“The ancient commission of the writer has not changed. He is
charged with exposing our many grievous faults and failures, with dredging up
to the light our dark and dangerous dreams for the purpose of improvement.
Furthermore, the writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit - for gallantry in defeat - for courage, compassion and love. In the endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally-flags of hope and of emulation.
I hold that a writer who does not passionately believe in the perfectibility of man, has no dedication nor any membership in literature.”
Furthermore, the writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit - for gallantry in defeat - for courage, compassion and love. In the endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally-flags of hope and of emulation.
I hold that a writer who does not passionately believe in the perfectibility of man, has no dedication nor any membership in literature.”
John
Steinbeck—Nobel Prize for Literature acceptance speech, 1962
What is the benefit of delving into
a tragedy? Why read, study, and discuss a work such as Antigone, Hamlet, or A Streetcar Named Desire? Isn't there
enough pain and struggling in the world without bringing it into our artistic
and intellectual lives?
Why bring Of Mice and Men to the stage?
This question has been put to me
innumerable times in my career as a teacher of theater and literature, and as a
director. Why should a fictional tragedy occupy a place in our lives? My
response: tragedy is uplifting. It is about the triumph of the human spirit.
Tragedy is inevitable and unavoidable; bad things, outside our control, happen
to us all. What proves our humanity is not the tragedy itself, but how we react
to the tragedy. Does the tragedy make us recoil and withdraw; does it ignite
the all-consuming flame of anger and revenge? Or do we confront tragedy with
“courage, compassion and love”? Antigone
institutes change, Hamlet discovers what it means “to be,” and Blanche helps us
remove the Chinese lanterns we all use to hide our own light, if only for a
couple of hours.
Steinbeck’s play, set firmly in the
Great Depression, pushes its audience to confront the nature of tragedy—that it
often comes from circumstances beyond our control. What we do control, is the
manner in which we choose to live within those circumstances. In the opening
scene the protagonist, George, is presented with a clear choice: to remain with
Lennie, or abandon him. Every single day George chooses to stay with and care
for Lennie, sacrificing the fulfillment of his selfish desires. Steinbeck’s
play reflects a world of transient existence and ephemeral dreams; a
rootlessness and profound lack of hope exists, wherein men wander aimlessly and
alone. Slim tells George: “Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of
each other.” But Lennie knows the truth: “And I got you. We got each other.
That’s what, that gives a hoot in hell about us.” George’s choice for
compassion, and Lennie’s innocence, raises them, and anyone who wants to be a
part in their dream, above the tragedy.
This is the approach of our
production, to not wallow in the mire of tragedy, but to revel in the triumph
of the human spirit. Our production will make you laugh, and maybe drop a tear
or two, but you will come away feeling uplifted. George and Lennie know that life
is made richer by choosing not to walk alone, to help carry the burdens of
others as we travel down the same road, if only for a little while.
-Director, Shane Brown
-Director, Shane Brown
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