I always have a couple of ideas rolling around the old noggin’ for my monthly blog, but I am truly at a loss for words right now. It’s been a couple of weeks since RFT’s last blog (still waiting for Jakob’s from last week, which was actually meant to be the week before but he didn’t have one so Anita posted hers and he said he would write and post for last week, but hasn’t still, but maybe he’s been busy baking, and dealing with uncertainty, job hours and moving, busy planning for our summer series but I think maybe mostly baking) ANYWAY…………. Eh….
So yeah, at a loss for words. All of my ideas usually start from a moment that has sparked action, something happened that puts me and / or our company or a show in motion and I ride that momentum, able to collect my thoughts, experience and analyse what’s happened or happening and see the direction, the future, the outcome, at least the hope and dream of an outcome. But our world, country, community, company, lives, our daily routines feel like they’ve been stopped. Been literally stopped.
RFT made the decision on Friday night to postpone our April show “A Century of Revolution”. Two one-acts (Overtones and Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.) When I wrote to the cast to let them know that because of the uncertainty with the plague that we were “postponing the Revolution” I paused for a moment to look at the email subject line “postponing the Revolution” - Writing those words just made me sad.
Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again was meant to be our flagship show this season if not our company’s legacy. I read this play in 2018 and nearly directed it for UNISTA (but it didn’t work out). I wanted this play to be the first play read at our firepit readings (but it didn’t work out). I wanted this play to be our first play produced, to set the tone of our company (but that didn’t work out) and now we were in rehearsals, with performance dates, awesome directors and a fantastic cast that trusted each other and played together every rehearsal, and it’s not going to work out. - Writing those words make me sad.
But while feeling sad I know that Rising Fire Theatre is in a good place. We are a company that has no overhead, no salaries, no monthly costs. We are adaptable, versatile, malleable to the changes in our future. No matter how the business, and social landscape of our future plays out we’ll survive (We have to, seeing that “RISING” “FIRE” is in our friggin name!) We have finances to weather the storm, support from our followers and community, a plan for the summer and fall of 2020, goals for 2021.
The Revolution is still coming, and not just in the form of our play. From everything that is happening in our society right now, major structural changes will begin. After all the sickness, quarantining, sheltering, social distancing has passed, our world, our “leaders” will be in for a rude awakening and like in tough times before this, the arts will reflect humanity’s choices. RFT’s “A Century of Revolution” is not so much postponed as getting primed, and our plays, as well as all the other productions affected across the world, will not be at a loss for words.
-Alan Malone
President,