“What do you want to
be when you grow up?”, is a question we ask our children. Why do we use the
verb “to be”, as if their job is what they are, not what it is that they do.
Or is our job what we are?
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to watch the Trinity Prep high school musical theater
class perform “WORKING”, a musical adaptation from the book by Studs Terkel. Watching
a group of exceptionally talented students, with a private school education and
the future in front of them, play mill workers and firefighters, check-out
girls and waitresses, UPS drivers and Wall Street executives was a jarring
juxtaposition.
Janine Papin, the head of the theater department and
director, summed up the rationale for the selection as follows:
“Each
semester, Patrick (Nugent, Musical Director) and I attempt to find a show that
meets the needs of the students enrolled. In the case of WORKING, each of the
13 students has his/her time in the spotlight and as part of the ensemble. As
they step in and out of different people’s shoes, it shows them a side of
life that they have yet to, or may never experience. I believe that
exposure to the different sides of life and various socio-economic groups will
help these students see things differently. We have all been told that we can’t
really understand anyone until we have walked in their shoes. I hope that this
show deepens both the actors’ and the audience’s understanding of the human
condition.”
She knows her students, and is always striving to teach them,
not simply about “acting”, but to make them better citizens of the world. Her
students know this, or at least sense it, and are incredibly responsive and
loyal. Parents of students also get this, and are profoundly grateful for her
commitment to her students. Every one of them is a better person for having worked with Janine and Patrick.
As a father watching the show, one of the scenes was particularly
poignant. Mike (sung by Jamie Pittle), a father, speaks to his own son as well
as to his relationship with his own father.
“Boy you
never stop to think, how fast the years run now they’ve taken you…I remember
when you were three and a half, your ma and me would sit there…planning for our
kid. I was your hero then. I could do no wrong. As far as you was concerned, I
was the best of men…You hadn’t learned, how little time it takes and that
Daddies make mistakes.”
“Seems to
me that lately I’ve been thinking a lot about my Dad…Lots of funny things come
back, I thought I’d forgot, and now they make me sad…He was my hero then. He
couldn’t do no wrong, as far as I was concerned, he was the wisest, and the
strongest, and the best of men…I hadn’t learned…that Daddies make mistakes.”
Mike then went on to describe his rationale for working,
and his dreams for his son:
“…my kid
is my imprint, you know what I mean? This is why I work…You know what I
want? I want my kid to tell me that he’s not going to be like me…I’m sure the
first caveman who went over the hill to see what was on the other side, didn’t
go just out of curiosity. He went there because he wanted to get his son out
of that cave.”
I would wager that I wasn’t the only man in the theater
for whom this song hit close to home.
The kids on stage are being groomed for success. They come
from privileged backgrounds, and are candidates for America’s finest schools.
Notwithstanding their background, these kids are no strangers to hard work. Academic
rigor is de rigueur and scholarships from
the best schools are likely. You don’t get to be as talented as these kids by
accident. They have had to work at it, and I have a profound respect for their talents.
There is nothing to which these kids aren’t able to aspire, but a little wisdom
imparted along the way can only help.
“If I could’ve done, what I could’ve
done, I could’ve done big things…With leeway to go far as I could go, I
would’ve gone places – to the front of the line, the top of the tier, a long
way from here…”
Perhaps as a result of this class, these kids (and the
audience) will think differently about the maid, the grocery store clerk, the
truck driver, the immigrant laborer, the firefighter, and the mason. If this
happens, mission accomplished.
These people work, and like Mike probably work hard, so
that their sons and daughters can have a better life than they’ve had. That’s
something to which every one of us can relate, and is worthy of our compassion
and respect, no matter the work.
Thank you Janine & Patrick.
That’s my .02!
Martin Suter
(martin.suter at iplicensing.net)
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