No, I’m not suggesting that’s what anyone should be doing in this time of social distancing, although I have cried a couple of times, and I think that’s OK - this is a really stressful time, and there’s no certainty of when it will end. In the meantime, it would be inconceivable to go through this pandemic without having the internet to help keep us connected. We have meetings using Zoom and cocktails with friends on FaceTime. You can stream movies and TV shows, and though the internet was already a rabbit hole, it’s more so now - it’s just too easy to go from one funny YouTube video to another, especially when it features a dog...
 |
| (photo from Geva's website) |
A month ago seems like a lifetime ago. A month ago, I was contemplating going to see Geva Theatre’s Once for a third time. And I was going to see Cry It Out, even though I thought I wouldn’t identify with the characters – new parents. Unfortunately, both shows had to close prematurely. But fortunately, Geva was able to get permission to video both shows and is now offering them for rental for a limited time (for $35 each, until April 15). So the day they were released, I purchased and watched Cry It Out. If you don’t already have a Vimeo account (I didn’t…), it’s a bit of a process initially, and of course requires yet one more password (I won’t tell you mine, but let’s just say that Vimeo and Coronavirus will be forever linked in my mind!). While I missed being part of an audience watching the play (there’s no substitute for that shared experience), it was kind of nice to be comfortable on my couch, with no distractions.
As is frequently true, you shouldn’t always believe the things you think, and I didn’t have to have had children to empathize with the characters. The play isn’t just about new moms, it’s about choices. And not just about the choices we make, but the choices we don’t have, due to whatever circumstances limit those choices. There’s always someone worse off and someone better off, with more or different alternatives at their disposal. And you never really know what other people are going through, so it’s easy to make excuses for your own choices (or lack of choice) and to blame others for theirs.
“Crying it out” refers to letting a baby cry itself to sleep, instead of the parents rushing in to soothe the child. The parallels to today’s Coronavirus crisis aren’t hard to miss - so many people are sick and dying, or are or will be out of work. What do we, as a society, choose? Do we follow those who say we “can't let the cure be worse than the disease”? Do we let people die to save the economy? Or do we collectively shut down, to “flatten the curve” for everyone? When we get to the other side of this crisis, do we return to business as usual? Or do we take stock, and finally address some of the problems that exacerbated this crisis – e.g., the lack of investment in and respect for science and medicine; the lack of affordable and accessible health care for everyone, not just the rich? Do we choose to do nothing, and let a huge segment of our society “cry it out”?
Here’s the link for Cry it Out:
As well as the link for Once:
