LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION....

I love stage plays! Whenever I had the chance and could afford to go, I would. 

In high school, I had a small part in our school play, which made it to the New Englands (I think); we performed at John Hancock Hall in Boston and lost to "Spoon River Anthology." 
    
Back in a former life, I remember going to Portsmouth, NH, to see a play called "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds." The one moment I most remember was the meet-and-greet. I found the actress who played Beatrice, the horrible mother, and took her by the hand, looked her in the eyes, and said, "I so hated you!" She replied, "Thank you; that's the best compliment I could receive." She was actually a nice lady.

I thought about this with the recent passing of Brian Dennehy. An actor brings to a life a character created by a writer/playwright. We tend to forget that the part we see is not necessarily the actor's real persona, but an interpretation and creation s/he has brought to reality. When we forget we are watching an actor but a character, that character becomes real through our willing suspension of disbelief. 

The thing is, though, these created characters are reflections of real life (maybe even bigger) - the good, the bad, and the ugly. There are real-life Sheriff Teasels, Hannibal Lecters, Nurse Ratcheds, and Beatrice Hunsdorfers (and on the other hand - Jean Valjeaans, Randle P. McMurphys, Dororthy Gales, and Forrest Gumps), and the rest of us have to deal with them, 

We are all really actors, unfortunately, we have no script to read to answer comments or respond to sometimes horrible actions - we're on our own. We create and develop our own characters and respond and act as we think we should. Some of us are complex, deep characters, while others are one-dimensional stereotypes.

How many times have we thought to ourselves after a conflict, "I should have said...."? By doing so, we should have learned something and grown (even a little bit) so that the next time we may do better. The media suggest so many things can be solved and resolved in an hour or two. Real life? Not so much.

When I was in the classroom, every quote, poem, short story, play, novel and movie had a purpose to help students sort out good qualities in people (Atticus Finch) and not-so-good qualities (Bob Ewell). When students understood whose character was desirable and whose was not, in theory, that should get them to decide who they would rather be like. 

I can only hope sometimes I was successful.