In considering this season of theatre at Salesianum we had a specific intention. As a school, we are examining our relationships with the Visionary and the Innovator at the center of our work as a community. We celebrate significant anniversaries of the births of both St. Francis de Sales and Blessed Louis Brisson this year (200 for Brisson and 450 for de Sales). We frame the year in examining the world views of these two men. This meant that we needed to produce stories that were contemporary to them, but resonant with us. Once it was decided that our musical would be Les Misérables, which connects beautifully to BOTH men (you'll have to come see it in March to fully understand how), but is set in a world that was contemporary to Brisson, it was clear that our fall play would be Shakespeare to reflect the world in which de Sales lived. I knew that Love's Labour's Lost would be the way to go.
I first met Love's Labour's Lost as a Camp Counselor and Director at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in Los Angeles. I was immediately struck by how legitimately funny this play is and how it spoke with a certain kind of silliness that I really enjoyed. The confusion about love letters and poorly executed disguises and double crosses played out by, perhaps willfully, love blind goofballs made real sense to me. The earnestness and truth that these characters put forth between moments of madcap strangeness felt familiar and accessible, like some of my favorite movies.
The films of John Hughes and iconic comedies of the 80s were all sanitized for TV and broadcast on KTLA Channel 5. My sister and I would watch them when they came on after wrestling (WWF at 10, G.L.O.W. at 11, and a movie at noon) on Saturdays as we started sleeping later in our early teens. I knew these PG-13 and R rated movies in their badly dubbed or strangely edited forms and they really helped to form my idea of what it meant to be a teenager and ultimately, an adult.
The Breakfast Club taught me to be rebellious, but ultimately inclusive. I wanted to be the criminal and the jock, but I suspected I was more Anthony Michael Hall than Judd Nelson or Emilio Estevez... Sixteen Candles and Weird Science taught me about the power of love and nerdery and how they can often go hand in hand...I knew she would love me if she would notice me but I really feared I would only ever get the girl if I built a magic robot... Ferris Bueller's Day Off taught me about the cult of personality and how charisma can often dazzle, but substance wins...we all want to BE Ferris because we all FEEL like Cam... Teen Wolf and Karate Kid taught me about otherness and acceptance...you may not understand how you got so hairy and if the bullies would just leave you alone you KNEW you could date Elizabeth Shue... Heavy stuff for two hours in a living room in Pasadena California...
Here at Sallies we have a very clear center, a moral compass with a clearly tuned true north. The codified works and ideas of St. Francis de Sales, as enumerated and amplified by Louis Brisson, easily articulate who we are. Our theme for the year, "Change you, Change the World" is a beautiful flip of the "Be who you are, and be that well" coin. This balance between an authentic self awareness, and a willingness to allow growth is so important. To take hold (another central tenet) and not let go, while also recognizing the true strength in gentleness, might seem contrary, but is, for us, essential. This meant that when looking for a Shakespearean play that would reflect who we are (an all male, educational institution) it was possible to be both proud of that identity, while also sending ourselves us a bit...this play seemed so perfect. Taking a play that is both warm and biting, funny but with a faint streak of darkness, so smart but rife with dirty jokes...and placing all of that in the world of those 80's movies, was almost a no-brainer. This play presented itself ready, willing, and able to launch our season and provide a light, frothy, thoughtful, serious, and just plain rad start to our examination of our roots, the worlds of our founders and ourselves, and how we can work to find ourselves within them.
Thank you for joining us and we hope you enjoy this season of work.
