Depends on how you look at the world.
You can take the cynical stance and point out how
ineffective Tony was, fancy feet aside, in preventing the Jets and Sharks from
rumbling. Riff and Bernardo are living
proof. Well, not living, really, but you get the point.
Or, you could side with Hallie Gordon, who’s partnering with
great organizations like Facing History And Ourselves and Steppenwolf Theatre, mounting an uphill battle to use the arts to help stop the killings of
young Chicagoans. It’s called “Now is the Time,” and it sends artists into gang-plagued Chicago public schools to at least try to start stemming the violence.
You can say it’s a preposterous goal filled with ignorant
ambition, given the extremely deep-rooted challenges facing many of the people involved
in the cycles of violence. As Chris Jones wrote in the Chicago Tribune, “…isn't some
artistic response to this crisis going to be marginal at best…?”
Or, you could believe
in the kind of effect that Now is the Time hopes to bring to troubled neighborhoods
in need of radical change. While accomplishing
that isn’t as easy as bringing in actors or dancers, it’s a different way of
thinking. And changing actions starts
with changing thinking.
If nothing else,
as Chris Jones also points out, anytime kids are involved in artistic pursuits,
they’re off the streets and out of danger.
So for those few minutes, you could say the arts is actively fighting
gangs and crimes.
You never know how someone could be affected by one
monologue or one plie’ or one aria. It
could stop one bullet.
It’s worth a try.
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