Expectation is a tricky thing—I’ve talked about my own bad habit of forming unhealthy and unrealistic expectations for myself, for holidays, for my to-do lists, and sometimes for my kids. That kind of expectation—otherwise known as over-expectation or misplaced expectation—often brings disappointment, not joy, and isn’t worth my time or energy.
But there can also be great joy in expectation. Another word for expectation is hope, and hope, at its core, is really just an expression of the human spirit in its quest for happiness. Often, when I set a hope, or expectation, for the future, I feel an immediate sense of excitement, or joy, because I’ve created the possibility that something soul-feeding lies close within my grasp. It’s the excitement embedded in the words “I can’t wait!”; it’s a joy generated automatically in the present moment, without me having to do a single thing other than look forward with anticipation unmarred by the fear of disappointment.
I want to say a just a couple things about The Public Theater and about my friend Mandy Mishell Hackett: what follows is a joy promotion.
The Public Theater, in New York City, is the Who and the Where and the How behind an actual colossus of artistic endeavor, including Shakespeare in the Park, Hair, and Hamilton. As per its website, The Public “has long operated on the principle that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone.” It is one of this country’s oldest, and most important nonprofit theaters, and, like all theaters in NYC and most everywhere else right now, all of its stages are dark.
Mandy Hackett is the person I’ve loved the longest in my life who is not a member of my family, and she is also the Associate Artistic Director/Director of Public Theater Productions at The Public Theater. She is profoundly talented. And while I may seem biased in my opinion of Mandy because of our history and lifelong connection, I would wager this: if you were to ask any of the brightest living stars in the New York theater firmament and beyond—anyone from Tony Kushner to Lin Manuel Miranda to Glenn Close—to describe Mandy Hackett, he or she would be overcome, maybe near gushing (I’ve seen it happen), with praise.
Since the coronavirus has forced all theater makers and all theater goers to stay home—out of the spotlight, off the stage, and out of their seats—Mandy has worked tirelessly, along with dedicated colleagues at the Public, to support the artists and staff within the Public’s purview—to continue The Public’s work during a time when we, the people, have no access to the theater but desperately crave and need it. All of us.
To this end, on June 1, The Public Theater will hold it’s annual fundraising “gala” online. Please click on the link below and learn for yourself—the virtual event, produced by Mandy Hackett, will feature an extraordinary assemblage of art and artists, and will offer the opportunity both to support The Public (please do support it with your dollars if you are able and feel moved to do so) and to drink in all the beauty that art and artists uniquely can offer our human hearts.
I’m buzzing with the excitement Monday evening will surely bring; sitting here writing this, thousands of miles away from New York, I’m thinking about the beauty that’s coming, and all that an evening celebrating theater and art promises us, and there is real joy in that expectation.
I can’t wait!
Today, the buzz around We Are One Public is my joy.
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