With the help of Congressman Patrick Kennedy and his staff, Rep. Peter Kilmartin of Pawtucket, and the support of several businesses and individuals, last weekend was in many ways a reward for the company's dedication. It was also proof of something that my wife Bernadet and I believed when we founded Mixed Magic Theatre, that the theatre has the ability to change lives and give those involved a key to the many "villages of knowledge" that allow people access to the world.

For the entire company, but especially the young people, this was a trip they will never forget. You go to your nation's capital to perform in one of its most prestigious places after your Congressman has arranged a guided tour of the Capitol Building. You tour the city at a time when there is still excitement in the air about a new President-Elect that you had a chance to vote for. The G-20 are in town, so it's a little hard to get around, but that's okay, because later that day there will be people coming to hear what you have to say. It's a full house and even the ushers who see several shows every day, stand to watch you.

Professor Chris Sten from George Washington University and the Melville Society, who saw the premier of the show in Pawtucket, is almost speechless at how far the show has come. Friends and family members, who have come from long distances, are happy and honored that you reserved a seat for them, because the theater is packed. The show is broadcast live on the Internet. After the show you go to a restaurant at the Watergate. Older members of the company explain the history of the Watergate to the younger members. When you walk in there are six, very cool, Secret Service men who you learn are there to protect Secretary of State Condelezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates who are having dinner with political strategist Donna Brazile. A very gracious Ms. Rice poses for pictures with you.

Who knows when Mixed Magic Theatre will return to the Kennedy Center? Nobody in the company thinks this will be our only visit. But a company from Pawtucket, Rhode Island that does not let its resources determine its goals went to Washington and returned with a story to tell, a stronger belief in themselves, and a renewed faith in the power of the arts to change the world.  

Ricardo Pitts-Wiley,

Artistic Director         

Mixed Magic Theatre

Pawtucket, RI

When I wrote this letter I was trying to catch and hold on to the experience in DC. In reality it was the first time that I could really think about what had just happened. When you drive 18 people, one of them 16 years old, and a set in three vans 400 miles, raining both ways, you can't really relax until everyone is safely home. It is only then that you get a chance to reflect on the event. You spend a little time being proud, but most of the time you think about the journey to get there.

Sometimes the stars line up but don't necessarily bring you good luck or fame. Sometimes the alignment proves something that you've told students for years. I tell my students that there are moments in time when you get a chance to "ride in the continuum", that incredible place where you can see the past and the future at the same time. In Washington I got a chance for a little while to take that ride. I saw my mother as a teenager writing a book report on Moby Dick at a black school in Mississippi where two of the teachers were Mr. and Mrs. Raspberry. The Raspberry's little boy William would grow up to be a renowned newspaper columnist who would be my oldest son's professor at Duke. I saw my father who had passed away in 1985. He was a civil rights worker who actually walked the walk. He would have burst with pride to see his son's show done in a building named for a man he admired. That building overlooked a mall where another man he admired had talked of a farfetched dream, that nine days before had actually come true. The show would have a cast of people that were an image of the true America. This America of dreams had just elected a really smart man whose favorite novel is Moby Dick.

On my ride in the rare air, I also saw a bit of the future. The nation had decided that it wanted something new. I took this as a sign that it was time to move away from my old ways of thinking about and doing theatre. These old ways had not worked for me for a long time. Theatre for me could no longer be about doing a play that ran for a few weeks and then closed after about 1% of the people in the community had seen it. I was reminded of the Motown and gospel music I had listened to growing up and how that music made you a partner in the process by teaching you your part of the song. I am certain now that the future of my beloved art form will depend on our ability to invest communities in the process and make them lifelong partners. We must never be afraid to make art as important in people's lives as food, clothing and shelter. In these woeful economic times the arts are more important than ever.

On my brief ride in the continuum I saw "The Godfather" and know that it's my favorite movie not just because it's a great story told by an outstanding cast, but the movie rewarded me over and over again for having read Mario Puzo's book. I understood more clearly how my adaptation of Moby Dick offers the same rewards for those who read Melville's novel.

In my acting classes I teach young actors the "old man dance". I learned it by watching old men dance all night because they had mastered simplicity and economy of motion. Their dance is also an amalgam of many years of music and dance styles that connects the dancer to his first girlfriend and his 6-year-old great-granddaughter. In return for the dance my students teach me the depth of the hip-hop culture and the equal value they place on Shakespeare, Douglass, Melville, Tupac and Biggie. I saw them in the future and felt good about the times to come.

When people ask me why I chose, as a initial project, to do an adaptation of such a difficult book as Moby Dick, I say, "Because everyone was on the boat." My answer for  "why Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is "Man must think about the monsters he creates, and what they will do with him." Mixed Magic Theatre will present an adaptation of Frankenstein in January 2009. In the Spring we'll present the second stage of "The Original American Icon" based on the Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass. Additionally, I have set in motion adaptations and stage productions of the collected works of Paul Laurence Dunbar, and The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn and Uncle Tom's Cabin (partially because I have a new respect for and reason to honor Jim and Tom). I believe each one of these works can be made relevant to young readers and entire communities if we look to involve them in the process at every level. I also believe that by studying programs like Project New Media Literacies at MIT the efforts and initiatives of Mixed Magic Theatre will bear fruit.

This country is facing some hard times, but if we can decide not to put the arts and literacy, and their ability to build stronger communities, on the backburner, we will emerge a better people and a better nation.

Listen, the Calvary is just over the hill.