A Reflection on SPARK in Boston (#2)
Sat, 12/01/2012 - 19:00
csvich
Atomic Age Theatre and Emerson College, Boston, MA
October 30, 2012
Directed by Noelle Vinas
by Noelle Vinas
I’m from Northern Virginia. That normally means privilege, government jobs, military money, and one of the most affluent areas of the United States. That’s not all it means to me, it is home – but these factors are constantly there. Many of the best friends I had growing up were of military families, of varying economic status, and many of them moved somewhere new every three years. A life serving your country really means a life serving your country. It is in every aspect of what you do, and it is not ever just an individual commitment – everyone else who loves you and those who love you make that commitment too.
I only had to say one or two sentences for my wonderful cast to understand this. Alexandria Moorman (Emerson College ’12), Jacob Plummer (Emerson College ’14), Natasha Karp (Emerson College ’14) and Zelda Gay (Emerson College ’14), understood these were intrinsic truths in the script. In our reading at Emerson, they treated the script with the care it demanded because it carried them. Our audience (one of the largest I’ve ever seen for a staged reading at Emerson) was similarly reverent, and in turns, amused and moved. This meant something to each of us, and we all identified – whether we were from a military family or not. These women’s different roles, each a fighter in a different way, spoke truth – regardless of proximity to situation. And that was a gift we were all able to share. Coming back home to Virginia for Thanksgiving, I am struck by the idea that Spark doesn’t just come to mind because the US Armed Forces have been a part of my life since my parents and I immigrated to the Washington, D.C. Area. SPARK comes to mind because it is about family, sacrifice, and understanding. And whether we’re from Virginia or Massachusetts, we can all connect to that.