Chemeketa Theater
2007-2008 Season
from the Introduction to Necessary Losses, by Eve Ensler:
We make decisions all the time. Decisions about them. Them is always different from us. Them has no face. Them is a little bit deserving of all the bad that happens to them. Them is used to violence – it’s in their blood…
When we think of war, we think of it as something that happens to men in fields or jungles. We think of hand grenades and Scud missiles. We think of the moment of violence – the blast, the explosion. But war is also a consequence – the effects of which are not known or felt for months, years, generations. And because consequences are usually not televised, by then the war is no longer sexy – the ratings are gone, consequences remain invisible….
Maybe this is the purpose of art, and theater in particular – to experience what we experience, to see what’s in front of us, to allow the truth in, with all its sorrow and brutality, because in the theater we are not alone in our worried and stained beds. We are there, for these moments together, joined by what we see and hear, made stronger, hopefully, by what opens us.
“I used to think it was the leaders, that men really made this war because of their hunger for power. But now I really believe it’s in all of us – this thing, this monster, waiting to be let out. It waits there looking for a reason, a master, an invitation. If we are not aware of it, it can conquer us. “
-- Zlata,
Necessary Losses, Eve Ensler