Today I had a thought. I wanted to do a rundown of each performance of HOME LAND—the strengths, weaknesses, thoughts about audience reactions, etc.—and write about how each one of the performances effected the life of the play. But this afternoon as I was taking notes I was struck with an idea. I took note of the fact that there were four performances in total, and my mind kept chewing over that number… four. Four? Why did I keep coming back to that? But then it hit me: the four cardinal directions. North. South. East. West. I gained an entirely new perspective on the play as I mulled over this idea, and I couldn’t help but notice how the play traveled, each night, from one direction to the other.
I pulled out my copy of HOME LAND and went to the list of “dramatis personae” remembering that Christopher had laid out how each compass point symbolizes a very specific idea: Evelyn Kramer’s story and the West symbolize death and endings, Standing Bear’s story and the North represent the power of stories and trials, and so on. But after my moments of introspection I realized that it wasn’t only the characters that embodied the points on the compass. I realized that the run of the play also followed the path of the Sacred Circle:
1ST PERFORMANCE – NORTH – THE POWER OF STORIES, TRIALS
I think the first performance rested largely in the North. If North represents the power of stories, and if every story must have a beginning, then this was the beginning of our story. It was, so to speak, the initial gathering around the fire, the time to share all the stories within the play with each other, and with the audience. I use the image of gathering around the fire quite intentionally for several reasons: 1) Standing Bear begins his story within the play by telling Matthias about the people who came from the water and built a fire, thus gathering around a hearth and creating home and stories, 2) together, the previous night, everyone quite literally “gathered around the fire” during the Sweat Lodge Ceremony, thus begging our story as a family together, and 3) if the North also represents trials then the phrase “trial by fire” describes the trials in which everyone took part during the run of the play…
2ND PERFORMANCE – SOUTH – TRUST, TRUTH, FRIENDSHIP
This was the matinee performance with the kids, and it was undoubtedly based in the South. I say this because I, along with the rest of the cast and crew, are in agreement over the fact that the kids trusted the play more than any other audience. They were there with the story the entire time, and really got at the TRUTH of the play more than any other audience as well. And if the third theme of the South is friendship, then I think that sums up our slow coming together as a motley little family. After a couple of days in Lincoln and two performances our friendships began to grow, and all of the trust and truth that is a part of that began to shine.
3RD PERFORMANCE – WEST – DEATH, ENDINGS
At this performance we were visited by the tell-tale wasp, a veritable omen of metaphorical death. The wasp traveled the four compass points landing on the actors and their scripts. It was, after careful consideration, taken as an omen. At that point, with a waning audience, everyone was in agreement that if the play were to continue down that path of that night, and seek that type of “show” and audience (for lack of a better way of putting it) then things were bound to end…
4TH PERFORMANCE – EAST – NEW LIFE
Fortunately, everyone was able to read the sign and with the help of Dan’s blessing and our bond, the play finally landed in the East, the place of New Life. Here we watched as James Garang finally speaks of finding a land for his heart, and we watched the proverbial rising sun of the East shine on all new possibilities, and a new life for each of those effected by the play, and new life for the play itself. New Life suggests change, a change not unnoticed by anyone fortunate enough to experience this thing that seems so much bigger than ourselves.
