Water Whirled
At 3:30 Friday afternoon
I got an email from someone at The Venue
Wondering if we wanted to cancel The Show.
Because of the flash flood warnings!
Um.
No!
Wait maybe.
Do we?
I checked myself with the team.
Mitch said no.
Jamie said no.
So no.
Right? Right.
No we do not want to cancel the show.
Meaning yes.
To doing the show.
Despite the flooding.
Or maybe even because of it.
It’s possible we weren’t thinking clearly
The rain was so loud
The vertical river rushing
To meet the roof
The windows
The palms.
So loud
We could barely hear
Our phones alerting us
With that squeal
We’ve all come to dread.
So loud
A kind of sonic bath
That flowed through time and space and ether/or-ness
And washed away all resistance.
Sometimes the water forces you in.
Shuts the doors.
Lights the fires.
Wraps the blanket around you.
Even serves you the hot chocolate.
But no.
In this case it called us out.
Water works
In mysterious ways.
I’m not saying water is God
But I’m not saying it isn’t.
Metaphysically
Water has the quality of mercy.
You know how sometimes
You long for a shower
Where you can forget
And then remember.
Forgive and be forgiven.
So no the flash flood warnings
Do not make us want to cancel.
Though they do make us want to leave early.
Rushing is the opposite of mercy.
Punishing.
And there is enough punishment already.
We of the sensitive tribe
Are exceedingly skilled at the beating ourselves up.
It’s part of what we use our creative energy on.
Problems make the best stories after all.
So sometimes we do what we have to
To create them.
And sometimes even
A flood of them.
Flood comes from the PIE word *pleu - flow.
Flood.
A sudden abundance.
And flow.
Is that in motion.
And the motion that can create that.
We can stimulate the flow
Invite it in
When we move
In cars
Walking
Even in showers.
It’s not just water
Water is in the tub too
But there we let go
And relax
In the shower
With that marathon of droplets
We sometimes find that state of creative grace
We are all looking for.
So we did not cancel the show.
Even though there was equipment to load in
In the rain.
And the possibility
Of audience no shows.
In fact in 25+ years of UnCabarets
We’ve only cancelled one show.
I was down with a flu and no voice at all.
Oh.
And of course that March 2020 show.
From which we immediately pivoted into Zoom.
And then again
That sad spring
When the second surge happened.
We did not cancel
Because the flash flood warnings
Called us out
And because part of the beauty of the show
Is that it must go on.
I mean it’s not hard to imagine the situations
In the whirrled as it is now
Which would require cancelling a show.
And that’s why
When adverse but not impossible situations arise.
We. Do. The. Show.
We do the show when we can
Because all that movement
Of light waves
And sound waves
And the waves of laughter
All those waves
Washing us up to the shore of nowness.
We do the show when we can
Knowing the show.
Must. Go. On.
And it’s the best training.
It’s like a gym for all the other work.
For the days it’s hard
To write/edit/paint/shoot etc
Because you are flooded.
With emotions
With news.
With the list.
With Options.
Limitations.
Uncertainty.
Desire.
Stimulation.
Possibilities.
Questions.
So many questions.
About this whirled we share.
And the one inside each of us.
Which is 88% water.
Where emergency flooding
Is just called crying.
And when we do
We do the show anyway.
So gratefully.
And Friday night was packed.
With an audience
That the storm called out to.
And was an especially wonderful night.
THE TAKE AWAYS
1. The show must go on.
2. Find your people.
3. Let the water work its magic…
xx
b