I have had audience tell me, after a performance of Peer Gynt “your work reconciled me to the death of my son.” Of course I had no idea how or why, for each audience member brings his own experience, and takes away what he needs. Part of a program note The Audience and Me describes the delicate exchange –
I hear them out there…“in their places
even hear them breathing
as well as laughing and shifting and coughing
and thinking, and sleeping.
And sobbing, and listening.
I can feel when they’re listening.
…
I sit now with you, the audience.
I try to hear what you hear
the way you hear it
to hear whether
I’ve begun anything that speaks to you
anything that justifies your gathering
together with these actors in this moment
to finish the creation.
And I not only need the audience
I love the audience
unconsciously, inevitably, like loving a child.
Because the audience, like the child, is all of us–
open, waiting for life, never wrong
If you think you are not like a child, never mind–
it’s my job to make you so.
And when I’ve done it well
and the actors deliver it well
and you’ve come to complete the circuit
the life created in the air between us
will sing.”
Does the audience, after viewing Abraham, seem moved or shaken -- that’s my specific criteria-- if every person, from every side, is for even a moment, shaken just a bit from whatever side he came in on, so that he deeply desires, even if only for a moment, the happiness of his enemy’s child, I will have achieved my goal. And I will smile.
The story Abraham tells is not only about Israelis and Palestinians; it is also about saving ourselves – that is, to go so deep into the heart of our enemy that we have no choice but to embrace him, and, in that embrace, is the answer to everything. Please help us communicate this tale.
-- Karen Sunde
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Screenplay, script breakdown, budget, production plan, and shooting schedule are available.
COMING SOON...
The ABRAHAM FILM PROJECT
130 Barrow Street # 412 New York, NY 10014
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