Each January American Theatre focuses on theatre training, and Jacqueline E. Lawton’s roundtable with five theatre professionals and educators covers the realities and difficulties of their jobs. It also gives us a window into their earliest personal memories of politics and how they helped to shape them. They share adolescent experiences that gave them insights into the complexities of power, race, and politics, which in turn evolved into a foundation for how they work with youth. We build future generations of theatremakers and theatre leaders by teaching and mentoring. A key part of educating is encouraging students to think about world building and world changing, and developing their own nascent sense of leadership.
You may already know about Young Invincibles, an organization started by a group of students in the summer of 2009, who believed in their generation’s capacity to stand up and make themselves heard. They were eager to organize friends, educate the public about new health insurance options, and develop real solutions to the challenges they face. Young people are a historically underrepresented constituency, and Young Invincibles’ focus is on ensuring young communities with the least access to political and economic power have a say. They are building a community of young leaders to take action for social change, sharing the stories of young adults, and providing tools for their generation to make smart economic choices and embark on mission-driven social enterprise ventures. The work shared by those most impacted by health care, higher education, workforce, and financial policies is also a source of collective care.
At the end of the year, I also had a chance to see The Art of Care, conceived and directed by Derek Goldman, developed with the performers/storytellers, and produced at Mosaic Theater in Washington, D.C. Like We Live in Cairo, this was an ensemble piece with music. The central theme is world building, in which care for others is an antidote to feelings of isolation and loneliness. As I left the theatre that night, a thought from the play stayed with me: What if interdependence is even more important than independence? Our practice as theatre people is world building. But world building, and world changing, can only succeed with connectivity and collaboration.
I have a quote-for-the-day calendar on my desk, and as I write this, today’s is appropriately from Albert Camus: “In the middle of winter, I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer.” Camus was committed to the value of individual human life, believing that even in the most difficult and challenging times, like winter, there is a resilient and enduring hope or strength within us, like the warmth of summer, that cannot be defeated—that within us is an inner resilience to overcome adversity. May your summer be ever invincible!
Emilia Cachapero is TCG’s Co-Executive Director, National and Global Programming.
