True Celebrity True Charity

Corporate or industrial theatre is often seen in the theatre industry as the cop out, the sell out. It is like waitressing to a restaurateur, adverts to a filmmaker, copy to someone who dreams of being a novelist. In other words it is often seen as the necessary evil in order to bring in the bacon doing something that resembles your passion, while dreaming of said passion.

Or is it?

In a way, yes. I began in industrial theatre when I finished varsity as a means to get into the industry. What happened though was that I fell in love with what we do. I fell in love with the fact that though theatre we communicate messages to people from all walks of life and essentially aim to make their lives better in some way. Whether it is saving lives with HIV & Aids interventions, or motivating people using a play about transformation and diversity, or even just presenting the joy of the journey of a theatre play to people who don't usually get to experience the magic. I still dream of writing a novel and I will be published, however the two are not separate entities. The two types of writing, of expression, feed into each other, influence each other.

What this little diatribe is getting to is that in this industry of industrial theatre we use actors. And it amazes me that in this totally unglamourous field that exists to serve people we have actors with celebrity issues.

When asked to do a charity show to underprivileged children we had two actors make comments like: "I no longer do free shows". Or: "That NGO offered to pay me to teach there so I don't see why I should do the show for free. Really, we do so much free stuff."

Really? REALLY? Are you serious? The words in type may not convey the attitude that accompanied them in speech. The attitude was pure... pure... words fail. Lets try again. Entitlement perhaps? Ego? Arrogance? And where does this come from in such a supposedly humbling job that is so so far away from the shining lights and grandeur of "real" theatre?

Then you look at celebrities... People such as Angelina Jolie spring to mind. Oprah Winfrey. Plenty of South African celebrities who have done countless charity events - songs, performances and the like. These people are surrounded by lights and glory that have the potential to seed huge egos yet they do things for free. Yes, they have more than enough money. However, I don't think charity rests only on money. To me charity means giving of something you have in abundance to empower the lives of those less fortunate. You can give of time, of love, of talent and of money. The charity that has the greatest effect in my mind is that which cannot be measured in money. Someone will forget that R500 odd rands but might remember forever the time they got to spend with someone inspiring, or the time they were the recipient of someones talent that perhaps inspired them to great achievement.

For me true celebrity is gracious and generous and then you are not only surrounded by light and glory, but you create it. It radiates from within. I wish I could tell this to the people I encountered in my quest to secure a free show. And as I write this I realize that I started this as a an opinionated rant underpinned by the need to correct what I see as wrong. I realize that actually, I find it sad that a lot of people don't realize the joy that comes from giving without wanting gain. The person living in the "I only work if I get paid" world is really living in the world of "I have lost my passion." I realized this myself recently when I uncovered another passion and as I am not trained feel obliged to do it for free. I felt that I would do it even if free is the only option purely because I love it. It also made me look at my main passion that I am lucky enough to earn money from - writing. I thought to myself if I am always putting a price on that writing, and I defend that price quite rigorously often, am I still passionate about it? Well then I remembered that I write for free all the time. I write my novels for free (at the moment). I write these blogs for free. I write in my journal for free. I try to inspire people with words for free all the time - silly things like cards and interoffice communications. Why? Because I am compelled to. And because I love writing so much, and I love inspiring people to reach their dreams no matter what they be, I will gladly do it for free. I think this is the point that I have been led to. Charity can only stem from a place of passion. Because when you are living with passion it is that passion that needs to spill over. Happiness comes from the act of doing it and not necessarily from what you get from it and this opens up the space for true effective giving.

So now, what I would say to my colleagues if I could: "I really really hope that you rediscover the reason that you do this work and find the passion again. And if you can't may you find the passion that is naturally yours that allows you the freedom to gain happiness from the very act of doing whatever that passion may be so that maybe it can spill over and touch the lives of those less fortunate so that they in turn may be inspired to find their own passion and happiness. The world really can be a better place".

How to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone 101

1. Meet and see awesome jewelry from a woman selling jewelry at restaurants
2. Exchange numbers because you forgot to bring cash and must have that necklace
3. Use exchanged numbers to organize an exchange of another kind
4. Run into that person repeatedly and get excited about their dream of expanding a back room one person operation into a much bigger picture
4. Say that you can help
5. Get repeated missed calls presumably about said help
6. Phone back when time and get asked whether you can help with a huge problem - wonderful jeweler needs a place to stay urgently with her son. They don't have a place even for the night
7. Stammer out a response that you will think about something and call back
8. Ponder the options. No one you know has a room. Think of what it would mean to have a total stranger "off the street" in a very settled single person "I live alone with no routines and a lock up and go lifestyle"
9. Ponder the other option, saying no but knowing that this person might be out in the cold and you can't have that on your conscience as you get into a nice warm bed.
10. Make a decision.
11. Phone and say OK, I will help you and ask the relevant and logistical questions about daily life routines and future plans.
12. Decide on a time for Thandi to come round with her son.
13. Get home and wait. Time passes and no sign of Thandi.
14. Entertain a passing thought that maybe they made another plan and wait some more
15. Can't stand the waiting and phone to find out what is happening
16. They are right outside your door
17. Let them in
18. Listen to their story and marvel at yet another assumption made that has been obliterated about a certain 'type' of person
19. Reevaluate totally the transience of "stuff" and the true feeling of deciding to have faith in a total stranger, to trust in a total stranger and to regain a sense of community that perhaps in our fast paced self centric urban lives has been missing
20. Realize that there is something greater at work here
21. Lessons need to be learnt about opening up to strangers and realizing that they are not strange at all

And wham, you are out of your comfort zone with little stirrings of emerging lessons in life. This will be an ongoing topic as there is so much more to this situation than I am able to write in yet another long entry!