Cheesy puns put ‘unity’ in ‘community'

by Theodore J. Chipmonk

I have to hand it to Rosie Lally and Lucia Lincoln. They've done it again. Last weekend's benefit production put on by the Charter Oak Shelter House Committee was a laugh riot.

But it was a whole lot more than funny, it was democracy in action and it was exactly the kind of thing that makes small towns so wonderful.

The show was everything it set out to be. How many Broadway plays can say that? Of course, what it set out to be was silly, cheesy, puny fun. This play was everything a small town ought to be, and everything you look for in a friend or neighbor- totally unpretentious, self effacing, and able to laugh at them self. That may be due, a great deal to Rosie and Lucia.

Ms. Lincon has been teaching, (or “coaching”) drama at Charter Oak-Ute High School long enough to have established herself as a community institution. There are some powerful values that seep into the way she writes, plans, produces and directs her plays. It’s pretty obvious that she very deliberately tries to include as many people as possible.

As a result, more people are exposed to the creative process than usual. That way, we take ownership for it, we respect it and it’s more important to us. That also means that more of us “get cultured.” More of us attend such a play than normally would.

Another result is that the creative process is exposed to more hands, more input. Rosie & Lucia know we’re not professional actors and enjoy our idiosyncrasies. Heck, they take advantage of our personality quirks. In the case of last weekend’s play, they took advantage of our names.

It’s gotta drive them crazy. Having so many people learning and rehearsing parts has to start feeling like herding cats. But they manage it like pros.

Some would argue that “too many cooks ruin the soup.” Maybe so and that may be a problem if you’re trying to make Viennese turtle soup with truffles, but if you want a good ol' jambalaya, the more input the better. Lincoln and Lally actually ask for input, encourage improvisation and solicit creativity. What results is something that reflects who we are as a town, and is more our voice than either of their voices alone.

I know it sounds hokey to compare a High School English teacher to Thomas Jefferson, but just like he was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence but it was really written by the whole Continental Congress and is historically considered to be an expression of “the American mind,” Lucia starts out writing a fun little play but it takes on a life of it’s own and it really represents Charter Oak and belongs to Charter Oak, more than to Lucia or Rosie or any one else.

When I married Bethany, it didn’t take long for me to figure out that I didn’t just marry her, I married into a family, what’s more, I didn’t just marry into a family, I married into a town. That’s a wonderful feeling, even if it was a little intimidating at first. A stereotype we city native have of small towns is that they’re exclusive, stodgy, and unwelcoming to outsiders. Charter Oak broke the stereotype for me. It has been warm, accepting, understanding and has enthusiastically made me feel like a welcomed member of the community.

When we’d first come back to visit from college or California, I’d have a hard time placing names with faces. Bethany told me that there aren’t TOO many names to remember. If you know Neddermeyer, Kuhlman, Meseck, and Staley, you know almost about everybody. Thanks to last weekend’s play, I can put a lot more faces with a lot more names.

Those are the kind of values that Lucia’s dramas and her directing style embody. As a fellow teacher, I watched her at play practice to see what kinds of “teacher” things she does. Immediately following practice she made an effort to touch base with everyone she could. She praised them for their performance, gently suggested things she’s like them to add or change and often noticed things they did on their own that she thought contributed to the play.

Lots of us may have moaned or even cringed when we were asked to be involved, but think about two things; First, one of our pastors in California said that if you want someone to become a member of a church, you should “give ‘em a job.” Active participation automatically creates commitment. Second, one of the great things for armatures (and high school students) about having a huge cast is that they’re all short, easy parts. Anyone is more apt to help if they aren’t overwhelmed by how much they have to do.

In other words, “Many hands make light the work.” Or as Red Green says on IPTV, “We’re all in this together.”

That’s what community is all about. That’s what participatory democracy is all about. Helping each other, enjoying each other’s camaraderie. As everybody knows, the family that plays together stays together. I think that that has to be every bit as important as businesses or a school. If we enjoy working together to help each other out, we’ll stay afloat. I’ll bet we’ll even improve our town some, like by being able to build a new shelter house down at the park.

It may have been a corny, cheesy line at the end of a corny, cheesy play, but we ought to thank Lucia and Rosie for “putting the UNITY back in COMMUNITY!