The church and the theater

I realize the quest for truth is not just a noble-sounding reason we actors do theater. It is the reason people (our audience) watch our shows. Sure, they want to be entertained, but a deeper, sometimes unconscious, need or thirst for the truth must be quenched somehow for a performance to be good theater worthy of our time and investment.

Recently I went to a solo mime performance by Iimuro Naoki. We were greatly entertained watching him struggle with a heavy suitcase with nothing in it but a red balloon; we laughed as he deftly switched from a cowboy to a fly; we held our breath with him as he swam the depths of the ocean. All these acts were highly entertaining. But it was when he did a piece about the brevity and the cycle of life (and humans' seeming irreverence for it) that the show became truly meaningful and memorable.

Truth is not "realism." Realism is a style. Truth is universal. Truth can be found in whatever style, not just in Realist Theater, but also in Impressionist, Cubist, Expressionist, Absurdist, or Naturalist plays.

It happens when even just one audience members recognizes that what is presented, albeit artistically on stage, carries an "A ha!" moment that makes him go, "Yes... that's how it is." Theater that seeks merely to entertain does only part of its responsibility. It is the collective responsibility of the playwright, the director, and the actor to seek the truth and present it onstage.

I recently read of a story where a father whose daughter was raped and murdered found truth in an actress's performance in Trojan Women. The actress produced an "awful, embarrassing sound." He said that was the same sound he made when he found out what happened to his daughter.

Truth. We search for it diligently, and in humble integrity, present in on the stage. That is why I make no distinction between the Church and the Theater. Truth is found in both.