Hi.
I’m working on a play here at the U of I called Bent. I’m the assistant stage manager!!! Yeah, I’m sorta, kinda, almost important. While I don’t call any shots, I am learning a lot about how things work behind the scenes in theater, and I’m having a lot of fun. I also get to keep the props in my apartment…that’s a big thing…really big…seriously, what would they do without me?
All jokes aside, this play is pretty serious. Its about…well I’m lazy so here’s what Wikipedia says it about: Bent is a 1979 play by Martin Sherman. (Ian McKellen starred in its original West-End production and Richard Gere in its original Broadway production) that was later adapted into a 1997 movie by director Sean Mathias. It revolves around the persecution of gay men in Third Reich Germany after the murder of Sturmabteilung leader Ernst Röhm.
Yeah, that’s heavy stuff. The play doesn’t only bring to light the tribulations homosexuals had to endure in Nazi Germany, but it also teaches about humanity. When the only thing left to face is death, and you have nothing material not even enough food to sustain you…that’s when a person’s real humanity comes out. It strips away all the B.S. we use to hide ourselves and protect ourselves from being vulnerable.
This play reminds me that at any moment I may never have a chance to say I love you to all the people I love and care about. There are people I care for that I’ve never told. That’s sad. Question is…am I brave enough to be vulnerable to someone else in order to let them know how I feel.
Usually the answer would be no. But lately I’ve been saying yes.
BTW: Weirdly and Soberingly the Night of the Long Knives, the night that sets the main characters of the play running, and also the night that Ernst Röhm was arrested by Hitler, is on June 30th…which is my birthday.
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