This is why I care..

I am very passionate about directing 'Night Mother (if you can't tell) and the idea of dark themes in Drama being accepted by the general public. It is very important to me that people don't think I want to direct it to push boundaries - that is NOT me. It occurred to me I've never really explained why I care so much about it...

I want to direct this play for a number of reasons, I am going to list them - though they won't be in any particular order...

• Theatre is not JUST for entertaining. Yes, all theatre should entertain, but that shouldn't be its' only purpose. Good theatre, quality theatre, leaves a piece of itself with audience members to take home with them. When you go to the theatre and you come away thinking - that is a good thing! That is the kind of theatre I want to be a part of.
• Dark themes CAN BE used for that purpose. While it is true that some theatre is just shocking for the sake of being shocking, 'Night Mother doesn't fit into this category. Yes, it is a play about suicide. Yes, the main character kills herself. The reason that this play is so great is because the audience leaves knowing that there were other ways she could have handled the situation. They leave with the lesson that Jessie never learned.
• This is a Pulitzer award winning play. I am not the only one who thinks that is has value! 
• There are only two actresses. So instead of trying to direct a huge cast in just six weeks, I can focus on two people and work them to near perfection. I can put so much more into it this way. (plus, in a high school setting I could NEVER direct this play. That would never fly with parents to only have two actors - everyone wants their kid to be cast)
• This play deals with time in a very cool way. The show is set in real time - so the clock in the kitchen is the same as your watch. You are viewing the play as it actually happens - there aren't any "the next day" kinds of things. The hour you watch is the hour it took Jessie to explain to her mother why she wants to end her life.
• I already have a really cool concept in mind and an exciting artistic idea for the ending!
• I think that BYU likes to think that LDS members of the church don't have any problems like this. Even when a student commits suicide - it is very quiet and almost covered up. There ARE people in our school who struggle with depression. I think this play could be valuable to them.

So those are the main reasons that this show stuck out to me out of all the ones we read. It was like it was calling my name - and I think I could write a very persuasive paper about it.