Creating the Perfect Society

This week we tackle a tough question of how our art relates to the pursuit of an ideal society. Wow. That’s a big question. I first came up with a list of what is my ideal society. I came up with things like no social class, crime starvation or the need for laws. I also thought about a compassionate and sophisticated society. How can does art relate to these yearnings? Let’s focus in on the performing arts specifically for how it can relate directly to an ideal society.

Last night I saw the national tour of “Evita” at the Durham Performing Arts Center. The show was about the rise of Eva Peron and how she got to the political position that she held. The script was all about Eva’s ideal society: everyone praised her. What was amazing to me was that the script and acting were executed so perfectly that at times I wanted to jump right up and praise Eva with the rest of the ensemble. It is marvelous how a moment on stage can really stir something in an audience’s mind. With a great script, directorial vision, and creative team, a group of people can change the thoughts and emotions of an audience.

One of the most classic ways the performing arts interacts with society, is that it mock the way people lead their lives. It shows our faults and makes us realize what we do wrong. For example, in “Annie” the musical, the audience realizes that the rich upper class can do anything with the help of money while a production of “Aida” informs an audience the importance of community and love. Each show has valid arguments for their ideal society or utopia. It is wonderful how any show can influence an audience and hopefully change them to become more and more into a perfect society.

Theatergoers can increase their compassion and become more sophisticated by going to various productions; increasing knowledge about the world can help any society become more knowledgeable about the diverse world we live in. As long as people are aware and at least know what is going on around them, we can all become one step closer to a perfect society. A utopia.