Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2009 - 13

Hope. Hope may be a universal human necessity. In that
case, the arts and sciences do not have a monopoly on hope.
Certainly, from finance to the military, from politics to most
assuredly education, hope is present. but in these areas of
endeavor, a certain amount of autonomy is required. And unfortunately, a huge percentage of the world's population does
not control its fate and is subject to the weather, the economy,
politics, or disease. I suspect that when people can't control
their own destiny, they turn to belief systems that offer hope in
the form of some higher power that will either mitigate their
suffering or promise rewards in an afterlife.
Many strange rituals are performed in attempts to solicit
help from a deity. Throughout history we have seen human
sacrifice, chanting of prayers, dances, and the consumption of
chemicals. (Of course what each of us does to make contact
with the divine seems perfectly logical, it's what the other guy
does that seems strange. I was surprised by a news story about
fifty rabbis flying in an airplane over Israel, blowing ram's horns
in order to protect the country from swine flu.)
but let us not forget that theatre was at its inception a
ritual to please and honor one or another god. later on, theatre
was considered sacrilegious and even today, there are pockets
of resistance to theatrical performances. If a play offends the
belief of a group, count on pickets in the street, people who for
the most part have neither read nor seen the play in question. Is
there any other activity that has morphed from a prayer to a sin?
( Although not really analogous, a semi trailer parked along

the highway where I live, is a traveling billboard that says on its
side, "Jesus Christ is lord, not a swear word.")
When we start on a production we don't know how it will
end up. but we hope. Although it may happen, I have never seen
an actor respond to applause by raising a finger to heaven the
way some ball players do to thank God for getting them on base.
Given the immensity of the universe, is God really favoring one
team or another or acting like a backer? (but as the saying goes,
all prayers are answered but sometimes the answer is no.) but in
theatre we do have superstitions to ward off the evil eye of failure: don't say good luck, don't open an umbrella in the theatre,
or even mention the real title of that Shakespearian play.

...doing the same things over and over is the
antithesis of hope; it is putting on the brake
rather than moving toward a better future.
We really don't know. There is no formula for mounting a
successful production even though some of us do stick to only
doing what worked for us in the past. but doing the same things
over and over is the antithesis of hope; it is putting on the brake
rather than moving toward a better future.
So as scientists hope that they can discover the secrets of
the physical universe by experiments and observations, in the
theatre we use stories based on observations to discover the
secrets of the human condition. As we work, we don't really
know, but we hope. v

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2009