When Tom arrived with the milk delivery yesterday, he asked Corey about his weekend, and Corey told him that we had done the monthly performance, and he was eager to hear how it had gone, having talked with Corey a bunch about the February one. He wondered if any people had come back?? Corey told him all about it, about the CCAC girl who had returned, and then the med student couple who had returned, and had recommended it to two other couples … but how it was a night of “no’s” … Corey told Tom how Frank felt it was a success because the performance did not let anyone off the hook, didn’t make it “ok” that they did not take responsibility for being there, put it back on them to see why it was that the experience they thought they were coming for did not happen, why it ended early, etc. Tom said it was a contract … like going to any performance … for instance, if he pays $100 for concert tickets, the contract is: he is paying $100 of his money, and in return he can expect a great concert! In our case, he said because it is free, the contract is different, but there is still a contract: the person attending the performance doesn’t pay anything, but agrees basically to be willing to go into uncomfortable areas, to do things she might not normally do, and in return, she can expect a really amazing experience, a transformative experience. So these folks did not hold up their side of the contract! And Frank was showing them that if you don’t hold up your side, you don’t get that experience! He really liked hearing about the performances, and liked talking about them with Corey.
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— Corey & Alexi
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Interesting how people get it! I wouldn’t go as far as saying by coming to the performance the person agrees to go/do the uncomfortable. But reading the title THE UNCOMFORTABLE ZONES OF FUN and reading that it will be a participation experiential performance will reasonably clue someone in to that what will happen won’t be passive entertainment!
But Tom is right. You get what you put into any situation, what you give /risk, what you are willing to do. “No’s” shut off possibilities. “Yes’s” open up possibilities… For everybody. That is like gravity. So to go into something that has as its stated purpose going through uncomfortable zones [which are really fragile gated limits] to reach robust fun on the other side, then use that it is uncomfortable as the reason why he will not play, etc…then wonders and even complains about lack of fun… Well, it just makes my head ache!
In Freedom,
Frank Moore