Robert Urbanek
Member
In a dream from last year, I am backstage in a Broadway theater where the shows are becoming more lavish and professional, but the staff feels under pressure. I see two or three racks of costumes. I then see an actor wandering about. He is from a show that ended a long time ago.
I look out at the audience. Theatre seating has been replaced by dining tables, each covered with a white linen tablecloth, with a candle at the center. About five people in elegant clothes are seated at each table. I hear someone say that the theatre electrical circuits are overloaded and there will be a fire, although this announcement does not provoke any alarm. I remember there had been previous fires at the theater.
Next, I am outside the theater, looking at it from across the street in the daylight. The street is empty of traffic, and the theater doesn’t look like a Broadway venue but an old movie house with a marque in the front. My impression was that the venue and the performances kept changing over the years, from vaudeville to nightclub to musical show to dinner theatre to movie theater.
My interpretation is that each venue and type of performance represents a different era or epoch in human history. When each era reaches its peak, a “firestorm” of change brings a new period of human theater. The last scene is a bit troubling. Does the movie house appear vacant because humanity has left the stage?
I look out at the audience. Theatre seating has been replaced by dining tables, each covered with a white linen tablecloth, with a candle at the center. About five people in elegant clothes are seated at each table. I hear someone say that the theatre electrical circuits are overloaded and there will be a fire, although this announcement does not provoke any alarm. I remember there had been previous fires at the theater.
Next, I am outside the theater, looking at it from across the street in the daylight. The street is empty of traffic, and the theater doesn’t look like a Broadway venue but an old movie house with a marque in the front. My impression was that the venue and the performances kept changing over the years, from vaudeville to nightclub to musical show to dinner theatre to movie theater.
My interpretation is that each venue and type of performance represents a different era or epoch in human history. When each era reaches its peak, a “firestorm” of change brings a new period of human theater. The last scene is a bit troubling. Does the movie house appear vacant because humanity has left the stage?