Bear The Weight

  
      I am directing Seussical the Musical along with Taryn Gilbert this spring. The show opens April 16 and closes the 19, I pray we send shockwaves through our Lehigh Valley. You see, this show is special for it is in the turning of ordinary acts into great ones that we elevate the state of our fellow man. We are bearing the weight of the world in these times of turmoil as we must fight against the evil or be consumed by it. The martyrs in the Middle east grow in number everyday as the disgusting ISIS pushes on, yet the rest of the world collectively ignores their plight. Back home it seems American culture degrades further and further every awards show. How do we turn ordinary acts into great ones? How does this change anything? When we see ourselves and every action we make as a positive or negative footprint others will follow, when we look to take an activity and see the greatest potential for positive affects, when we we do what we do out of common love, when we refuse to do those things where the positive does not weigh out the negative, these are some of the decisions and mindsets which revolutionize your community and our culture. This is our greatest way to affect change, choosing a life path which answers these questions and then doing every action directly or indirectly accomplish positive change worldwide
    To put this ethereal and seemingly naive thought into perspective think of the coke commercial, Open Happiness. One good deed creates a ripple effect and so on and so forth. Now multiply that by 1,000 and apply it to larger endeavors like.....putting on a musical, or choosing a career, what movies you pay to see, where you shop, what groups you support, or the decision to volunteer and/or donate. That is the only way most of us not in politics or moguls can slowly improve this earth. One person at a time, improving one life at a time and it starts with your own!
  
  A daycare just bought 65 tickets for our Thursday morning performance, we supply the daycares with somewhat of a more educational directors notes. This is comparable to a study guide explaining the principles and messages we hope to express through the show. Truly I hope I can direct a show which reaches each of our audience members on a personal level and for the younger ones it starts with this letter. (Rough Draft #1)
 
               
                                       WELCOME TO SEUSSICAL THE MUSICAL!!!
   
    Sing For America Presents is happy to share this story with you and your students today! SFAP performs to bring truth and light to every audience member. This guide is to help you bring that to each of your students. 
   Seussical has so many strong messages, each of which reach to the core of who we are and how to live free, responsible, powerful, and happy lives.  Jojo is the hero of the show and is a dreamer and believer. In the show he is a cast out and loner due to his unique 'thinks'! Jojo's parents only want the best for him and love him very much but are blinded by social standards. In this show Jojo learns the great power and responsibility of being a thinker like him, not that he should be selfish with his gift and only please himself with his wild imagination but that his gift is to be used out of love for his friends and family! In the final scene he learns this as he is the only one who can save Who with a "peculiar new word". His parents see that ,even if Jojo is different, who he is is special and his gifts and talents will bring joy to many people. This is an overarching theme of this story, each of us were made with gifts and who we are is more that we could dream to be, if we let ourselves be it. Horton with his big ears is the only one who can hear the Who's, Gertrude has a small tail but that is 'just right for that kind of bird' and she is able to save the clover and bring it to Horton.Her heart is so pure and she is the least judgemental character in this story.
    The best thing Mayzie La Bird ever did was give up her egg. She Loved it and knew that Horton would raise it better. Hear we see that selfishness is a hard habit to break. Mayzie in the end is the saddest character in the show always seeking gratification and the next thrill she can find. She displays the sadness of a life lived only for ourselves
     The key theme in SFAP's performance is A PERSONS A PERSON NO MATTER HOW SMALL! We have started to see people as a combination of attributes which judge our worth. Even the young ones are feeling this in advertising and pop culture. What we can do in no way correlates to our worth. We in no way can quantify a human life, Down Syndrome, those with deformities, the elderly, these are human beings just like any of us. What makes us human is a greater connection than any race, ethnicity, or opinion. Every one of us is special not because of what we can do or because of who we are in our own uniqueness there is only 1 of you!