Theatre Speaks by Kate Emery General

Live theatre matters, perhaps now more than ever.

In a world dominated by social media, algorithms, digital technology, and screens that constantly reinforce what we already believe, theatre can do something very different: it can make us uncomfortable. It can introduce us to people and ideas we may disagree with and force us to sit still long enough to actually listen.

That was certainly my experience this past weekend at The Avalon Theatre, watching Groove Factory’s production of Heroes of the Fourth Turning by Will Arbery, directed by Lucy Thomas. I was personally intrigued about the background location, the play takes place at a private college in Wyoming and is set during the first Trump administration.

The talent of the actors was exceptional, and the director did an extraordinary job creating the atmosphere and tensions of that particular moment in American life.

The subject matter was intense and decidedly conservative. There were characters I didn’t like. There were ideas I found difficult. Good!

That is precisely why I go to the theatre.

I don’t need a play to tell me what I already think. I want to be challenged. I want to understand why someone who sees the world differently might believe what they believe. I want to watch complicated, convincing human beings defend positions that may make me uncomfortable.

We are incredibly fortunate to have this caliber of theatre on the Eastern Shore. It is an intellectual gift, and I hope that more people will take advantage of it.

Thank you to E.T. Wilford and Cecile Davis for having the energy, imagination, and especially the guts to put controversial material on the stage. 

And a special thank you to Maggi Sarfaty for her artistry with sets and props. It is always a delight to see what she will come up with next.

In this production, it was a recently killed deer, carefully designed and weighted to look just real enough to make me genuinely sad, yet whimsical enough to remind me that I was looking at another product of Maggi’s genius. Only Maggi could make a dead deer both heartbreaking and oddly charming!

Someone recently warned Cece not to be “so political” in her choices of plays to produce.

I couldn’t disagree more.

Plays can be like banned books. They can challenge authority, disturb the comfortable, start arguments, and make us question the assumptions we have carried around for years.

That isn’t dangerous.

That is democracy.

This is America. We don’t have to agree with every idea we encounter. But we should be brave enough to hear it.

And every once in a while, we should absolutely rock the boat.