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Theatre as healing inspiration
1. Get spiritual. Or: you're only as good as your last affirmation.
Yeah, I know. We Californians have a rep for being flakes and nuts. We're at the epicenter of everything new age. Where it takes root, blossoms and quickly becomes ridiculous. Like crystals, or UFOs, or sea monkeys (do you believe that?)
All of these distractions aside, as actors we know that there's a side of us so dependent on the truly spiritual (whether we talk about it or not) that it is, in fact, sacred. In every actor it's different and has a disparate vocabulary. Some call it superstition. Some faith. Some don't call it anything. But I guarantee you that every actor has a spiritual side, something that speaks to him or her in a powerful way and that informs and may even make his performance possible. I once worked with an actor who sang "Amazing Grace" every night before the show. Hey, it's a galvanizing tune. It seemed to work for him; on stage, he was amazing.
One thing about spiritual motivation is that usually it's private. So probably the less I say about it here in this crass public forum, the better. But I did come across something recently that spoke to me, as an actor, and seems to lend itself to the spirit of the holiday. If it can offer a bit of inspiration to you, too -- even if you're not an actor but just a civilian (!) then all the better.
When I was a kid I went to a school in Connecticut called The Kent School.
It was and is a preparatory school with a spiritual focus (in this case, Episcopalian). As an alumna I receive regular publications, in one of which I found the following article, written by a recent graduate named Alexis del Vecchio, who had travelled to Africa to help people with AIDS through theatre:
The Quest for Happiness: Reflections on Social Theatre, The Meaning of Life, and The Importance of Faith and Hope in Our Globalizing World
Wait, don't change the channel! It's a big title for a very simple subject: making life better through the art of theatre.
Here's a small part of what this inspired young actor (now at Yale) wrote about his experience:
"At the core of acting is empathy, or the ability to feel for others and put ourselves in their shoes. Thus, I believe that actors must have the highest interest in Humanity. The art of theatre allows us to transmit and communicate all the emotions and states that compose the essence of human beings: joy, laughter, fear, doubt, hope, life, and death. I so much feel that theatre is the most beautiful expression and celebration of Humanity possible, and that it fulfills our intrinsic and deep-rooted need to express and share our Humanity with others.
Theatre allowed us to relate on a deeply humane level with our fellow participants (in our case, those in Africa), who morphed from shy children or couples in their forties and fifties to unabashed actors, singers, and performers—all in less than a week. Some participants wrote me messages at the end of class such as “ Thank you, thank you, thank you, when are you coming back to Africa?” Reading such testimonies filled me with joy and convinced me that we had succeeded in empowering our African friends and providing the couples with a safe environment—a stage—in which to express themselves and voice their concerns. It seemed very appropriate to me that we used theatre to engage in a healing process with the people we worked with who were living with AIDS.
Helping others and feeling that you can make a positive difference in their lives makes you aware of your own humanity. You are enriched in the process of giving to others. By helping another person, you help yourself. You validate the basic goodness present in you. And your extended hand is a testimony to the common thread of humanity present in every human being.
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Alexis and friend
I honestly don't think it can be said any better than that.
Happy holidays; love to all.
Alexis del Vecchio is a graduate of Kent and member of the class of 2007. He was the recipient of the Robert S. Hillyer ’13 English Prize. He currently attends Yale University, where he is majoring in Theater Studies.
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