“No one know what it’s like…to be the bad man, the sad man behind blue eyes.” – The Who
Every long term actor must confront the single role that breaks down their social safeguards and forces them to smell, breathe and see through the eyes of the monster.
Throughout my training, my teacher constantly reminded all of us that there will be a time where the lines of art and life will blur and you may have to switch loyalties and speak for those who think they are truly the heroes/victims of their life. You will be forever changed. You will grow as an artist, but lose something along the way: ‘Societal Blinders’.
He wasn’t kidding.
Rehearsals are in full swing and every one is excruciating. First you are a indignant teenage prostitute, only to don the skin of a pedophile who truly thinks he offers love the next minute. To be a woman when the curtain falls, but to play a man who physically and emotionally abuses his fiancee when the lights shine.
Dael’s words in Black n Blue Boys / Broken Men brings a brutal mirror to those who dare observe, judge, dismiss and, at worst, demonize. The Freakonomics Team did a great podcast about the cost of Sexual Assault; who pays, how long and why. Germany is now offering a hand to those who would otherwise not get the help that they need.
Playing the many roles of Black n Blue Boys / Broken Men have opened my eyes to the importance of community, family and medical help, specifically for those who suffer their demons and the victims face the tail end of their brutality. Jail does not beget justice, because a third of the time, it will happen again.
I hope that the performance will move those who partake to think preemptively, to understand that keeping a child safe, and sane, is in their hands now and forever. That is what community is about.
-JC
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