As irritatingly artsy as it may sound,
I like to think that people exist equipped with their own personal ball of yarn
in their chest. As everyone gets older, their yarn gets more and more tangled
as they discover the complexities of their emotions. When you get upset,
anxious or sad, your chest tightens because your yarn is so tangled, your body
can barely handle it. Strangely enough, the same thing happens when you’re
excited or happy.
It’s about that time of the theater season when my yarn
remains tangled until bows of closing night. But for this show, I think it’s
more out of excitement than of nervousness or fear. I’m thrilled to be able to
share our little Into the Woods world
with everyone.
On Friday evening, we got to give the community a quick
glimpse into our world. We performed the Act One opening for trustees and
faculty members in lieu of the usual chorus or improv performances. Every cast
member was completely dedicated and in tune with the performance: everyone exhibited
full commitment to his or her character; we were calm and collected backstage;
and, most importantly, everyone had fun.
During warm-ups, we do an exercise where we hold our arms
and attempt to physically put a feeling of palpable joy in our bodies. Which
sounds completely ludicrous, yes, but it works. It works because when you go to
find that joy, you’re allowing yourself to preview the feeling you get after a
performance, and savor it for a moment to remind yourself of what you’re
working towards. Because I believe that everything we do is in pursuit of joy. We want to be able to feel the yarn in our chests stretch so
tight that it feels like it will burst out of your body. And sometimes it does,
and you can’t help but smile for days afterward. All those hours of rehearsal
in and out of the theater all lead up to that euphoric moment when you reap the
joy because you refused to give up. The joy of success, the remnants of hard
work. That’s what we’re working towards, people! Let’s come through for
everyone, let’s come through for ourselves. Let’s come through for joy.
Until next time, this is Pratima, and these have been my
ponderings.
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