A Lesson From Theatre Camp

[Guest]

Today at camp one of our campers came into the green room to put his lunch away in the fridge. After a week and a half of being guarded and temperamental he finally broke down. In front of all four teachers, when Stephen [not his real name] was asked what was wrong he kicked the garbage can over, punched his fist into the desk and started yelling about how unbearable it is at home. How he is abused, how he is unwanted and treated like he is worth nothing, and how it makes him so angry to have to go home and face this every day of his life. With a room full of adults supporting him - especially Joe who over the past week Stephen has latched onto as the positive male figure that he does not have in his home life - Stephen broke down into sobs so severe he could barely breathe. This was not just a teenager being dramatic. Stephen is dealing with problems at home that would make many adults crumble after a day, much less every day. This is not uncommon with our students.

But his yelling and his crying aren't the message of this story. Because after the crying subsided, Stephen pointed to each of the adults in the room. "I know you have problems, I heard about how your house got hit by lightening last week...", "I know how you have problems too, I heard about your court date for bankruptcy..." and so on. It turns out Stephen has been tuning into the conversations of the 'adults' when we didn't think any of the campers were listening, and he's learned a lot about our lives. "I don't understand. How do you do it?! How can you come here every day with a smile on your face?!" A seventeen-year-old who literally has the weight of the world on his shoulders wanted to know what the secret of adulthood was - how the hell could we deal with all the struggles of our personal lives and yet come to camp each day pouring out nothing but endless support, energy and creativity.

He wanted to know because he wanted to be able to do it, too.

After the talk was over, Stephen left the green room and we all thought he'd go off somewhere private for a while to pull himself together. But no. He walked right onstage to where the rest of the group was assembled, plugged himself right into the game they were playing at the time, and participated in it with no fear, amazing vigor, and a courageous spirit. For the rest of the afternoon Stephen did fantastic work with a grin on his face - unless he was playing a dramatic role, of course. And despite everything going on which threatens to beat him down, over the past week and a half even in the moments where he was feeling his worst he has yet to insult, assault or mistreat any of his fellow campers even in the slightest way.

So Stephen obviously learned the secret to adulthood all on his own, because it happens to also be the secret of participating in the vulnerable art of theatre: No matter what is going on in some parts of your life, you have to have the strength and maturity to separate all that emotional baggage from the rest of your life or else everything will self-destruct.

When a seventeen-year-old has the insight to recognize this quality in others and the ability to see this quality lacking in himself....when a seventeen-year-old is able to discover this secret all on his own and immediately apply it to the rest of his day... when a seventeen-year-old is able to achieve that level of decorum and morality despite the fact the odds are against him, I have no respect or patience for any adult that publicly berates, slanders and mistreats a person for the actions of characters in something that is only a game. What would his fellow campers think of Stephen if he started screaming and flew off the handle because he didn't like that their superhero character treated his character poorly during a scene?

After all, it's just theatre right?

And this is just a game.