If you read last week’s blog from Alan, you’ll remember him rudely calling me out for failing to post my own. If you missed last week’s blog post from Alan, you should go check it out! He rudely calls me out for failing to post my own. He also discusses what these troubling adjustments in life mean for us as a company and for our community as a whole.
It is scary. This is nothing we’ve seen before – nothing we were prepared to maneuver around. And so, we must adapt, improvise, and overcome. We have not given up on the work or the play. We have not given up on our vision. We have not even given up on weekly blog posts! Not even me! I just forgot.
First, we adapt. When we began discussing our ‘Local Voices’ project, we had a tentative plan to announce details at the opening performance of A Century of Revolution. It was to be a genesis wherein a whole new branch of local artists began flexing the muscles the community rarely sees and sorely needs, and it would be livened by the excitement of our ambitious production. The summer was to move forward with assuredness and elation. We were disheartened to close the doors on this plan. But it does not spell the end for A Century of Revolution and it does not dismiss our plans for ‘Local Voices’. It just so happens that our newest project is perfectly suited to tackle a world separated via Google Hangout and Zoom. And if we cannot march forward as we were expecting, we can certainly take a stand with what tools we have. We decided ‘Local Voices’ will begin now. There’s an announcement on the Facebook page for anybody who may have missed it.
And we improvise. In times like these, very little seems to go according to plan. For some people it’s the school year, or maybe it’s your rehearsal process, or even a cancelled birthday party. The times are changing. It is making us nervous and testy. So we must, in some cases, move forward without a plan. We spend so much time outlining our lives and our occupations that it hurts to start something from the ground up, but we persevere. We say yes to ideas and brainstorm ways to persevere, so in the end we know we will
Overcome. A few weeks ago, while the news of the pandemic was encroaching, the RFT gang sat down at a meeting to play a friendly game of Risk. If you have played Risk, you know this to be a contradiction. And oxymoron. An impossibility. Drinks were drained, aggressive things were shouted aggressively, cake was spilled. It was a mess. But even such a terrible fiasco is one we can overcome and use to our advantage – Alan now has a whole box of cardboard pieces to use as firewood!
What I’m saying is… a time like this has left us all feeling like something we were looking forward to has turned into something unfortunate. But we must keep faith in our community, our selves, and our art to build the fire that will raise us up in the months to come.
Stay strong, stay supportive, stay safe.
-Jakob Vernon Reha
Vice President, RFT Board of Directors