We Might Be Giants
I am very proud to be associated with South
Jersey theatre. This is an extremely talented place with the potential
to go where it wants with the art. South Jersey could
become a national model for regional theatre arts from childhood to adult
community and professional stages. There is certainly enough talent, and the
beginnings of a model are already nicely in place.
That’s what I saw every time I reviewed a performance on a South
Jersey stage or attended a meeting of SJTL: all the elements of
greatness in a gentle disarray. I’ve been ill for a long time, and I knew I
would never be sufficient to inspire South Jersey
theatre all the way there. But that hopeful vision guided and still guides my
choices. If South Jersey theatre becomes solidly
self-aware, South Jersey theatre will be able to write
its own ticket.
I leap insouciantly ahead. And that’s the most exercise I’m
likely to get today. I’m not in terrific shape. Let me put that another way.
I’m in terrible shape. I’ve passed through a ten-week period of harsh
neurological attack on digestive and motor nerves. These kinds of bouts have
been part of my disability for a long time.
This one was very bad. This one has left me unable to perform
life tasks. And, while I can now correspond, I can’t resume any of my former
activities. A twenty minute drive for a two-hour performance followed by a
twenty minute drive home is beyond me now.
My review: This is a sharp, painfully good production
with agonizingly, witheringly and persistently killer performances which made
me weep with stabbing wonder. Unfortunately, I can’t remember who was in it or
what they did and I think I left the program on the roof of the car. A must
see. Wherever it was playing.
It’s funny until it’s your show. So, barring a miracle, I’m done
with those gigs. It’s very sad to think I may have reviewed, if not watched, my
last live play ever. Sighing and crying, raging and shaking, I may have to
accept it., but I can’t imagine it ever feeling right.
Barring a miracle—which I may yet find—I will not have the
ample elegance of time one can generally expect at my age in the 21st
Century. My thoughts are locked now almost exclusively on legacy. There are
things I want to get done, and I’m not talking about sky diving or leaving some
pile of money or bricks behind with my name on it.
I have two things made which can generate the legacy I want. One is a free market approach to poverty
which I designed on purpose because my wife takes care of homeless, pregnant,
poverty-class children who scramble for shelter on frigid winter nights with
their born babies in tow. Right now, that pregnant child and her babies’
welfare is hostage to political posturing. I found that too nauseating to look
away from, so I designed an answer. It’s a structure already up and running
successfully elsewhere, but for a different purpose. It just needs to be tried
in an “underserved” area. “Underserved”, I understand, is newspeak for “poor”.
The other piece of
legacy is a program I made by accident. Looking for a particular gift which I
did not find, I made one. It was well received. When other people began asking
me about it, I realized it could have a more general appeal. Research disclosed
a potential subscription base of 344 million users world-wide. That’s what I am
figuring out how to gift to South Jersey Theatre.
It was not my original
intention to toss this on the table at this time. I wanted to work with folks a
while longer first to see who did what particularly well. But as the likelihood
of a later time dwindles, now seems appropriate.
I will keep this
page up-to-date on developments. You folks rock!
