Theater people don’t get enough credit for all the work that goes on behind the scenes. By “theater people,” I mean not only the director and the actors, but the choreographers, the set designers and builders, the set dressers (decorators), the costume managers, and on and on the list goes.
This group of people from many different roads in life all collide in one place to work together to create the magnificent, moving, and dynamic work of art one calls a play. They give blood, sweat, tears, and hours and hours of time to make sure a story is told and told well.
“So what?” a boy asked me once. “It’s just a story. What’s the point?”
Each of us has a story. History is a story. The Bible is a story. All of these stories are true, beautiful, and important in the grand scheme of eternity. They interlock to form one big story arc that includes the entire human race. Unless you’re not human, stories are a stinkin’ big deal.
Anything our hands find to do need to be done well. If God chose to communicate with us through narrative, why shouldn’t we, creatures crafted in His image, also tell stories? Storytelling, done right, takes time and effort. You can’t just breeze through it and hope for art to appear. It takes bruised knees and elbows and long nights and hours and hours of practice. God made the world in six days, but we’re not God. Bringing Him due glory takes a little longer to accomplish.
There you go. I promised something of greater substance today, and there it is. Now I will depart to finish unfinished homework and pray earnestly for snow. Good night, all.
And don’t forget the things art does for us… but I guess you covered that too…
A clear, articulate response to the question, “So What? It’s just a story1″
The Dadster Ripostes:
OK–70′s moment coming!
“Like walking in the rain and the snow
When there’s nowhere to go,
And you’re feelin’ like a part of you is dying.
And you’re looking for the answer in her eyes.
You think you’re gonna break up;
Then she says she wants to make up.”
From “The Things We Do for Love” (1977).
What goes ’round comes ’round!
You may do some things for “art” and other pursuits. But ultimately, what you do is not new. For there is no new thing under the sun!
Love,
The Dadster