EMPATHY

Maggie raised some interesting questions.  Can we really only reach people if they are willing to listen or should we be trying to reach past those people to those who will not.  I think is change is to really be made, one has to attempt to get to the latter.  I think the best way to really do this is to write about things you know or have experienced.  If artists share their truthful point of view, they will always be compelling.  It makes me think of our one-person shows.  I have written mine about my family and ambiguous loss.  I think one-person shows are a great medium for empathy.  They can be anything.  They are story-telling.  They are also very interactive.  The audience becomes a character that the person/people that they person performing speaks to.  Anything that will include the audience will illicit empathy.  That's why I love the re-enactment exercises.  You could even switch roles and feel what it would be like to be the other person.  Anything that is interactive will FORCE you to think.  It will force you to choose a point of view, as opposed to the theatre that just asks you to come, sit for a bit, and forget.