"...that which the ego is most afraid to resemble, is often composed of the images of the violated (castrated) body, the ethnic out-group, and the exploited minority." Erik H. Erikson
The theater is a place for outcasts. Its a breeding ground for non-conformity. To search for evidence of consciousness in the human species is to be a tremendous optimist. To dedicate oneself to a permanent state of transience is an attempt to live only in the present. Rehearsal is seemingly anathema to the art of being in the moment. But rehearsal teaches us only the ritual motions of the proceedings, the structure of the game. The playing is the practice. Breathing through the fear we open ourselves to criticism and to the scarier possibility of self-revelation. We fear our own incompetence. We sense our own spiritual impotence. We circle our flaws in black magic marker and hang them on the sidewalk for all to see. In doing so we add one more voice to the soundtrack of evolution. We raise the bar one notch. We carry tradition into the present and create the trajectory for future expression. We tell our stories so we can know ourselves. As we normalize our outlandishness we create a safer world for the ones who otherwise wouldn't fit in. Keep going.
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