Day 126: Five.Eleven.13

Technically speaking, this happened yesterday. But damn I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it, or talking about it. So I’m breaking my own rules and posting a day after it happened. Because well, it’s just that necessary.

There is a magic that happens within when one takes to the stage to perform after rehearsing for months upon months. Seeing an idea, a seedling, to fruition. Particularly one that is close to the heart. The deeper the personal connection, the deeper the audience connects to it.

There is also an incredible magic that occurs when one sees this type of life-altering work from the audience.

So what happens when these two worlds collide?

rbGb (red, black & GREEN: a blues), that’s what.

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The show opened with us in the middle of the stage: amongst, interacting, communicating with the performers. We were pulled into their world so immediately that it felt like the most natural thing, even though, I’m quite sure I have never, ever felt like I was having an intimate conversation with someone in this way WHILE they were speaking to an entire audience, in the middle of a show. Like, we were all face-to-face with the performers under the spotlight. (At one point, they were moving around a small group of us in the center of the stage.)

rbGb @ Atlas Performing Arts Center

And then, just as organically as this initial interaction happened, the audience took their seats as the rest of the show unfolded – literally. Before us, with us, for us.

The essence of the show – a resounding cry for equality within the ‘green’ movement, food security, healing and repairing, the right to healthy, sustainable, organic living, most specifically within the black community, was so clearly communicated through story, song, movement, scene changes, that the entire audience left talking about the reality of this piece, and what they, we, could do to make positive changes as artists and community members.

OK. So I know the elephant in the room – in this post – is that I am not a member of the black community. I have never experienced food insecurity or lack of access to resources as documented in rbGb.

The ability for me, for all of the audience to connect, is the beauty of this work. The show’s focus is clear and intentional, but it’s also about having a larger dialogue as human beings, in order to make this world a more sustainable place for all.

I connected to this work on an artistic level, but more immediately as someone who believes deeply in a cohesive and environmentally friendly world – for our earth, for ourselves, for each other. It’s what is at the core of my business, of what I hope to develop here in DC. A space, both literal and figurative, that allows us all to heal and share and repair – to live beautifully. Through art, through food, through interaction and dialogue.

I spoke to members of the cast afterwards, mostly in incomplete and incoherent sentences. But I hope they felt the heart and spirit behind my fragments of thoughts. I am grateful to have been touched by this work of art, and hope to continue to dialogue with these incredible individuals as they continue this necessary work and conversation.

Here’s to another day of creativity…

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