THE THIRD CLOWN

It's Valentine's Day. Day of love and chocolate and cards and kisses. And that is far out and groovy. I hope you all get some love, give some love, and bask in the glow of being alive in a world with other humans, music, theatre, movies, nature, and your own sweet self.

We are magic, strange beings, but I think we have potential.

I love the human race. I really do. 

I also find it very trying at times.

We do so many contradictory, fucked up, glorious things, on a regular basis. 

I often think of think of the opening monologue of my play Some Unfortunate Hour, where this guy named Tom bemoans the world, saying there are two choices for him: either be Asshole Happy Clown, who expects the worst from humanity and often gets it; or Idiot Sad Clown, who holds out great hope and is continually heartbroken.

Of course, there is a secret, third clown. 

The Balanced, Brilliant Clown.

That clown knows that we have our flaws, and a long history of terrible decisions. But she also knows that there is knowledge gained by those experiences. She knows that evolution is slow, but always happening. She doesn't believe in science. She knows science. She doesn't believe in magic. She is magic. She has found the great key to dealing with her fellow human beings: forgiveness.

And she is smart enough to know that forgiveness does not mean giving cruelty a free pass, or sitting idly by while atrocities are committed.

She is a warrior, a healer, and a mystic.

She is the Third Clown, and she is your spirit guide, waiting in the wings for you to make your entrance. 

I use the metaphor of waiting in the wings because it fits, but also because I took a really cool photo yesterday at the final performance of The Wizard of Oz I directed down at the PACE with my company Sasquatch Productions. There was this kid in the show who would watch as much of the show as she could when she wasn't on stage as a munchkin and/or poppy. She just loved the show so much, felt the magic so strongly, that she had to soak in as much as she could.

I would often see her, standing in the wings, reveling in the glory of being backstage during a performance, experiencing fully the show. So I took this photo:

There's a bit of the Third Clown in that. Hope and mystery and wonder.

So Happy Monday, Happy Valentine's Day, Happy Third Clown Day.

If you feel so inclined, you can find the whole monologue, plus a few more of mine, in Contemporary Monologues for a New Theater, by clicking HERE.

I am off. Scripts, productions, and a house to clean this glorious day.

Here's a song. It's the English Beat doing a cover of Smokey Robinson's Tears of a Clown.