Happy Blessed Empowered World Theatre Day!

May we always remember that Theatre is a place where we practice, experience as well as expand our humanity in order to understand that in a world of conflict and separation we are actually more similar and connected than what politics and systems of power are leading us to believe. First and foremost we, Humans, are imperfect and gracious at the same time. Theatre is an art of healing. It helps us heal the false perception of separation and distancing. We - artists and audiences of theater - are constantly focusing towards understanding each other and moving forward in inclusiveness, acceptance and comprehension of our differences and similarities, realising that our essential oneness is what makes us all humans. We are all visitors of a planet called earth, an ongoing school in which our book is called our story and our pen is called thoughts and actions. Our given talent is our freedom and our right is called "free will". It’s up to us what we do with all that. We may either excel together or keep on circling alone and separate and against each other in a never ending repetition of self-destruction and suffering. The sooner we understand and accept each other exactly as we are the more we harmonise with Life that accepts us all under the same terms. Theatre is our chance to come together to look ourselves in the mirror, to witness and learn and understand our nature with open hearts, the same Heart that makes us all human in the long history of humanity. Theatre gives us a chance to create a crack in our firmly solidified convictions for love to light through and set us free from the heavy chains of the ego of separation. If Love is our absolute power, the essence of what makes us Human, our driving force to a higher and true consciousness, then, Theatre is one of the major vehicles we created to help us get there!

Photo: Mike Rafail - That long black cloud

“Nietzsche was the one who did the job for me. At a certain moment in his life, the idea came to him of what he called ‘the love of your fate.’ Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, ‘This is what I need.’ It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that moment—not discouragement—you will find the strength is there. Any disaster you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life. What a privilege! This is when the spontaneity of your own nature will have a chance to flow.

Then, when looking back at your life, you will see that the moments which seemed to be great failures followed by wreckage were the incidents that shaped the life you have now. You’ll see that this is really true. Nothing can happen to you that is not positive. Even though it looks and feels at the moment like a negative crisis, it is not. The crisis throws you back, and when you are required to exhibit strength, it comes.”

— Joseph Campbell " A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living"