An Open Letter To Artists, Actors, and the Artes de la Rosa Audience

Dear Artist, Actor, & Audience,

This past Sunday, Artes de la Rosa closed it’s season premiere production of Arthur Miller’s A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE. For many, we walk away from this production with heavy hearts for we have had a special experience. The act of putting on a play is much like blending a family. It takes patience, guidance, respect, and love...alittle luck never hurt either.

Oscar Wilde said, THE STAGE IS NOT MERELY THE MEETING PLACE OF ALL THE ARTS, BUT IS ALSO A RETURN OF ART TO LIFE. With that thought, it would stand to reason, that in the theatre is where we are our most alive.

Question: How many of us have sat in a dark theater and fallen in love with the art of theatre? I know I speak for many of us when I say; there is so much love and life in the theatre that it has become our home.

There’s a lesson though here to be learned…what I’ve learned is that is not our right to be theatre artists. It is our privilege. A privilege of our culture. A privilege granted to the artists. I once wrote to a friend who I love dearly that it is the ARTIST WHO FINDS THE SOUL OF HUMANITY AND ALLOWS OTHERS TO EXPERIENCE THEIR OWN SELF DISCOVERY—that is their own humanity.

We don’t do theatre because it’s fun or cute. We don’t do it for fame and we certainly don’t do it for money. We do theatre because we are members of the human race. A culture full of passion. We do theatre because like poetry, beauty, romance and love, it is what we stay alive for. It is our life. Who we are. And how we define ourselves. I don’t mean as designers, directors, actors, or technicians, but what the director of Broadway’s The Lion King, Julie Taymor, calls…THEATRE MAKERS.

We have joined this culture of theatre makers that include…William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Oscar Wilde, Federico Garcia Lorca, and Noel Coward, Gore Vidal – Vaclav Havel, Jean Annouih, David Mamet, Paula Vogel and Eve Ensler, Terrence McNally, Nilo Cruz, Tony Kushner, Jonathan Larson, Lin Manuel Miranda, and Stephen Sondheim…Robert Edmund Jones, Stella Alder, Uta Haven, Peter O’Toole, Maggie Smith, Luis Alfaro, Katherine Hepburn, Carol Burnett, Dustin Hoffman, Quirara Alegria Hudes, Meryl Streep, Kevin Spacey, Karen Olivo, and Julie Taymor.

These are the names of the artist who have come before us; who continue to show us humanity through art…Those people who give us a glimpse into our own soul.

We need to rise to the challenge set before us. We need to take up the responsibility and find respect for our privilege. Why? Because we get to add to this list. It is our privilege to join the ranks of story tellers and share humanity with other people.

We get to add to this list the names… Abel Flores Jr., Stephanie Cleghorn, Eddie Zertuche, Oliver Luke, Yvonne Duque, JP Cano, Justin Treece, Carlos Iruegas, Laura L. Watson, Tyler Cochran, Cole Spivey, Jacqui Rash, Alyssa Maldanado, Fredy Quiroga, Carl Ramsey, Joanna Osorio & Jimmy “Baby Bear” Moreno

…and the LIST GOES ON!

We are the privileged. We are the artists. You can take that privilege for granted, but why would you? Too often we think it’s all about US, when in reality, it’s all about THEM. The Audience. The people, sitting in the dark, being ale to recognize themselves in us and what we do on that stage. We need to love THAT!

So, I challenge all of us to go out there…and Love It as much as you love yourself in it. The directive is simple, Learn to Love Theatre. Learn to Love Theatre in Each other.

Thanks for being apart of the audience, thanks for gracing our stage, thanks for being apart of the family...

Thanks for the memories...

Adam Adolfo
Director


The Final Bow of Artes de la Rosa's A View From The Bridge