Musings from last night (this morning)

It’s 2:58 in the morning on Independence Day. I’m waiting for the N at 8^th St & Broadway, leaning against a support beam so I don’t stumble over my unstable feet. I’ve had 4 beers in the past 2 hours. In my current state, while distracted by rats on the track and a passing Q train, I don’t recall having a single beer in the past month. Maybe. This is all to the affect that this rambling may come from a place of complete horseshit, although I do believe there’s some merit to it.

For the second time this year, the second time ever, I saw the New York Neo-Futurists’ performance of Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. If you haven’t treated yourself to this gift, it is a unique form of sketch that adds something special to theatre. One specific sketch called on an audience member to sit on stage for the rest of the show. It just so happened that this person was my friend as well as a recent participant (spect-actor) in a rehearsal of THIS IS STORYBOX. His primary role, as set by the rules of sketch, was to be annoying, but that’s just an arbitrary fact for the purpose of this posting.

As the show continued, one sketch was a monologue focused at the imaginary brother of the Neo-Futurist performing onstage. Out of context, one would create an outline of this unseen person in their mind, filling in further details and creating a symbolic person as the storyteller shaped the scene.

But it was different this time. Maybe this didn’t happen for everyone, but my friend on stage became an invaluable asset to the moment. He became the brother in the flesh. He provided reality where there otherwise would’ve only been imaginary.

This is not only a testament to THIS IS STORYBOX, but to all theatre, to all art for that matter, as well. Much of art is created with the goal of expressing abstract ideas in a concrete form that’s accessible to at least one of the senses. The event that happened at TMLMTBGB tonight may not have a direct correlation to our primary senses, but it certainly touches on one of the ultimate goals of human beings, which is attempting to prove our personal impact on the world.

The Neo-Futurist had specific lines he memorized and had to repeat. My friend had very little rules, and he made a choice to play in a way that I found supported the actual scene. But in reality, my friend could’ve played his part in an infinite number of ways, and each one would’ve in some way justified what the rehearsed actor was saying. Simply put, his choices directly affected the final product of the show for me, and they would have done so matter what he decided to do.

At the end of this month I hope to show the same type of power that theatre can have in another setting. We go to plays and under right conditions we enjoy ourselves and the performances, but once it’s over, we come back to reality and know that the characters on stage were the masks of trained actors. For THIS IS STORYBOX, you will see non-performers on stage directly altering the course of a play. And hopefully the circumstances will be right and you’ll enjoy yourselves, but once it’s over, you won’t have the same sensations you have for any other play. You’ll see that there was just as much reality on stage as there was imaginary. We’re blurring those boundaries for you, and it has incredible repercussions.

-Shea