Thursday, March 31, 2011

Chicago and the World

We celebrated World Theatre Day on Sunday at the Greenhouse – a whole bunch of great people showed up for it and Christopher Piatt wrote and performed a monologue for us about Chicago theatre that looked at our past and our present and where we might go in the future – he talked about how much had changed in the past ten years and how much things have remained the same. We ate stuffed pretzels and drank coffee flavored beer and generally made merry. The point of World Theatre Day is that the entire world celebrates theatre on the same day and that got me thinking a little bit about what that really means. Well, for one thing it gives us a chance to celebrate ourselves. Yippee. But for another it gives us an opportunity to think about this art form being created all around the world and in every culture. Huh.

And then I went to see Black Watch last night. On a certain level, it’s about what it means to be Scottish. The play could not have been created in this country. It brought me closer to experiences I will never have and could never have and gave me a deeper understanding of the world. How wonderful that I get to have that experience. So, that brings me back around to what does it really mean, why celebrate World Theatre Day? – so we don’t forget that we are all a part of this incredibly beautiful pageant. So that we remember we are not the only ones, so that we look up the street and around the world at what others are creating and stay connected to the exchange of stories and ideas.

Deb

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