What does it mean to see something with fresh eyes? And how long do fresh eyes last? I joined OSF in March as Membership Manager, avidly devouring all of the 2017 productions. I now look forward to the 2018 season with great pleasure.
Former OSF Director of Literary Development and Dramaturgy Lue Douthit, who is now director of Play on!, once said about cognitive research that when we watch characters take actions, it stimulates the same part of our brains as if we were doing the actions ourselves. But this happens only in person; the same does not hold true in film, for instance. One of the things I cherish most about live theatre is the freshness of each performance. When the director of next season’s Love’s Labor’s Lost, Amanda Dehnert, was asked what period she would be placing the play, she said, “I fundamentally believe the play takes place the night the audience is there to see it.”
So what does that mean as we settle in next year to watch Othello subsumed by Iago’s machinations, or sit under the stars in the Allen Elizabethan Theatre to watch Henry Condell and John Heminges in The Book of Will discuss publishing Shakespeare’s plays? How might we apply the same passions to our own work, our own lives? What prepares us to respond in those moments?
In 2018 we go on a journey of love without bounds in Romeo and Juliet. In Destiny of Desire we learn what happens when women take control of their own destiny. Or witness the Chinese ghost thriller of Snow in Midsummer as it explores who has power, who abuses power and what we will or won’t do for love. In Manahatta, set in 1600s Manahatta (now Manhattan), 2008 Manhattan and Oklahoma, we see how the decisions and actions of today or 400 years ago influence, impact, even create the reality of today and many tomorrows yet to come.
As I lean into 2018, I ask myself, how might a person be changed or influenced by just one season’s worth of theatre? To be entertained is one thing, but to be moved to action is priceless. With these thoughts in mind, I wish all of us “fresh eyes” for 2018. May your year of theatre and life be one of inspiration, challenge and delight!