According to T. S. Eliot, it is– “breeding/Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing/Memory and desire . . .”

But will May, June, July . . . be far behind?

After a winter of political schemes, an uptick of public shootings, a plethora of investigations, finger-pointing, and obnoxious tweeting, the American soul must long for something better–some celebration of a better day around the corner.

If you build it, he will come

Field of Dreams.

The fact that the above has been misquoted so many times as, “If we build it, they will come” suggests some universal need for rebirth and a new day. What better time than Easter, Passover, or Ramadan? But they have come and gone with no sign of solace or healing either nationally or globally.

Political correctness has neutered us spiritually. It was an attempt to level the playing field. Instead, it has left us with no playing field. We have rid the public square of Christmas trees and Wise Men. Why not keep the trees and creches and add Stars of David and Menorahs and crescents and baklava?

We don’t need to look to religion or religious literature to find sources of celebration. Redemption has always been at the heart of great literature. (The Guardian: Top Ten Books About Redemption and Justice).

Redemption stories abound in real life. Click to find out what happened to:

• Abdel Nasser Ould Ethmane was raised in a nomadic village in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, where slavery is the norm. For his seventh birthday, he received his first slave, which was as normal to him as picking out a toy or a new bike.
• Back in 2000, 23-year-old Cornealious Anderson III, nicknamed Mike, was arrested for robbing a Burger King at gunpoint. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison, released on bail, and told to await orders on when to show up to serve his time.
• Libby Phelps-Alvarez was raised to picket soldiers’ funerals, carry homophobic signs, and rain down fire and brimstone on anyone who didn’t agree with [her “religious” ideology].
• Back in 2000, 23-year-old Cornealious Anderson III, nicknamed Mike, was arrested for robbing a Burger King at gunpoint. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison, released on bail, and told to await orders on when to show up to serve his time.

The theater has been teaching us about redemption since its beginning. Oedipus put out his eyes to atone for his sin long before Moses descended from the mountaintops or Christians were corralled in the Arena. In Amadeus, Salieri searches for the God of his childhood who he thinks has abandoned him. Currently, middle and high school directors who participate in the EdTA (Educational Theatre Association) continue to look for plays that will offer more than hi-jinks and hilarity to their students.

One of the most popular high school plays today doesn’t have cheerleaders or football captains as its heroes. Almost, Maine by John Cariani features a series of vignettes which take place at exactly the same time in the town of Almost. These characters range in age and are “hard working, ordinary people” who deal with a lot of things Americans who live in rural America deal with today: poverty, unemployment, limited opportunity . . .so there’s a distinct sadness underlying the hope and joy in this play.” (Author’s notes)

John Cariani’s “Almost, Maine” is a series of nine amiably absurdist vignettes about love, with a touch of good-natured magic realism

New York Times Review, February 15, 2013

The fact that this play is so popular with today’s teens and young adults (it has also had a run Off-Broadway) is hopeful. Our young people are interested in plays that have more than laughs. They seek drama that takes us to dimensions that recognize both the poverty and the beauty of the time we live in.

New plays that fit this mold are on the horizon. Bonnie Culver’s Sniper boldly examines the interior world of a school shooter. Gregory Fletcher’s Tom and Huck–Breakin’ the Law re-imagines the Mark Twain duo as they discover a deeper love for each other. The Crying Tree by Peter Gunter imagines a world alternating between the eerily similar racial and financial politics of 1800 and 2019 on a former plantation not far from Charlottesville, Virginia.

The current young playwrights of color also offers hope for a more diverse future. The “black slot” (the one spot in a theater’s season set aside for plays by or about people of color) is gone.

“Seeing just one black play in a season is not cool anymore. The tokenism is not cool anymore.”

Maria Manuela Goyanes, the new head of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre,

In the vanguard of this movement are plays by and/or about people of color. Blue Moon Plays is a publisher currently seeking plays by playwrights of color or playwrights who create worlds in which people of all genders and colors intermingle–not always harmoniously. Recently published plays include

• N by Adrienne Pender
• She’ll Find Her Way Home by Valletta Anderson
• Refraction of Light by Jean Klein

So, not only April, but also the succeeding months may have been cruel globally in their march toward political and religious animosity, a rise in hate crimes across the world, and the resurgence of politically medieval social policies. But the theater has often been a predictor of future trends. If so, then we may have a brighter future than the current news programs would suggest.