The weather went nuts yesterday in Baltimore. No shocker there because, well… Baltimore. But we went from a relatively mild October and positively warm beginning of November to FRIGID within the span of about 48 hours. Like, scarf and winter coat frigid. But that didn’t stop last night’s audience from coming out to see Origin of the Species at the Strand! And what an amazing audience we were blessed to have!
We had a group of students representing Goucher College, friends from New York City, Pennsylvania, and the Eastern Shore, several couples on dates, and two ladies out for a girls night who were very sad when the show ended (which tickled me pink!) The entire group was present, vocal, and very engaged with the happenings on stage. So engaged, in fact, that a large group of them stuck around for an impromptu talk back with the cast and crew afterwards.
There’s nothing I love more than questions about something I’ve acted in or directed. I’m always curious to hear other opinions about what has transpired over the course of the evening. This group didn’t disappoint. They had so many thoughts on the concept of time, on what the play means, on how it was written close to forty years ago, yet is absolutely relevant and profoundly appropriate to today’s conversations… We talked about gender and religion, whether time should be called Father or Mother, why the clocks were set to midnight, who Molly and Victoria really are, and how we all run on our own individual clocks when it comes to relationships, feelings, goals, and milestones. It was a rich and inspiring dialogue. The kind of civil discourse that we are sorely lacking at present in the world at large. And it reminded me why I do this.
In the first act of the play, Molly says, “I don’t know which is better, the giving of knowledge or the receiving of it.” It’s both. And it’s all about gifts. Live theater is all about gifts. As artists, we give ourselves the gift of challenge. Challenging our stamina. Challenging our ability to emote and express. Challenging our inner storyteller. We give our audience the gift of choice. What they take from our presentation is entirely their own experience. They might love what we say and agree with it. They may hate what we say and disagree. They might have absolutely no idea and need to mull it over on the car ride home. All of those experiences are wins because they give the mind a purpose. This is why we create art. To represent, to stimulate, and to question.
That just makes my day.