We stand on the shoulders of our ancestors and those that came before and must continue to reflect on the past with hopes for a better future. I am currently occupying land that belongs to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, an Indigenous community that occupied the majority of the Southeast region before the removal act of 1832. Without the Muscogee people’s original cultivation of this land, we would have no ground to stand on. I encourage you all to consider the ways Indigenous struggle and bloodshed has shaped and built this country and reflect on the contributions of the Muscogee Nation that allow us to be here today.
In thinking of what I could write my first blog post about, I searched the depths of my heart for something that interested me. I found nothing. There was no current theatre issue that I felt compelled to discuss, no discourse that I wanted to partake in. I even thought about responding to the recent Tony Award nominations or the Los Angeles Times piece about contemporary Black playwrights. I wasn’t itching to talk about either of these recent headlines either. In truth, my brainstorming made me realize how scant my interactions with theatre have been since the pandemic began in March. Though I am on the path to embracing online performance through my work in the Digital Internship Program, I miss the theatre. Deeply. Call me a classicist, but I think theatre goes beyond the concept of cast and consumers. The heart of theatre is the physical exchange of energy between the “see-er” (audience) and the “do-er” (performer), and this exchange happens through breath…in person.
Therefore, I decided to embrace this longing I feel and reflect on the aspects of theatre that I miss, in hopes of rediscovering why I love the art form in the first place.
The Glamor of it All
The number one thing I miss about in-person theatre is the pageantry involved. I’m sure we all miss going out, but there is something specific about the theatre-going experience that I long for in my current artistic melancholy. I loved how the theatre was an event! How nice do I want to look? Should I take an Uber or metro? Should I treat myself and get Shake Shack after the play?! So many options lay before me, and all lead to a path of creative fulfillment. There was an excitement, a mystery even, in deciding which road to take.
The Self Care
After choosing a road to tread on, I often made the journey alone. Now, I love going to the theatre with friends. They augment the energy exchange between the audience and the performers, and I love the conversations we have following a performance. However, going to see a piece of theatre all by my lonesome was, as I have come to realize, one of the ways that I decompressed. Being a singular entity in a sea of people somehow made the experience all the more intimate. I felt like the only person in the audience, and the actors were delivering their lines just for me.
The Acting!
My favorite thing to do during a performance is play “theatre critic” and overanalyze every acting choice the performers make.
For some reason, I (a twenty-year-old acting major with no professional credits) sit down in a theatre and become an expert on the craft. There is no character choice, no scene study, no dramaturgically supported behavior that is safe from the prying eye of Jaucqir LaFond. …I might be making it sound more intense than it is, but what I mean to say is that I love to study professional acting. I can’t get the same analysis from watching things on a screen.
In this love letter to the theatre, I do not mean to knock the trends created under necessity. This new digital creative environment has encouraged an entire population of artists to explore the capabilities of their talents and reexamine their firmest beliefs regarding theatre. This new environment has also vastly increased the accessibility of otherwise exclusive artistic spaces, reincorporating the every-day person into an art that has become rather elitist. This online-heavy moment has allowed me to work with the Davis Shakespeare Festival; for that, I am quite fortunate. Now, I stand on the road to accepting digital performance. I am excited about the opportunities that lie ahead, the chances to work with other artists that will satiate until we meet again.
Jaucqir LaFond
He/They
Howard University 2022 – BFA Acting
DSF Digital Internship Participant
