Theater invites us to inhabit a mind and a perspective other than our own. Yes, reading fiction and nonfiction allows us to see from others' perspectives, but theater requires that you reside wholly in another's life, and come to a fuller understanding of how and why they feel what they feel and see the world as they do. Arguably, there is no better way to understand the motivations of someone we might otherwise see as impossible to relate to (from Iago to Aaron Burr, from Darth Vader to Walter White). Playing a part on stage demands that we explore the utterly human elements of an individual's experience--in essence, to both find and put pieces of ourselves in them. That is the very definition of empathy and of finding the light of God in everyone.
Theater is unpredictable. Unlike watching your favorite film over and over again or cueing up your favorite song one more time, theater unfolds in real-time. You will truly never see the same play twice. Someone will drop a line or miss a cue; an actor will get a bigger laugh or shed more tears. After all the careful orchestration and hours of rehearsal, anything can happen during a live performance, from the brilliant to the mundane. All you can do at any given moment is roll with it. Say something, say anything, or don't--no matter, the show goes on. Even if you take issue with Shakespeare's claim that "all the world's a stage," there's no denying theater is vulnerable to the same uncertainties and unexpected turns as life itself. To put it in Heritage House terms--we get what we get, and we might get upset, but really, after a brief intermission, the curtain opens, and it's on with the show.
Theater is a communal experience. At its heart, any play is a shared experience, brought to life not just by the director or the actors on stage, but by each audience member, stagehand, and bit-part player. Together, everyone gathered shares in the creation, and the experience is original and unrepeatable every time. In this sense, we are all artists, working together to build a communal experience that is much more powerful than any single part or a particular scene. For this reason, in particular, I hope you'll have the chance to join us at the MS play this week. Like so much of what we do at Friends School Haverford, what we create together will be made better by your role in it.