Sunlight, Moonlight, Stage light
When the days get shorter and the nights get colder, we humans find ways to compensate. I’ve written in this space before (but not for a while, so if you’ve forgotten, read on!) about the Latin origins of one of my favorite words: FOCUS. We’ll get back to that in a moment.
It’s a favorite of mine partly because one of my past theatrical lives was as a lighting designer, and focusing lights is one of the best parts of the job, whether you’re up on the ladder or down on the floor. One fixture at a time, the design takes shape and the world is illuminated. Let there be light and all that.
The word has stayed front and center with me in my work as a stage director, as we try to ensure that the important moments in the show receive proper attention from the audience; in other words, we provide focus so that everyone knows where to look and what to listen to.
And as a teacher, I am constantly striving to create and sustain the focus of my students, fighting their (and my own) shortening attention spans, urging them (and myself) to stay on task, to pull the deeper meaning out of an extended passage of prose, poetry, or song and convey it to an audience—on paper or in a theater. I love a challenge, and that’s a focal point of my work these days.
What has that to do with shorter days and Latin etymology, I hear you ask?
This beautiful word, focus, is Latin for “hearth” or “fireplace.” Think about that for a moment—better yet, visualize it. If the fireplace is lit, where else in the room can you look? If you’re camping and someone (safely) builds a fire, what else can you do but gather around it?
So when it gets dark early and cold sooner, we seek out illumination and warmth and the pleasure of each other’s company. We face toward the light, keeping the darkness at our back. Sounds a lot like going to the theater, doesn’t it?
So take a look through this newsletter at all the opportunities to gather in front of this hearth we call the Hylton Center this fall and early winter. Stage light is a pretty good stand-in for a campfire, when what it illuminates is music, dance, and drama of the kind that makes you glad you joined with a few hundred of your fellow humans to stave off the dark.
Stay focused, and I’ll see you at the Hylton Center!
Rick Davis
Dean and Executive Director