Just a Little More Praise for the Festival

Last night we attended "Henry V" at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Brian Vaughn played Henry and J.R. Sullivan directed, which is one of those ideal combinations of talent that can only result in really delightful theater. Both men do what they do so well.

This morning J.R. Sullivan participated in the literary seminar about last night's play, and I thought he had some interesting comments about theater generally that also apply to literature and my particular soapbox for young adult literature, which is that (one reason) literature is powerful is because it's a safe place for teens to experience life situations before they actually encounter them (or in many cases instead of experiencing them) in their own lives. J.R. Sullivan noted that seeing theater is a good rehearsal for large events in our lives--love, marriage, death of loved ones--things we face without knowing what to do with them unless we experience them vicariously. I believe he described it as "shaking hands" with those situations before experiencing them. Nicely put, right? And true. I've always loved the arts, but the older I get, the more I realize how much work it takes to develop a human being, and the humanities--the arts that examine what it means to be human--are such good guides to look at the entire gamut of that struggle as it's played out personally and collectively in society. The humanities are not at all the only influence in developing self, but they provide such good perspectives on the different incarnations of universal human experiences.

We're going to see "As You Like It" tonight, so you may have to endure another post on this theme, unless I get too busy planning my gelato route through Italy, because, woo hoo!, I'll be on a plane to Rome in THREE days.