Touch

 

                                                   Graphic designed by Elizabeth Christie

Gossamer is a production that Players of the Stage, the Youth Theatre of which I am the Artistic Director, had to put on hold due to COVID-19. As we live and move through this difficult time, a time where touch has decreased and become associated with risk, I have been thinking of this note I wrote on the significance of touch and memory. 

Memories of 2020 may be difficult. But touch is still precious. Let us value it where we can. And let us hope that we will be able to freely hold each-other once again.

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Touch is one of the most powerful gifts bestowed on humans.

Through touch, we communicate care, concern, affection, humor, direction, correction, and love. We can use touch to comfort the burdened, minister to the suffering, and make the outcast feel welcome. In the morning, we hold our warm coffee mugs in our hands and feel peace, even just for a moment. We run a finger over a stuffed animal and remember simpler times. We tap the glass of a picture frame and are flooded with the memories contained inside a photograph.

Gossamer is a play that explores the importance of touch, of memories, and identity. As we move through this world, we touch the things and the people around us. We touch, not only physically, but emotionally. When describing an emotionally distressing event, we use phrases like, “It hurts”, “this is painful”, or “I need to heal”.  A harsh word may sting more than a slap. Being ignored may hurt more than a punch. As with any gift, touch can be used wrongly. It can be used for destruction.

The beautiful thing, however, is that we get to create memory together. We are in control of the actions we take toward one another. The way we interact, the way we touch, then turns into memory. We have a responsibility to work to create happy, healthy, and wholesome memory.

Touch turns to memory, and memory informs identity. Our experiences, the things that have been said to us, and the things that have been done to us, all shape our beliefs as to who we are. In this play, John has a warped sense of who he is. He clings to the identity his father has given him; he’s bad. He’s stupid. He’s worthless. Littlest, as she cares for John, also struggles with her own identity. Who is she? What is she? What is her purpose?

Through the journey of the play, both John and Littlest begin to find their meaning, helped along by the people and Dream-Givers beside them.

Wounds will happen. But we have a choice: Will we inflict nightmares, or bestow dreams? Will we be an injurer or a healer? Humans are vulnerable. We must handle each-other with care. Let us live on joyously in the memories of others. And when we fall into wrongful thinking about ourselves, may we remember our true identify; we are loved, we are important, and we are made in likeness of a kind and giving Creator.

We belong to each-other.

Sweet dreams,

Marian Barshinger

Director