In light of Black History Month, I have settled on a discussion that connects two social tensions, one of them being less global than the other. They both easily share the much needed concept of acceptance and awareness required for living in a diverse society. I have been able to identify this connection with my own personal experience that comes from tensions between athletics and fine arts.
An athletic performance and a theatrical performance are one in the same. If you just briefly glance at this connection, you won't be able to see the similarities. Look closer.
Both require immeasurable discipline and determination; both require a team effort; both challenge its participants with physical and mental strains; both require hours and hours of practice or, as we call it, rehearsal.
The first argument against this connection would be that athletes are physically active, while performers are not. False. We may not run several miles on end, or practice throwing free throws every day, but we are just as active. We connect to the physical, concrete environment of the story we are portraying through the set and props of the show. We ourselves must be physically aware of this environment in order to successfully reflect our connection to it. We need to be physically capable of the actual nuts and bolts of the performance.
By saying all this, I am not in any way deterring the phenomenal abilities of athletes. On the contrary, because theater and athletics are so similar, I am actually appraising them. I am constantly blown away by what an athlete is capable of. How can you make a perfect shot in a basketball game with hundreds of people shouting at you from the stands? How can you concentrate on making that goal while the opposing player is targeting you like prey? More importantly, why do you challenge yourself with these things?
The answers to these questions are very similar to those of a performer: There is a great passion driving us.
Everyone has a passion. Whether it's baseball, acting, chess, dance, golf, volunteer work, or marine biology, we are all working hard in order to fully enjoy the passions that drive us to do so.
Theater is not silly. It is not a waste of time, whether you are an actor, stage hand, or audience member. Theater requires vulnerability--to strip down into the very bones of a story that reflects the rawness of life. As performers and stagehands, we are striving just as much as any athlete. We are merely engaged in a more mental and intellectual understanding of human life.
I have not been directly questioned or insulted about my motivations for intentionally participating in theatrics, at least not yet. However, I have been indirectly affected by the words and actions of others, both athlete and thespian. We should not be opposing one another. Rather, we should recognize and respect one another's choices and passions.
Although I did not initially intend to directly write on Black History Month, this topic has an obvious connection. Just as those with different passions should accept one another, so should those with different backgrounds, races, and religions. The necessity to understand and be more aware of this living fact is existential to us as human beings, and I pray especially during this month that we eventually come to that inevitable conclusion.
Always,
Frances McKinley
