August 24-26|
How the bright, irrepressible goodness of a single child can change us all for the better.
Our primary Think Again-Faith Again host, Kristen Rogers-Iversen, brought this play to my attention. She is a member of the Gandhi Alliance for Peace. The Alliance along with Granite School District, Plan-B Theatre and United Nations Association of Utah will present The Post Office August 24-26. Details and $10 tickets at planbtheatre.org/postoffice – 100% of proceeds benefit Adopt-A-Future, a program of the United Nations Association, providing direct support for refugee education at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya.
From the playwright and screenwriter, Melissa Leilani Larson in the Catalyst:
“We live in a time that desperately needs the hope that buoys up Tagore’s play. We need to be aware of the difficulties surrounding refugees both in this country and abroad. We need to be like the child in the play and trust that sharing good with our fellow humans will attract it in kind.
“The Post Office” is deceptive in its simplicity—so much so that scholars still debate over its ending. Instead of giving easy answers, Tagore packs his simple story with symbolism: the play about a dying child locked away for its own good really is about India withering under the weight of British imperialism. The play celebrates maintaining positivity against all odds and the importance of being kind to strangers. Its universal theme of hope, woven through the story of a child longing to live, has resonated throughout the century of the play’s existence. During World War II the play was translated and performed in Paris, in the ghettos of Poland, and in concentration camps.
My play is not about one country suffering under the rule of another; rather, it’s about how we are all citizens of the same world and that our inherent compassion should be our universal language. Instead of focusing on symbolism, I’ve chosen to emphasize how the play’s characters represent a variety of people I’ve known in real life—ordinary people living ordinary lives—and how the bright, irrepressible goodness of a single child can change them all for the better.”
