“I am deeply aware people aren’t deserving of tragedy because existence is exalted in and of itself, and brings it’s own consolation. But people don’t deserve consolation. Perhaps comedy is closer to the truth, since it at least shows the meaninglessness of things.”
— Semezdin Mehemedinovic, Sarajevo Blues.
Does art have to take place in some sort of vacuum? There are so many other things that have such greater importance than what I am doing right now. Perhaps it is all biological in the end. All our striving for literacy and metaphor, just trappings of the mind, illusions. We eat, sleep, breed and die. To be conscious of all the events in the world or even in the headlines is overwhelming. To try to create art in a bloated country that is facilitating most of the strife in the world and to not attack the heart of the problem itself makes me feel like a coward.
Even when it’s not coming from the lips of a child, the most refuting question in the world is still “Why?”
Yes, why is a question we’re all asking but literacy, metaphore, art provide such a needed escape not just for the creator but for the observer.
You can use art to attack the heart. But if things are indeed meaningless, as Mehemedinovic suggests, then you are free to do what you want. The guilt of the world is not yours to carry unless you choose to do so.
Use your theater skills to have fun and tackle the problems you worry about… like helping us out with our project ;)