Re: Re: RAT Columbine

[BTE1@aol.com]

What we do is tiny.  We only reach the people in the room, and even if thats  
300 or 500 it still isn't mass media.  We fool ourselves into thinking we 
are.  

So while we can't change the world,  we can do something with the 10 or 50 or 
500 minds and imaginations who have gathered to see/hear/breathe with us.  We 
can make a profound difference within this "little" group.  We can change a 
community.  I've seen it happen, more than once.  Our reach is not broad, but 
it can be deep.

I think, though, we have to break ourselves of our passion to shock.  The 
news media does that so much better these days.  I think, now, we have to 
learn to listen.  To hear the stories around us, to use our peculiar alchemy 
to turn them into our art.  

We can offer, in our small gatherings in dark rooms, a possiblity of a window 
of understanding.  Comprehension.  We tried to do this in Bloomsburg with 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, and now with HARD COAL.  (or with FIREBUGS or THE NEST 
or KING LEAR or LONELY PLANET — it is possible to do it with scripts as well 
as with original work) 

I just visited Colquitt, GA and saw a marvelous example with Jo Carson's 
SWAMP GRAVY: THE GOSPEL TRUTH.  That little town has been transformed by the 
power of its own stories ( both positive and embarrassing), and what emerges 
is a sense of value and belonging.  Of Community.  Anna Deveare Smith's and 
Danny Hock's works get to this too.  Bill Rauch and the folks at Cornerstone 
have a long history of accomplishing precisely this kind of work, as does 
Touchstone in Bethlehem PA, and Dell Arte in California.  And others.

The key, it seems, is to be true to your own aesthetic even while listening.  
Really listening.  And accepting the power we have to literally "Act 
locally."  (Here comes that damn Coke song again...) I can't directly help 
Littleton, or the kids in Columbine HS.  I can, maybe, offer a hand to the 
kids here, in the high schools near where I live

As for me, I hope to continue on my current project -- my 20 year-old 
daughter and I are interviewing local (rural PA) teens to find out how they 
spend their time.  I suspect the rest of our community doesn't have a clue.  
This will become a performance in about a year, I think.  We'll cast everyone 
who shows up.  We'll see.

And I'll keep doing all those mundane things.  Like helping to coach kids on 
their forensics pieces.  Like directing a HS show now and then.  Doing what I 
can. Listening.

It's a heartbreaking time.  Thank you, Skip, and thank you John for your 
good, insightful words. 
-- Jerry Stropnicky