Some Enchanted Evening

       I lost my glasses again over the weekend. At least I thought I did when I came out of the woods on Sunday. Yet, miraculously, when we returned the following day, I found them just off the tire track in the deep snow. I would never have seen them had they not dropped just as they did and the glasses would have been crushed if they had dropped one inch closer to the tire. The forces in nature came together to save a pair of glasses. I don't want to make too much of this because I have had lots of experiences where just the opposite occurred. It's just that it got me thinking about how other innocent connections have had huge influences in my life. Take South Pacific, for example. When Parker High School, the place I taught for so long, announced it was doing the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, I found myself noticing those serendipitous forces in nature again.
       When I was a junior in high school in Mukwonago, WI, I was fully involved in our small, rural school. I played sports, sang in choir, marched in the band, and participated in the "class play." The "class play" was an interesting phenomenon at many small schools. School administrators, often former coaches or tech ed teachers, recognized that drawing pictures and making music seemed reasonable things for kids to do.They often couldn't make sense of the sculptures or paintings, but having the choir sing Christmas concerts and the band march at the football game was fine. What could it hurt? Most people sang in the shower or doodled pictures when they did their "real" jobs. The same thing was true when kids did little pageants and shows. What could be cuter than a child dressed up like a Pilgrim or an "Indian" standing on stage? What harm could come from having high school students stage another of those Shakespeare plays? Of course there was no money to hire professionals who were actually trained in theatre arts, so they had to depend on the teachers who needed a few extra dollars or those who actually wanted to do theatre. At Mukwonago, we had both while I was there. Needless to say, students learned little about the specific practical skills the theatre requires nor the enormous discipline required to create powerful performances. We learned some lines, put on our homemade costumes, and went out on stage. Yet, in certain almost magical moments on stage, even we got a glimpse of the intense emotional power that theatre produces. Of course, I didn't understand it then. (I'm not sure I fully understand it even now.) I just thought it was fun to make believe I was someone else. Then, the state of Wisconsin started constructing Interstate 43 right down the middle of our farm.
        Actually they didn't start the construction right then, but we knew it was coming. We had auctioned off our cattle and farm equipment and my dad used the money to build a new house on land that once was a pasture. In the spring of my junior year, I moved into a house that actually had a shower AND a bathtub. I even got to have my own bedroom because my brothers were out on their own. More important was the absence of farm chores. There are lots of people who talk about the charm of living on a farm, especially if they have never lived on one. Farming is just hard, often tedious work. When we moved to our new house, we were no longer farmers. Oh, my dad tried to pretend we still were. He had a couple horses and some chickens and he still had me getting up at dawn on weekends. But we no longer had a hundred cows to feed or a few hundred acres to farm. We were civilians and living in a new house to boot! I'm pretty sure the Department of Transportation didn't realize what it had done.
        And then there were also the dancing lessons. To this day I don't really know how the idea for dancing lessons came about. Remember, I was a farm kid jock who went to a rural high school. No guy I knew ever said, "You know, I just wish we had a modern dance class here at MUHS," although we did secretly admire those who could polka and do the twist. In any case, my mother signed me up for a Jazz Dance class as a birthday present. She claimed she did it because she had a friend whose daughter was starting a business in a nearby town, but I may have influenced her decision when I wrote an essay about professional football players studying ballet to improve coordination and flexibility. I didn't tell any of my friends, but I loved that class. I wasn't very good, but it helped me understand a whole world of things about artistic expression and physical discipline. And it was just plain FUN.  
        As the school year came to a close, all the pieces were in place for my rendezvous with South Pacific. I never new exactly who alerted us to the tryouts at Sunset Playhouse in Elm Grove, but Karen convinced me that we should tryout. I still find it hard to believe my mom and dad agreed to it. Elm Grove is a suburb of Milwaukee, a 30 minute drive on a good day. I had just gotten my driver's license and we only had one reliable car and one old jalopy the kids shared. I can only assume they did not believe we would be cast in the show. Ye of little faith!
        Sunset Playhouse is a community theatre in Elm Grove and one of the few that constructed its own permanent theatre. In the summer of 1967 the place was humming and when Karen and I walked in I thought we were in WAY over our heads. When the music auditions began, I watched performers who seemed perfect for each lead role. They sang beautifully and seemed so poised. I wanted to slink out the back. I would later learn that most of these performers were professional actors who had been personally invited to audition. Thank goodness the chorus in South Pacific has parts for young men and women, even teenagers. When my turn came, I don't even remember the singing. I do remember that when the choreographer taught us a routine for the audition, I KNEW what he was talking about. A birthday present from my mom helped me meet a new challenge. I remember how exhilarating it was to just dance. Whatever it was, Karen and I were cast in the chorus of South Pacific. For the next 10 weeks we would travel to Elm Grove each night to rehearse or perform in the show. I would come to know director Alan Furlan, the Broadway actor who came home to Milwaukee to do theatre at Sunset for nearly 30 years and music director Gunnar Granquist, the passionate advocate for musical theatre. For the first time in my life, I would watch professional actors go about their work. I saw how disciplined they were and how meticulous their preparation. I learned how exhausting the creative process can be, both physically and emotionally. I came to better understand what the term "ensemble" means. Theatre art has countless moving parts and those parts only come together when actors are truly connect to each other. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, the experience is a metamorphosis. I learned more about how an audience transforms a play. Those nights when audiences wept to the sound of "Younger Than Springtime" or laughed at "There Is Nothin' Like A Dame", I saw how they became part of the process and how they helped create the performance each night. It wouldn't be until years later when I began my own directing career that the importance of all these things would sink in. It was here that I first heard a director say, "Love the art, don't love yourself in it." I suspect that is a lesson to learn in everything we do.
        Sunset Playhouse is still going strong, although I haven't been back for many years. (The main stage is called the Furlan Auditorium today.) The DOT finished Interstate 43 and if you look to your right as you cross the Fox River east of Mukwonago, you will see the house we built in 1967. And somewhere - I hope - a farm kid is learning to dance.









　

　

This is Gonna Be Fun

Late Tuesday night I received a text message from daughter number 4. She was confounded that Mary Burke had lost the election to Scott Walker. She simply could not understand how enlightened, fair-minded people could have voted for …. well, I won’t include the adjectives she used to describe Mr. Walker. There have been other times in the past when my children have been frustrated or frightened by things going on in the world and I have had to use my experience – read “old age” – to put things in perspective. After all, I have had the profound experience of living through Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. I can assure all of you – this too shall pass. In the meantime, I want you to remember one important lesson from the past – it is just flat out easier to laugh at Republican politicians, especially the current crop. How can we help it? Have you ever listened to Glen Grothman? He is an elected representative of the people of Wisconsin who proposed banning public school teachers from mentioning homosexuality in sex ed classes because teachers had an “agenda” to turn kids gay? He’s ashamed of us. “What must God think of our country?”  How about Jody Hice from Georgia? Again, this guy was ACTUALLY elected to represent Americans! He believes that Muslims have no protection under the First Amendment and that gays can be cured. Oh, and this … women can enter politics “if the woman is within the authority of her husband.” (I am not making ANY of this up!)  Did you hear Scott Walker say – with a straight face I might add - that Mary Burke was a product of “special interests” and that HE was a strong supporter of affordable health care? Or that he supports public education? What a hoot! And how about Mitch “our #1 goal is to obstruct the Obama presidency” McConnell’s plea to “seek common ground”? Hysterical! You can be certain we will have two years of hilarity. Just keep your sense of humor.

It is also important that you remember the purpose of satire. Satire – according to the dictionary – is the use of irony, sarcasm, or caustic wit to denounce vice, folly, or stupidity. While it is often entertaining, satire also helps to reveal the truth and this is the part that requires your attention. It’s easy to laugh at those who tell blatant lies. When a politician talks about “legitimate rape” or -as in Colorado- when a state representative performs an exorcism of the President, we can dismiss him as a fool.  But things have changed today. The lies have become more illusive. Scott Walker will take billions from public schools, increase private school vouchers, and then look you right in the eye and say he supports our public schools. The Koch Brothers will fund multiple lobby groups to elect politicians who will dismantle environmental regulations and then claim they support a clean environment. So always remember WHY you are laughing. You are laughing because you believe that calling out ridiculous behavior will make things better. And you recognize that satire only works against those with power. When Jon Stewart makes fun of John Boehner it’s funny because Boehner is a millionaire politician. When Rush Limbaugh calls a college student giving testimony before Congress a “slut”, he is being cruel. Remember to keep seeking the truth.

So, as we move into these next two years, I’m certain that our new Republican majority will pull together to support the things average people want: more guns in each house, lower pay, longer hours, and the elimination of the “Cadillac” health plans those union thugs got. (Forgive me. I’m using satire. Although our own Glen Grothman did suggest that Wisconsin’s progressive labor law that requires workers to have one 24 hour period off in each week is “a little goofy”.) The truth is average people would like to have a living wage, good healthcare and safe working conditions. Republicans say we already have all this IF you are a good person and your work hard. Unless, of course, you are gay – then you will burn in hell for eternity. (Sorry. Satire again.) I’m also sure our Republican congress will move quickly to expand the amount of money individuals can secretly spend on elections. I for one was shocked that I was limited to only $123,200 for political contributions. Thank goodness the Supreme Court has cleared the way for average working Americans to truly engage in the American Democracy. (Okay. I give up. It is impossible to avoid sarcasm to expose stupidity.)

I know things are going to get truly funny, but I hope the joke isn’t on us. Fortunately, we can always count on Iowa. First, there was level headed Michelle Bachmann and now, Joni Ernst. When she’s not castrating pigs, she likes to show off her “beautiful little Smith & Wesson”. Thank goodness she understands that climate change is a hoax, that social security is way too effective and should be privatized, that abortion providers should be punished, and that hard working Americans should not have to put up with the “takers” who are lazy and irresponsible. And I haven’t even mentioned Louie Gohmert……. (To be continued…)