Television is really good right now, y'all. We've never had so many choices of "content" to watch, on screens both large and small. We can come home from a long day and hole up on our couches to escape to just about anywhere.
We can unplug.
I love the irony of that word "unplug," since we're really immersing ourselves in the worlds within our electronic devices ... after our heads have been buried in our computers and phones for most of the day.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm no technophobe. I'm actually a licensed couch potato, and as addicted to all this content as anybody. But I can't deny that there's something missing from even the best TV binging session ... something about the experience of it.
Contrast the experience of sitting at home, focused on a two-dimensional screen, with the experience of a live performance.
Both may involve storytelling, sure. But when those professional storytellers are sharing the same, intimate space as the audience, the energy in the room is palpable. You experience the story, both in 360° and in real time, knowing that what you're witnessing can never be exactly repeated. It's honestly not fair to compare the two. Heck, just getting out of the house for date night, or with friends, or with the family, (or on your own!) is a better, more memorable experience.
One of the things that excited me about moving back to Little Rock was the unusually large amount of fun, interesting things there are to do here ... particularly for a city of this size.
Just in the coming weeks you can hear Beethoven's 3rd Symphony; or hear Ruth Bader Ginsburg speak; or drink a honey bock at the brewery where it was made; or bike literally 100 miles of scenic trail along the river; or hear the Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet; or judge (not kidding) a cheese dip championship; or, yes, attend a live, professional production of a hit musical (about Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins, no less).
But who's got the time, or the energy, or the money for all that? It's so much easier to just go home and become one with the sofa. You also haven't finished Season 3 of Stranger Things yet.
A friend of mine in New York used to include a hashtag with all of his social media posts chronicling visits to local events or attractions: #EnjoyYourCityMore. It stuck with me as a reminder that having fun actually takes a little work. Just the initiative required to make plans can be an insurmountable hurdle, even if you know you'll eventually be glad you did.
But there are easy ways out there to make plans! Subscribe to a season of events somewhere ... you'll take care of multiple fun nights out over the course of a year, and you'll only have to take that initiative once. Subscribing is also usually the most affordable option, and often comes with a host of other perks (like priority seating or free parking). Becoming a subscriber also allows you to experience a variety of events across a season (we programmers think about those things), plus it's a fundamental way to support that organization ... you become part of its family.
The Rep has a season coming up. (Here's that plug you saw coming a mile away.) It's my first to program for the company, and I can't wait to share it with y'all. We've got a Tony Award-winning icon in a tour-de-force performance; a visionary adaptation of a contemporary, best-selling novel; and undoubtedly the most fun of the classic musicals. These are three very different stories, each told in a very different way. But they all are uplifting, entertaining, and can only be truly experienced live.
So check us out at TheRep.org. And enjoy your city more.
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Little Rock native and Tony Award winner Will Trice is the new executive artistic director of The Arkansas Repertory Theatre.
Editorial on 08/26/2019