Re: R: RAT. Money

["Bottom's Dream" <bottomsdream@linkline.com>]

 Conrad,
Thanks for that. It meant a lot to me  to read it. I am struggling mightily
with these very issues now and the sharing of mutual struggle is what
brought me into the RAT into existence. It's hard to fathom that 6 years ago
(RAT is 6 years old this Dec.) we didn't know each other and I at least
wondered, is anyone out there? Does anyone have an inkling what I am going
through. 
Conrad and all of you, This isn't easy stuff and most people just couldn't
care or understand. I am thankful to at least know that we all battle and
when someone wins or comes out strong, it keeps us going. We are vital, not
only to ourselves, but to people who look to us to fight the fight because
they just can't. We are the strongest if also the poorest. We serve the
pursuit of ethics for the public which has sold something of themselves.
Maybe the hope of live theatre is to sustain a place of purity in the market
which has taken over and crusted old value. A church. A place to cleanse. I
am coming around to that in a real way. My act of theatre is becoming an
absolute necessity to what I need to sustain for myself in this cruel world.
We do our theatre and suffer with the lifestyle it brings us because it
sustains our personal ethic. It is a private act which others personalize,
because they need to. They have a need. even if it is on a small scale. I
now equate theatre with prayer, with that type of purity and connection to
core. Part of that for me is the poverty of it. That has to come first for
me and the rest has to follow.
It's not for everyone and it is not to be didactic. The Lion King probably
provided some of this ethic for some and it had no poverty. There are no
absolutes for everyone. But I am not ashamed anymore.

mitch