put away, our show was over. It makes one question the very purpose of putting on a play, if after a mere three performances it will be taken apart and forgotten. Yet, sure enough, following the strike I found myself in a powwow on the empty stage discussing the winter musical. I suppose in keeping up with the fast pace of Thacher, there is little time to revel in the reviews. We must instead move on to the next task at hand. Yet, before I can begin to envision the musical, I find myself left contemplating a question of my own. Rather, Ouisa Kittredge’s question, “How do we fit what happened to us into life without turning it into an anecdote?”
Certainly those of us who have worked on a show before know that it is not forgotten after the final curtain call. In fact, many of us will find that through the natural process of free association a pink shirt, a pot of jam, or the Mona Lisa is no longer simply its entity. Subconsciously, these references will make our minds transcend back to thoughts of the show. Whether it be laughing on a red sofa, blubbering a line, or trying to get a gun into its holster for the umpteenth time, these treasured memories will live on. But was the show not more than the sum of these moments? Or simply an “anecdote” we will talk about in passing?
As the director, Sandy Jensen, noted during warm ups Friday evening, “this piece, like all art, demands courage.” It takes courage for an actor to portray a character that may not emulate his own age, moral conscious or sexual orientation. It takes courage for one to imagine a world and boldly enter it, as our cast and crew did this past weekend. The text asked us to examine the power of imagination, and we found ourselves boldly approaching the question throughout the production process. How can the lights, the set, and the delivery of the lines further our audience to believe in this world? We contemplated these questions for weeks on end, coming up with brilliant answers only to change them completely in the following rehearsal. In the end, it was the collaboration of many imaginative minds that served as the passport to this shows success. So, as we rip the tape off the tile and store the costumes away we keep not only the memories, but as well, the experience. So Ousia Kittredge, the question remains, How do we keep the experience? I suppose the courageous answer is to believe that the experience will keep itself.
Click here for more images of the play, Six Degrees of Separation