RAT Re: From Philadelphia

[Wayne Liebman <wayneliebman@colonytheatre.org>]

At 10:34 AM 9/12/01 -0700, Julie Felise Dubiner wrote:
>  I
> guess the show does go on. It's hard to be enthusiastic about a play
> right now, I like to think what we do in the theater is important, but
> today, trying to write a program note or pick a picture for the brochure
> seems irrelevant and irreverent. 

I have been fighting these same feelings of hopelessness and despair.
It's been important for me to notice that hearing about the personal acts
of caring seems to help--the lines to give blood; the Manhattan cab 
driver working for free; so on. I've noticed that the fantasies of
revenge I have do not seem to help. They mask the despair a while, but
with a numbness that leaves me listless and depleted. I do find meaning
in what allows me to feel generosity, both in myself and others. I
suppose this implies, hard as it is to practice, a kind of ruthless
honesty, such as in the attempt to understand the perpetrators of this
vile act, and the circumstances which bred it. I think it also implies,
regarding our work in the theater, that nothing can be more important
than to tell our stories with an open heart.  

One of our greatest poets, William Stafford, was a conscientious objector
during World War II. I'd like to share this poem by him. 

A Ritual to Read to Each Other
by William Stafford

If you don't know the kind of person I am
and I don't know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others made may prevail in the world
and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.

For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,
a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break
sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood
storming out to play through the broken dyke.

And as elephants parade holding each elephant's tail,
but if one wanders the circus won't find the park,
I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty
to know what occurs but not recognize the fact. 

And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy, 
a remote important region in all who talk:
though we could fool each other, we should consider--
lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.

For it is important that awake people be awake,
or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;
the signals we give--yes or no, or maybe--
should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.

*******

WL

_______________________________
Wayne Liebman, Literary Manager
Colony Theatre Company
wayneliebman@colonytheatre.org
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