Okey-dokey. Let's prime the canvas...

I had a fabulous night on the town yesterday with my dear friend, Geoff.  I hopped the train downtown to the Washington Street stop and walked to Petterino's, where I was sure to find a cocktail I couldn't resist.  When I saw Geoff's face, I was so ecstatic to see him, as we had much catching up to do before walking into a dark and quiet theatre.  We were going to see "Red", the latest production in Goodman Theatre's season.  It is a two-person play with a meat-and-potatoes script.  You have to chew each line with great care before fully digesting what you've just seen. Two artists challenge each other in questions of ego, importance and downright selling-out.  There are so many excellent lines in this play.  Lines that caused me to wince, laugh or cry. It did everything a great play is supposed to do.  It made me think.

At a certain point in the play, the actor playing the great artist, Rothko, looks at his employee and says, "Okey-dokey. Let's prime the canvas."  I looked at Geoff as if we were about to fall over the cliff of a great rollercoaster ride.  We knew something fantastic was about to happen. The two painters looked at a blank white canvas, paintbrushes in hand.  The score music took over telling the story at that point.  No dialogue was needed.  The actors used their paintbrushes as if a prohibition-era shootout was happening.  Red paint was EVERYWHERE.  On the actors clothes, in their hair, on their faces, on the stage.  Once their work was complete, they threw the paintbrushes on the floor in a choreographed manner, and fell over in exhaustion.  I was brought to tears.  With all the great, complex themes of this play, this visual stayed with me. The painters were starting a journey into the unknown, with unbridled confidence.

To prime a canvas for anything in life can be a bit scary and daunting.  You are taking that first step in what may either be a master work or a critical failure.  Either way, you are preparing yourself for the unknown.  This sounds odd, but I think letting go of fear and anxiety in any situation is the best primer of all.  You hope you will create something beautiful, and you strive for it, but fear is your worst enemy.  Fear is what keeps you from starting the picture at all. 

And Geoff, I'm glad we had those cocktails AFTER the show to continue processing this great work. (I'm still thinking about it by the way.) Let us all not let fear win.  Let us pick up the paintbrush, and decide to create something...anything.  Okey-dokey. Let's prime the canvas...