{"id":497,"date":"2019-08-13T03:00:12","date_gmt":"2019-08-13T03:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imaginedtheatres.com\/?post_type=theatre&p=497"},"modified":"2019-08-13T08:33:31","modified_gmt":"2019-08-13T08:33:31","slug":"the-room","status":"publish","type":"theatre","link":"https:\/\/www.imaginedtheatres.com\/the-room\/","title":{"rendered":"The Room"},"content":{"rendered":"
It is possible to imagine this room, because you have been in it before.<\/div>\n
Even if that \u2018before\u2019 were long ago in the days of school pageants and counting sheep.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The contours of the room are familiar.<\/div>\n
Even if what once was a curtain has fallen away in the tide of recent history.<\/div>\n
You remember it, and it fills you with a sense of warmth<\/div>\n
And perhaps too a sense of dread.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Because what you remember about this room<\/div>\n
Is that it asked something of you,<\/div>\n
Something you did not expect,<\/div>\n
Something that you did not entirely wish to give,<\/div>\n
And it also sometimes made you angry, bored, and restless –<\/div>\n
And sometimes too filled you with such longing<\/div>\n
That tears would fall despite your best efforts to stop them.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

This room is quiet most the time, but it is also full of noise.<\/div>\n
\u2018Good noise,\u2019 because sometimes noise is good,<\/div>\n
And it draws you in<\/div>\n
Even when you say to yourself \u2018this will be the last time.\u2019<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

At first you think it is the darkness of the room<\/div>\n
That calls to you,<\/div>\n
But only after you have been in it a while<\/div>\n
Do you realize it is something else –<\/div>\n
Something perhaps that has nothing to do with the room itself,<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Because really, it is not a room at all,<\/div>\n
That is just a word, a term, a way to describe it to others<\/div>\n
When you don\u2019t know what else to call it –<\/div>\n
Or when you do not wish to call attention to it too much –<\/div>\n
Because if you were to really tell, well,<\/div>\n
It might just fill the world –<\/div>\n
And then what would you do?<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

So, for now, you say \u2018this room,<\/div>\n
And \u2018this darkness\u2019<\/div>\n
Because people understand what these words mean<\/div>\n
Most the time<\/div>\n
And something in you craves meaning,<\/div>\n
Despite the fact that you know<\/div>\n
Meaning is something shared;<\/div>\n
But, hey, it\u2019s good to pretend, right?<\/div>\n
Sometimes in this room and this darkness<\/div>\n
Pretense is all you have, and you revel in it,<\/div>\n
Though<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

In these dark times,<\/div>\n
In this dark theatre,<\/div>\n
Perhaps revelling in pretend<\/div>\n
Is really not what you should be doing,<\/div>\n
Not at all,<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Really, you should be out in the streets,<\/div>\n
Doing things,<\/div>\n
Real things,<\/div>\n
Things that matter\u2026<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the thing,<\/div>\n
And you can be lowercase about this if you want,<\/div>\n
But this,<\/div>\n
This work of pretend,<\/div>\n
This revelling,<\/div>\n
And sometimes just being with,<\/div>\n
Matters,<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

And it matters because it matters<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

To those that remember the room<\/div>\n
And those in the room<\/div>\n
And those that will walk into the room someday<\/div>\n
And even those that never even go into the room<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

It matters<\/div>\n
Because it is a game of matter –<\/div>\n
Atoms and particles and such –<\/div>\n
And this game of pretense holds truths<\/div>\n
As much as it holds what some call \u2018lies\u2019<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

And it matters because<\/div>\n
What gets said in the room<\/div>\n
And how things move in the room<\/div>\n
And where the light falls<\/div>\n
Makes a kind of meaning,<\/div>\n
Which is being, by another word,<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

And this being<\/div>\n
Reminds you of the possible<\/div>\n
And the impossible<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

And also too of the small-minded ones<\/div>\n
That would rather this room be held by four walls<\/div>\n
And be grounded into its own groundedness,<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Than see this room for what it is<\/div>\n
For what it has always been<\/div>\n
For what some of us,<\/div>\n
You and I, here under the canopy of stars,<\/div>\n
Know to be true<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Even here, in the dark theatre,<\/div>\n
Battling its own darkness,<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

A field,<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 of light.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is possible to imagine this room, because you have been in it before.","protected":false},"menu_order":0,"template":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginedtheatres.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/theatres\/497"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginedtheatres.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/theatres"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginedtheatres.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/theatre"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginedtheatres.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}