The Curious Savage

These past two weeks, as I have noted before, have been insanely busy. But in the best possible way.

Our school's play The Curious Savage wrapped up last night and at 3 a.m. it was all officially over. It was sad to say good-bye to the crazy characters like Fairy Mae, Lilly Belle, Titus, Samuel, Hannibal, Florence, Jeff and so many others. And what was wierder was that the set was designed like a house so when it came time to tear everything down and move everything offstage - sofas, bookshelves, tables - it felt like we were moving from a real house.

There are so many wonderful things about the plays put on at TMC. It's neat to see such a secular, selfish, "me" based thing like theater and acting become all about serving one another, helping each other and doing it all for God's glory. And it's all because of Christ. If it weren't for Christ and Him changing our hearts, the plays would still be "me" centered and self-focused. It's such a tangible way to see what He has done in our hearts and how that work manifests itself in real life.

The play itself was a piece of work itself, too. John Patrick was a great playwright and there were so many great scenes! I loved standing behind the stage, out of view from everyone, and reciting the lines with the other crew members while the actors acted them out in front of the audience. There were a few themes broadcast through the play, one of them being how love manifests itself in all kinds of ways.

There is one character - Fairy Mae - who loves to hear people say they love her, whether they mean it or not. In one scene, she tells Mrs. Savage that no one has said they loved her the whole live-long day. Mrs. Savage then replies, "Why yes they have Fairy. Florence said it a little while ago at the dinner table." Fairy asks, "And that was saying she loved me?" Mrs. Savage points out, "She said, 'Don't eat too fast, Fairy.' People say they love you all the time when they say things like, 'Take an umbrella, it's raining,' or 'Watch out! You'll break your neck.' There are hundreds of ways of wording it. You just have to listen for it." Then, at the end of the play, when it's Mrs. Savage's turn to leave, Fairy says, "I don't want to say good-bye. I don't recognize them" (because they only say good-bye to people they don't like). At the end she says, "Take an umbrella. It's raining."

There is one more section of lines that I absolutely love at the end. I won't explain it because I could never do them justice, so I'll suffice it to say:

"Mrs. Paddy gave me an eye with which to see myself and Florence, a grain of salt to take with what I see. And Jeff, the book of Job."

Enjoying TMC,

Em