The Play is the thing

I remember my first time on stage. I was about six years old. The Pinardville Boys' Club was putting on a production of "A Christmas Carol" that holiday. Somehow, I ended up with the role of "Tiny Tim Cratchet". I had a little cane that served as a crutch. I hobbled about on stage, did my business, remembered all of my lines. I didn't feel the least bit nervous. I had never been on stage before, but it felt perfectly natural. Even fun.
As I grew older, the fearlessness of elementary school gave way to the anxiety of middle school, to the bravado of high school. That time on stage would be the last time I would perform in front of anyone for at least twenty years.
I've heard it said that artists spend their entire childhood learning to paint with the skill of an adult. Once achieved, they spend the rest of their life trying to paint as they did as a child.
In childhood, to go out in front of a gang of your closest peers and pretend to be something you are not is considered absolutely appropriate. There is no judgement in the eyes of a child. You simply go where the muse takes you.
For most of us, once we are adults, we put away "childish things". But for some of us, we yearn to recapture the connection with ourselves that we had as a child. People spend big money trying to touch the emotional and social freedom they enjoyed in their youth. For those of us who can delve into that raw emotional power, that pure spirit of play, it is utterly intoxicating. You do it once, you spend the rest of your life chasing the dragon.
Acting became that journey for me. With every role I play, I can reconnect just a little bit more with that silly kid with the cane on stage, dwelling for all the world in his element. Every performer I have ever had the pleasure of meeting seemed to share this very same quality.
The very best of us can not only find their inner child and express it, tap it, but they can bring us all along for the trip. They grant us, the audience, the same permission.
To play.
To wonder.
And occasionally damn near touch the divine.

My son, chasing dragons.