#but this is a moment where Flint puts his own control above solidarity

[cooltastrophe]

@jojisrevenge you're right and you should say it

the men: we heard your psychosexual bond w flint is so strong you can read his mind.

silver: ????????????????

[drivingsideways]

Could you eleborate on your tags in this post? I really like your metas! If it's not too much trouble! /post/163702439009/do-you-think-flint-enjoys-violence

Hi anon! Well, I’m going to try and keep this short, but it’s about Flint. SO. :D 

I think @sidewaystime did a wonderful job of talking about how Flint’s relationship to violence is a complicated thing. What I was responding to was a post series Discourse that seems to be divided at the moment along whether Silver was ‘right’ to do what he did to stop the war or not. A lot of the argument for the “yes” side of that argument seems to rely on painting Flint as someone whose anger was entirely (a) born of reasons personal and (b) completely out of control. 

So let’s address (b) first. There are examples where Flint’s rage *is * out of control: Charlestown comes to mind, the Maria Aleyne, post Charlestown murders. In fact, post Charlestown and until the Maroon Island [i.e. until he resolves something within himself with the help of Dream-Miranda] is the closest I see him as being completely batshit insane with rage/sorrow/despair. But as I see it: at no point during this time is he unaware of the consequences of what he is feeling/ doing either to himself or other people. I bring this up because I think there’s a tendency to read Flint as unaware of his own True Motives. Some of this comes from the Miranda/Flint fight in 2.05  What she says (yells!), is that he hasn’t been “clear” about his goals TO OTHER PEOPLE. A corollary to that is that he hasn’t been open about what led him to this goal. And this is absolutely true. Flint discusses his grand plans with exactly two people before that- Gates and Eleanor, both of whom remain unaware of the tragedy that drove Flint to Nassau. Miranda is saying that without communication he is closing every door to achieving his goal except the one that leads to more violence. And this is where she says -paraphrased- [you are fighting for the sake of fighting, because that’s the only state you can function in]. And I think people have taken that and run with it as though it was an Eternal, Unchanging Truth about James. Although the very next thing that happens in the plot is that he listens to her and chooses a less violent path. 

And that’s the kind of thing I feel gets missed out: all the times he doesn’t choose a violent option even though it exists. Btw, that is a thing he has done from the first episode. Yes, he kills Singleton brutally, but hey, remember the literal first dialogue that we hear from him in the entire series is him putting a stop to his crew murdering someone? He listens to Eleanor, agrees to a dialogue with Vane in S2. He listens to Miranda about Ashe. Eleanor, again, in S4, in the middle of the freaking war, he allows himself to be taken hostage if it means there may be a chance to win the war without excessive bloodshed, even when that decision is hotly contested by his own people. 

This is not a man who is incapable of not choosing violence, it is a man who deploys violence strategically. This is a man capable of swallowing his pride and anger, if he sees a way to achieve his goal without violence. Is the Peaceful Way his first instinct? NO. But is he incapable of taking that path? NO. 

Here’s Flint in 3.10 telling his back story to Silver: 

Flint: Madness is such a hard thing to define, which makes it such an easy label to affix to one’s enemies. Once it had been applied to Thomas, once our relationship had been exposed, defiled, scandalized… everything ended. There were times that I was persuaded to sue for peace since then, but that was the day that on some level I knew… that England was broken… and that sooner or later a good man must resist it. [emphasis mine]

Ok, let’s back up a bit. Earlier in S3, Flint has a chance to end a war before it even starts, an offer he absolutely refuses.  Why does he? 

3.07, On the beach with Governor Rogers: 

Woodes Rogers: Lord Thomas Hamilton. I didn’t know him, but I understand you did. Miss Guthrie tells me you were part of the first effort with Lord Hamilton and Peter Ashe to introduce the pardon to Nassau. As with most things, the men first into the breach bear the heaviest casualties. But in the hindsight of victory, they were the ones whose sacrifice made it possible. Without Lord Hamilton’s efforts, your efforts, it’s likely I wouldn’t have been successful in my efforts to finally secure the pardon. All I have done here is finish what you began. I am now what you were then. And without you, there would be no me.

Flint: Clever.

Woodes Rogers:  Thank you.

Flint: So that’s what this is. We’re all reasonable men, we all want the same thing. You offer me a pardon, I accept it, this all ends? 

Woodes Rogers: Maybe. The pardons are on the table. No one is being hanged. No one’s even being tried. They’ve all been forgiven, just as you wanted. Just as Thomas Hamilton wanted. So what is it that you’re fighting for that I’m not already offering?

Flint: Thomas Hamilton fought to introduce the pardons to make a point. To seek to change England. And he was killed for it. His wife and I went to Charles Town to argue for the pardons, to make peace with England, and she was killed for it.England has shown herself to me. Gnarled and gray… and spiteful of anyone who would find happiness under her rule. [emphasis mine]

So here we go: Flint listens to Woodes Rogers’ proposal- which sounds exactly like what they were working toward just a few months ago?? But this time he refuses it. Because he sees right through it, and he recognizes that there is no possibility of reconciliation that does not include absolute surrender to England’s [”civilization’s”] Rules. The Rules that include continued slavery. That include men like him being condemned and ostracized. Woodes Rogers’ proposal sounds exactly like Thomas Hamilton’s- except that the intent was completely different- Thomas wanted to change the status quo and Rogers intends to preserve it. 

And you know what? He’s fucking right. Because literally the next fucking thing that happens when Flint refuses, is that Woodes Rogers ceases being “reasonable” and  ALSO tries the oldest trick in the book: gaslighting. 

Woodes Rogers: “ Then let us be very clear about something. I am reasonable in seeking peace. But if you insist upon making me your villain, I’ll play the part. So let us assume that, as of this moment, the unqualified pardon is no more. From this moment on, any man participating in the act of high seas piracy will be presumed to be one of your men, an enemy of the state. I will hunt him, I will catch him, and I will hang him. And while I am aware of your feelings on the subject, I am no backwater magistrate cowering in fear of you. You know where to find me. [emphasis mine]

Right: because somehow demanding freedom from slavery is “making [you] a villain”. 

What I mean to say in the above is that: Flint’s refusal to arrive at a compromise with England is not because he’s “out of control”, it’s because he is clear sighted about how systems of power work. He’s cut through all the bs that is “civilization” as per a colonial power and has found it to be rotten to the core. And that is what he pitches to the Maroon Queen: the absolute truth, not just about England (which she knows already) but also about the consequences. There is no certainty about anything- but trying is better than not. 

And now coming back to (a) which is that Flint’s anger is entirely personal. To which my answer is: of course it is. There are people who can devote themselves to larger causes and fight oppressions that they do not themselves experience personally, and I think those kind of people have amazing empathy, and may we all be more like them.

 But the sad truth is a large number of us do not wake up to systemic injustice until we experience it personally. And then what? Are we supposed to sit on our hands and say, ok, this anger of mine is really selfish because it has its beginnings in something awful that happened to me, and now that i recognize it doesn’t just happen to me, it happens to a whole lot of people both like and unlike me, but I’m not going to do anything about it-because maybe I’m playing out my own issues? 

But (i hear you say), this isn’t just about filing a petition on change.org, it’s literally starting a war. 

Ok, first off: I’ve said it before- the war is already on. Slavery is an act of war. Imprisonment of  “sexual deviants” is an act of war by the State on the individual (and larger queer community). Flint and Madi were attempting to change the terms of it. And secondly, let’s give rest to the idea that it was Flint alone who wanted a war. 

Mr.Scott to Madi: 

Mr.Scott: “ I wish you and I had not been so separate all those years.I wish I could have found a way to be a better father to you. But over time, I was determined to leave you something behind, to give you the one thing that no one could ever take away and that would make you strong enough to understand their world, interact with their world, wage war on their world. But if their identity lies in their stories, I wanted you to know them so that when we are ready to call them enemies, you would be ready for it.”  [emphasis mine]

This is an absolute recognition of what I was saying before: the war was ongoing. Mr.Scott and the Maroon Queen have spent a lifetime to prepare Madi to respond to the war on their people. In Flint, the Maroons had finally found an ally that could actually help them get somewhere. 

And as for Flint, the discovery of the Maroon Island led to another realization: and that was he no longer has to wage war alone. That there is solidarity to be had.  And that came at the end of the period where he was at his most self-destructively lonely. And having found himself on relatively stable ground again, he’s able to both articulate the effect and the use of rage/hatred. 

Here’s a conversation with Silver, in 3.09 about the punishment meted to Dobbs (over attacking one of the Maroon Crew)

Flint: That’s not why you did it.

Silver: Really? Would you like to tell me why I did it, then? 

Flint: Well, I wasn’t there, but, um, I’d hazard the guess that you learned of what had happened, told him how fucking stupid he was, and in that moment, he gave you a look that amounted to something less than contrite. And in that moment, you felt it. 

Silver: Felt what? 

Flint: Darkness. Hate. Showing indifference to the authority that you sacrificed so much to acquire, disdain for refusing to acknowledge that his actions, had you not intervened, would have led to an outcome that he would have held you responsible for reversing. Pride. Questioning what kind of man you are if you don’t seek retribution for the offense.

Silver:  So what are you saying? You saying I went too far with him?

Flint:  Maybe you went too far. Maybe you didn’t go far enough. Maybe you did it just right. The point is that while you were doing it, you heard a voice telling you that disciplining him would prevent him from repeating the offense, a voice that sounded like reason, and there was reason to it, as the most compelling lies are comprised almost entirely of the truth. But that’s what it does. Cloaks itself in whatever it must to move you to action. And the more you deny its presence, the more powerful it gets, and the more likely it is to consume you entirely without you ever even knowing it was there. Now, if you and I are to lead these men together, you must learn to know its presence well so that you may use it… Rather than it use you.  [emphasis mine]

Silver: You have some experience with this, I imagine, living in fear of such a thing within you? 

Flint: Yeah, I do.

Silver:  I can’t tell if this was a warning or a welcome.

To repeat: this is not a man who is wandering around in blind, selfish rage that’s indiscriminately targeted and can only be quenched by blood. This is a man who’s been through hell and come out on the other side, and then says “I cannot believe we’re as poorly made as that”. Which makes me want to burst into tears, even as I type this. 

 OK WOW. I NEED TO STOP. I’m not sure if this is what you wanted to hear, anon. :) 

[2700fstreet]

THEATER / 2017-2018

Ever in the Glades

JUN 6-8

Produced by Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts at Northwestern University from Evanston, IL Written by Laura Schellhardt Directed by Rives Collins

Bank of America is the Presenting Sponsor of Performances for Young Audiences.

The Story Behind the Play

Five teenagers growing up on a fictional island in the Everglades where the adults are as dangerous as the gators. When one of the kids returns from juvenile detention to help the rest escape to the mainland, it seems their prayers have been answered. There's only one problem—they need a boat, and they need it before the adults catch wind of their plan and end it, or end them.

Playwright Laura Schellhardt says the idea for Ever in the Glades took root in the wake of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, that began in 2014. To save money, the city had switched to the Flint River as its water source, but residents soon complained of health problems related to the water. Tests revealed dangerous levels of lead and other contaminants from the river. Children were particularly at risk. State and city officials tried to cover up the threat before being forced to take action.

“A group of adults knowingly poisoned an entire generation in one town for profit,” Schellhardt says. “And children were the hardest hit.”

Echoing that betrayal, Ever in the Glades portrays a moment when a group of five teens realize most of the adults in their lives may not have their best interests at heart. Life has beaten down their supposed caregivers so much that they have grown hopeless and mean—behaving like gators—and seem determined to drag the kids down with them. At one point, Z (a character in the play), says to their faces:

Why are you like this? Did you all want something this world never gave you? Did everyone give up on you til you gave up on yourselves — I’m asking, I’m really asking, cuz I get it, that urge to give up on yourself, I see how it hardens a person, I feel it hardening me, and I don’t wanna be like that——

Gradually, the friends realize that if there is going to be any salvation, they are going to have to save themselves. And they join together to plan how to do that.

The play is not some mean-spirited rip on all adults—Old Lady Simms is a loving, helpful soul, for example—and it is even sympathetic to their broken spirits. However, it does ask why young people are often not included in conversations about the future, a future that will more and more belong to them. They are not even given much say in their own futures. Perhaps the adults fear what it says about them if the young people succeed in escaping the Glades, or succeed in making better lives for themselves than they ever did or could.

As she drafted and revised the script, Schellhardt watched young people in the real world growing more aware of the perils they face. Reflecting the play’s theme of one generation failing the next, young leaders have emerged willing to point out the hypocrisy of their elders, including real-world issues such as the brutalization of African American youth, school shootings, the sexual abuse of gymnasts on the U.S. Olympic Team, and environmental destruction.

At the same time, the playwright says she feels heartened. She sees young people, harnessing the power of social media, organizing in unprecedented ways on a national and global scale. Active in groups including Black Lives Matter, March for Our Lives, and #MeToo, youth are bypassing the grown-up gatekeepers and seizing control of the narratives that directly affect them.

Like the five friends in Ever in the Glades, more and more young people know that the best way their stories can have better endings is if they tell them themselves. A growing movement of youth is insisting their truth will be heard and their hopes will be considered. “My hope is that young audiences will feel empowered by the play,” Schellhardt says. “There’s a world that is theirs and it’s waiting for them to find and create it.”

Who’s Who

The Kids Ames Johnson, 15—a smart, bookish, sensitive teen who’s running low on hope Zero “Z” Johnson, 17—Ames’ older brother, just returned from a stint in juvenile detention Elijah Brown, 15—a born preacher and Ames’ best friend, he bears a heavy-duty secret along with his enthusiastic faith Deland “Delia” Simms, 14—daughter of a drifter and granddaughter of a fortune teller, Delia is a new arrival on the island Junker G, 17—son of the pawnshop owner, Junker G is a joker who dreams of making music

The Adults Mercy Johnson—Aunt of Ames and Z Mr. Sticks—the boatman who delivers people and things, but always for a price Mr. G—Junker’s father Reverend Brown—Elijah’s father Mama Brown—Elijah’s mother Charity Simms—Delia’s mother This Guy—boyfriend of Delia’s mother Old Lady Simms—Delia’s grandmother

So, What’s Going On?

Whip-smart, wise-cracking, caring, creative, and hopeful—Ames, Elijah, Delia, Junker G, and Z are good-hearted teens. But they’re not just stuck in a small community—they’re trapped on a small island surrounded by alligators. Maybe worse, they’re under the supposed care of supposed grown-ups who seem determined to feed on whatever dreams these teens can conjure.

The expectations, neediness, and greediness of the adults are closing in on the young people and they can sense it. One by one, they realize they’re running out of time to escape. Together…they make a choice.

Where in the World

The action takes place on a small fictional island in the Everglades, a vast area of tropical wetlands in southern Florida. It features diverse ecosystems that include sawgrass prairie, cypress swamps, marshes, pinelands, and mangroves. In the last 150 years, about half of the region has been drained and transformed into farmland and urban areas. Very few people live in the wetlands themselves, but the habitats there are alive with birds, small mammals, and many types of reptiles, including American alligators. Everglades National Park, established in 1947, is the third-largest national park in the United States, and protects about 20 percent of the original wetlands.

Playwright Laura Schellhardt has lived in Florida and describes the Everglades as an extreme place—extreme beauty, extreme climate, and extreme isolation. “It has the capacity to be gorgeous, but it’s also a hard place to live,” she says.

What to Look and Listen for…

how sound effects and lighting are used to create the swamp-surrounded island

how lighting and props are used to indicate the dock, a church, and other places

ways the costumes reflect themes of the play (hint: compare the pant legs of the adults with those of the young people)

how the adult actors shift between different characters

how the adult characters show menace, especially toward the five friends

What to Think about…

What do the five main characters want? What stands in the way for each of them?

What are the parents and caregivers like? How might you explain their attitudes and behavior?

Z tells Ames: “… you’ve got your story, I’ve got mine. But maybe we could write a new one, together, you and me.” What purposes do stories serve, both the ones we tell ourselves as well as those we tell others? How do they affect us, and why are they important?

What does Old Lady Simms mean when she tells Elijah, “There’s more than one kind of family …”; and “There’s also more than one kind of faith…”?

Ames says, “Imagine what happens if we stay.” What do you imagine would happen?

Imagine the lives of the friends if they make it to off the island. What do their lives look like?

After the performance, conduct a poll of your peers and the adults around you. Did they find the play hopeful or sad? Explore the answers in a discussion.

Analyze the Characters

When analyzing a character, actors learn to ask three questions.

What does the character say?

What do other characters say about that character?

What does the character do?

“Someone might say they’re a great person, but you have to watch what they do—and don’t do—to find out the truth about them,” says playwright Laura Schellhardt.

Pick one teen character and one adult character from Ever in the Glades. Analyze them using the three questions above. How does what they do differ from what they say? Are the differences big or small? How would you assess these characters’ trustworthiness?

Youth in Numbers

Consider … When have you felt lonely and vulnerable? When have you felt alone and strong? When have you felt strength, even joy, in being part of a group with a purpose?

Alone, each of the young people in the Ever in the Glades feels powerless. During the course of the play, though, they build trust in each other. This solidarity—the sense that they are not facing their troubles solo—builds and combines their courage. They gradually accept they must push back against anyone or anything determined to shut them up, put them down—or eat them.

Consider making art that celebrates the strength in numbers, as in collaborating with a friend or friends for a cause or to create something good. Write a story or script, draw a picture, and/or create a collage by clipping and combining images. Try to capture the energy and feeling of a fearless, resilient, motivated group.

We can also think outside our personal bubbles and troubles. Teens in the United States and around the world are organizing with a resolve that has not been seen in generations. Got a cause you believe in? Chances are your peers have already laced up their marching shoes, put up a website, and faced down Twitter trolls. Here are several causes to consider:

Black Lives Matter—Teens have been at the vanguard of this national and global movement to raise awareness of systemic injustice and violence that affect black communities. https://blacklivesmatter.com/about

March for Our Lives—Following the murder of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, teens there and elsewhere ignited an international movement to address gun violence. https://marchforourlives.com/home

Dosomething.org—A clearinghouse for teen activism—from disability rights to water conservation to positivity campaigns—can link you to the causes closest to your heart and conscience. https://www.dosomething.org/campaigns

Youth Activism Project—This org promotes and supports youth-led campaigns in the United States and globally. http://youthactivistmproject.org/what-we-do

Whatever you create or do—a letter, artwork, a play, a teach-in—share it at #youthinnumbers.

More About the Creators

Laura Schellhardt, Playwright

Laura heads the undergraduate playwriting program at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Her original works include Upright Grand, Air Guitar High, Courting Vampires, and Digging Up Dessa, which appeared at the Kennedy Center in February 2018. She also has adapted The Phantom Tollbooth and The Outfit as well as authored Screenwriting for Dummies. She urges young writers to tell their stories. “We need them,” she says. “People out there want to see themselves reflected in our stories, and that reflection is where hope is found.”

Rives B. Collins, Director

Rives teaches in the Department of Theatre at Northwestern University, where he is the Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence. In addition to his work in theater, he is nationally known as a storyteller. He sees live theater as a unique form of art where performers and audience collaborate to bring an event to life. “There is something so powerful to be in the same space with the actors, where the applause and laughter has a direct effect,” he says. “Together, we harness the power of our collective imaginations.”

New Visions/New Voices

Ever in the Glades has been developed with the support of the New Visions/New Voices program, part of the Education Division of the Kennedy Center. The New Visions/New Voices workshop and festival is held every two years to stimulate and support the creation of new plays and musicals for young audiences and families.

Talking with the Creators

A Couple Qs & As with the Playwright and Director

What is unique about theater as an art form?

Laura Schellhardt: Theater demands a live witness. There’s a pact in the air between live actors and the audience, and there should be a kind of conversation going on between those two entities. For that period of time they form a community. Some stories, as in movies and TV shows, are better consumed from your couch where you can rewind and re-watch certain parts. Not theater. In theater, the story is a little different each time it’s performed and each group of people has a different experience.

Rives Collins: Theater is a living experience. It is both constrained by the space and liberated by those boundaries as well. If I’m making a movie, I can do all kinds of special effects—animatronic alligators, for example. On the stage, in that space, we harness the power of our collective imaginations. The audience’s applause and laughter have a very real effect on what happens on stage.

The idea of narratives and how they shape people and their experiences shows up in several places in the play. What purpose do people's internal narratives serve? Why is it important or helpful to be aware of our narratives?

LS: We can learn to be in charge of our own narratives, and see that our world is shaped by our actions and not just our words, formed by what we do and don’t do. For the characters in the play, they have been taught that the world is going to happen to them; that what they want may not matter because they don’t have control. They are told to follow the path laid out by other people, specifically adults. The young people learn that’s not true. They can choose their own way forward. They realize, “I can be shaped by what I choose to do, not just what I feel or what I believe.” It can feel like waking up when we realize that.

As the director, what speaks to you most about Ever in the Glades?

RC: I felt drawn to this play because it never preaches, yet it tells the truth. I feel like the interwoven stories of five compelling characters creates a tapestry of the lives of these funny and complex and heartbroken teens. They’re like a lot of young people I know.

Old Lady Simms tells Elijah, “There's more than one kind of family, young man.” For some people this is a radical idea, who may have been taught that blood is always thicker than water. What does it mean to choose a family? How might young people go about creating the “kind of family” they want?

LS: As we go through life, we find that we develop different “families” in addition to the one we’re born into. You will always have that family, but you may find eventually that you have different values than they do. Then you may need to create your own, a family of like-minded friends or co-workers who will offer other forms of inspiration and support. You can also recognize others you could be family for. You can become the family someone else needs.

What are you hoping audience members, especially teens, leave the theatre thinking or feeling?

RB: I hope they’re so engaged and entertained they’ll be saying “Let’s see it again!” I hope they’ll leave asking questions and having conversations about why that character did this and this character did that, and filling in the blanks with their own imaginations.

LS: I want the younger generation to feel empowered by the ideas in the play. If they don’t recognize themselves onstage, I hope they will recognize the questions and desires the characters have. I think young people today have a lot of questions for their elders, questions like, “Why are you so afraid of change?” “What will it take for you to take us seriously?” “Who is looking out for us in the decisions being made about us?” Our culture and its systems aren’t very good at inviting outsiders, including young people, to sit at the table when decisions that affect them are being discussed and made. I hope the play inspires more conversations between generations, and that the adults will think to ask their children or students, “How can we be your ally?”

Explore More

Go even deeper with the Ever in the Glades Extras.

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Additional support for Ever in the Glades is provided by A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation; the Kimsey Endowment; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; and the U.S. Department of Education.

Major support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by David M. Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.

International Programming at the Kennedy Center is made possible through the generosity of the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts.

Kennedy Center education and related artistic programming is made possible through the generosity of the National Committee for the Performing Arts.

© 2018 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts