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Director's Notes I’m supposed to be in “theatre retirement,” but when Diane Arnett called me up to see if I could pinch-hit and direct the fall show, I really didn’t feel like I could say no. After all, I’ve spent the past nine years working to help make BLT what it is today, so I felt like I still had a responsibility to live up to. That’s ironic when you consider the show is Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein creates something, then turns his back on it. He abdicates his responsibility to his creation. I didn’t want that to be me. As Victor learns the hard way, the most deplorable thing any parent can do is to turn their back on their children and abdicate the responsibility they have as parents. And yet, in our society today, we do it all the time. We don’'t necessarily abandon our children or even ignore them the way Victor abandons his “child” (although a distressing amount of that does happen). We fail in our responsibilities when we fail to teach them manners, respect, and empathy. We fail them when we fail to teach about honesty, integrity, and the value of hard work. We abdicate our responsibility to them when we let them plop down on the couch and watch hours and hours and hours of TV a week (and, to add insult to injury, we don’t even pay attention to what they’re watching). We fail our children when, instead of challenging them to pick one or two hobbies to concentrate on and excel at, we chauffer them from one activity to another in a never-ending string of overbooked activities. Then, when they fail to master any of them, we bend over backwards to make them feel special about being mediocre. Success and achievement are outdated concepts; what matters, apparently, is that they tried. What sorry preparation that is for the Real World. We fail in our responsibility to them when we become helicopter parents, hovering, hovering, hovering -- never requiring them to do anything for themselves, never letting them do anything for themselves, never letting go. And, ultimately, never asking them to take responsibility for themselves. We fail when we try to be friends instead of parents. To be a parent, after all, sometimes means being a disciplinarian and it means making tough, unpopular decisions -- and who wants to be the bad guy? Worst of all, we abdicate our responsibilities when we say, “It’s not me and my kid. It’s someone else’s.” Of course your kid is perfect -- but if you throw your hands up in abdication, how do you know for sure? Victor’s creation would never have turned into a monster had Victor just lived up to his responsibilities. On stage, and in the novel, it’s as plain to see as black and white. So why do so many people have trouble seeing it in real life? Chris Mackowski |
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