Theatre and Academia

From conception to our last breath, we are ever returning to our infantile instincts...observing, tasting, touching, continually listening and breathing. We, each of us, recognize these five things as our basic five senses. They are our first educators. They are our survival guides to life. As our children grow we teach them to move, to crawl, to walk, to talk, to think, to explore, to live...and we are repeatedly returning ourselves to memories of childhood whether fond, saddening, or vague, they inform us of ourselves...who we are, who we were, and for some who we will become.

As I start my day this morning making breakfast for my son, while my beautiful 4 month pregnant wife rests in her warm blanket covered haven, I am reminded of these simple sensations that carry us from experience to experience; and for some of us without fail. The story of our lives continues whether we are on board or not, much as the ol' theatrical expression "the show must go on," so our lives go on. The theatre is the art form that most closely represents life and as such the show truly must go on. Our lives never stop because of technical difficulties or because a member of our lives missed her entrance. No, we continue...we learn, we fail, we guess, we try, we listen, we communicate, we collaborate...

The theatre and academia fused together as one force replicate beautifully the human condition. Continually changing, re-staging, learning, experimenting, teaching, searching, and yet both lack a characteristic all to familiar to the human condition...death, the last breath, the journey to unknown.

It is a wonderful thing when an academic institution like Westmont College (West Coast) and like Boston University (East Coast), can unite forces and share the journey to the unknown with theatre companies like Lit Moon Theatre (West Coast) and like Huntington Theatre (East Coast) that inform, develop, and transform not only the lives of today's youth, but of theatrical practices considered to be fixtures of the art. The collaboration of these two academic institutions with these two theatre companies provides essential opportunities to an artists life. Opportunities to work and learn alongside professionals who are themselves continually restructuring their own lives and the art of theatre. Together apprentice and master have the opportunity to transform the art of theatre. I can only hope that as the Havenworth project grows, that it may be infused with tomorrow's professionals and future generations of apprentices.