(You and) I Don't Have To Dream Alone

Hi Everyone,

Well, here I am to give you my first weekly post. You've probably heard about the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This spill is beyond the scope of what any previous spill has done. This comes right on the heels of a disappointing decision by the Obama Administration to expand some offshore oil drilling in this area, as well as off the coast of Virginia, and in some areas in Alaska. This spill is only the most visible symbol of why going halfway on these proposals do not work, but I will devote more time to this in the next post. For now, let us just hope that this will be the time when we say "enough."

Anyway, what I wanted to write about this week was this. I have been taking a theater class this semester, and I have had to go to plays for it. This Thursday, I went to attend this play. I was surprised when I entered. The actors first asked us questions to construct a brief skit, incorporating all our answers. They did this to illustrate how they created this play, Out of Thin Air.

The play was great to watch. Interacting with the actors beforehand gave it a different feeling. Usually, watching plays feels like looking through the actors through a glass wall, but this one was like watching their stories come alive. It showed the stories of all of the actors in this company.

It showed their childhoods, going through the uncertainty of their growing up, to their joy now. It didn't hit me at the time, but after the play, some of us got in a circle with the actors, and my theater professor, and talked about it. The full effect of the production hit me then. I realized that as I watched, I had connected with the characters in a way I hadn't with many people before.

It reminded me of a movie I used to watch a lot. You may have noticed the movie poster above. This movie is called Waking Life. It depicts a man who is in a dream, wakes up, and then it turns out this is a dream, and then he wakes up into another dream, and then another one. All the while, He hears about, and discusses, many philosophical, and more importantly, existential truths. I used to watch this quite regularly. It used to be a ritual for me to watch it, and allow my thinking to slowly reflect the messages contained in Waking Life.

I watched Waking Life again on Friday, and then I realized, this is a lot like the play I saw last week. The movie contained various scenes, some focusing on discussion, and others on action. One scene had a man wondering how humans can have free will when outside forces seem to be running the show, whether it be God's determination or scientific law. Another scene had the central character floating out the door, across town, to a movie theater. None of the characters are given names.

In the play, we see parts of each of the actor's lives, childhood to the present. We see moments of innocence, like a girl saying goodbye to her mother when going off to college. There are moments of peril, as one man depicted his days as a teenager in the midst of the violence in Kosovo in the '90's. There are moments of sadness, tension, and ultimately, unity and joy. The same clear, light feeling that Waking Life evokes to me, was also brought about in this play. Something else, a feeling of connection, warmth, that I got to know someone.

Let me describe it this way: I used to see plays about romance, that made me feel lonely because I don't have a girlfriend. This made me feel like the opposite of that. Happy Mother's Day, treat your Mother good today. My Mom is out of town today. I called her this morning, and I told her I was working on my blog. Happy Mother's Day, Mom. See y'all (as they may say in the South) next week!

This is the Daily Reeder, Over&out.