Why?

Why do a show at the McCoy featuring the archetypal masks of Italy's Commedia dell'Arte? What can masks do that actors showing their plain faces cannot?


I often get into the argument with theatrically inclined individuals as to what is the purpose of theatre. And of course, there are many arguments. Many advocate theatre's power to hold a mirror up to society, to comment on how the world is operating and force the audience to really think about structures that they support and the way they live their everyday lives. Some argue that theatre can be used as a means of social change in which messages are proselytized to an open audience waiting to be educated or influenced. Others contend that theatre's true value comes in exploring our own humanity. Why do we do the things we do? And why do we react the way do? What are the social conventions that create the individual, and beneath that, what are the innate human traits that connect us all? What makes our sadness the same as the sadness felt by an individual on the other side of the world?

But one reason for "why do theatre" I feel is often unrepresented. And that is a matter of entertainment and escapism. Why do movie theatres sell out Spider Man 3 night after night when lives theatres commonly struggle to break even and fill the seats in their performance halls? I feel that the answer to this question lies in what our society is looking for right now. While I think it is important to address big questions like global poverty, the looming cloud of war, and daily abuses of human rights, there is only so much that any person can take before they explode out of obligation, constant demands and stress. People want and people NEED to be able to get away, if only for a couple hours and let their shoulders down, and breathe, and allow themselves to laugh.

Living in the moment, not thinking about last weeks' mistake or tomorrow's meeting, is essential if one ever hopes to notice the beauty that truly does linger in our everyday world. And that is what I hope to be able to offer an audience.

These masked characters that we are creating through our collaborative effort are hyperboles. They are as much cartoons as they are children. They live their lives in a constant state of self and external discovery and every action they perform is the most important thing in the world to them at that moment. Honestly, for these characters, everything they do is a matter of life or death. For instance, a masked character could be walking down the street happy as can be just to be walking and then smell a pie. Suddenly, he is overcome with hunger and if he is not able to eat that pie immediately he will think death is imminent.

I want to give the audience of this show a chance to relax for an hour. A chance to forget about that paper due on Friday or that snide comment your friend said to you two days ago. I want to offer the spectator (and I hate to use that word for I hope to find a way to make them more alive within both the creation and the development of the show) a chance to live like the masks life. Moment to moment. Sure you're sad your grandma died. But there's a puppy to play with! Yes, you're sad because you failed your grad school entrance exam. But there's a three-legged race going on!!!

How we manage to do this will be the difficulty of the art. But there is room in the argument for the purpose of theatre that says that theatre can be used to relieve stress. It can be used to relive our childhood. It can be used to reinvigorate our imaginations, for without those, we have truly lost our connection to the limitless possibilities our world has to offer.