Community

December 7 – Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?

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Oh boy. I think this is a biggie for me.

I’m living in a variety of communities. I play different roles (of myself) in them. If you’re already confused, join the club.

In any case, I live in a very strange community of people I work, live, and play with nearly 24/7. It has been wonderfully rewarding and exceptionally challenging. Our situation is completely unique. We’re from all over the country (and then some). We all in this tiny, tiny town to create theatre. It’s very isolated (and now cold, and covered in snow). The work we do changes lives in ways we probably can’t begin to surmise. It’s rewarding. We discuss minutiae all the time. We are a family in every sense of the word (think of all positive and negative connotations). Living in this community has been a constant learning and evolving process. I think I’m going to be more grateful for this than I realize. But it’s kind of hard to recognize that right now. I think it’s safe to say we’re all kind of going nuts at the end of the year. I know I am, and I know others are.

One community (and this is going to seem weird, but I shall trumpet it unless I see a reason not to) that I cherish lately is the people I follow on Twitter. It’s a bustling community that is full of intelligent, insightful, hilarious, caring folks. The people and organizations I interact with makes for excellent community, conversation, education, and laughs. My hope is to strengthen these relationships. It would be fun to meet some of these folks in real life. Sure, some of these followers sometimes only skim the surface, but my humble Twitter community has provided a lot of joy for me, and I’m stickin’ by that. It’s incredibly difficult to explain this to people who don’t understand (which is most of my friends and family, to be honest). I anticipate this growing even moreso in 2011.

I’m only touching on two major ones. There are others. Some I’m a part of by default, others seem to have a moving target that I can get a good aim on. I sense a lot of great community in my life. I feel like I’m on the verge of some communities (say, the Twin Cities theatre scene), but I’m not wholly immersed. I would love to make an effort of thriving in the communities I may dabble in. I want to make a greater impact and difference. Come March, I’ll also have a better idea of what other communities I may be a part of—that’s when grad school offers happen.

Another interesting point about community in the future: I’m going to be playing a part of a community in Henrik Ibsen’s play “An Enemy of the People” next spring. Without getting into too much detail, this is a story about community. It’s about a town that bands together (viciously) against some incriminating evidence to the town in which they live. It’ll be interesting to explore this notion of community more. After that, it’s the fun on Skid Row in “Little Shop of Horrors.” I’m sure more details will arrive down the road.

This is a topic I’m keenly interested in. I like this prompt. I found myself in a bit of a groove, even.