Daily Archives: May 28, 2014

What Theater Can Do

 

ArtSkyline

Theater can change lives.

A couple of years ago, I saw a play that opened a huge collection of memories I had lost track of.  Thank you Mark Bedard.

They did a version of Animal Crackers at OSF.  It was fabulously funny.  Even Mark (Grouch) lost it when Mr. Pickles appeared.  We saw it 3 times.

But there was much more to it for me.  It brought back memories of time I spent with my Mom watching movies – Saturday Afternoon at the Movies.  As well as other days during the Summer.  It was mostly movies from the `30s and `40s… including the Marx Brothers movies.  It was a wonderful time.

I was not happy as a child… but these times with my mother were some of the best.  And I developed a love of the old movies.  So when I saw one on stage, as it was meant to be, it was rejuvenating.  Two years later, I still smile when I think about it.

And this year, they are doing The Coconuts!  One of life’s great joys.

Theater has the power to bring all sorts of memories, and association into our minds.  The Play is the thing.

A Pattern Develops…

What I am experiencing in my life now, is that same pressure that has pushed so many Depressives into solitude.  It does not matter that I would like to be social… I never can be.  So life is easier if I disappear.

I should have given up a decade ago.  There has never really been any chance of me having friends.  I can never fit in.  There was only a few years in my life when I did have friends… sadly, that was about when my brain started going really off.

When I try, something goes wrong… I end up just upsetting people.  And it pushes me a little farther away.  I get to where I do not want any interaction with people… that way they can’t let me down.  Except, it really is my fault.  I am the common thread.  I am the one who is different.  I am the one who doesn’t fit in.

I can not understand the way people react… or more commonly, don’t react.  My frustration at being isolated often overcomes me, and I go too far.  I have to stop trying.  I have to stay away from people as much as I can.

Maybe then I will find some peace and happiness.