Kelly Thomas on 'A Humanities Cycle'

So I sat down with Kelly Thomas, Co-Artistic Director of TSB, to ask her some questions about The Space Between's upcoming production, A Humanities Cycle.  Here's what she said.

Question: What can you tell us about The Space Between's upcoming production?

Kelly Thomas: I can tell you it's a collection of three short plays written by a playwright living in Washington County, Utah.  Each of the three pieces focus on some aspect of our humanity.  
One play discusses how far a government can or should go in the service of its citizens.  The second is a sweet story about two people that are just trying to live their lives and are looking for ways to have their paths sync up but at the particular time that we, the audience, see them they just don't seem to be able to make it work out.  The third piece talks about championing life verses championing justice and where the moral lines lay when things start to get a little blurry.

Q: Having read all of these short plays before, what did you personally respond to in these pieces?

KT: The conversations and ideas of each.  I responded to connections that I felt to them.  Some instances in the plays felt like things that I myself at some point in my life had experienced.  Some of the questions raised in the texts are questions that I had asked myself in my own life.  It was very easy for me to put myself in the place of these characters.  I also responded to just the sheer emotion if it.  There are some big ideas and feelings and questions at play in these pieces.

Q: Do you feel that the Southern Utah community will be served by this production?

KT: Of course.  I wouldn't be taking the time and effort to put something like this into the community if I didn't think it was of any value to the people within that community.  I feel like I can honestly say that there is no other theatre like this being done in the area at the moment.  Diversity of product and diversity of thoughts and ideas are crucial not just to theatre but to art in general.  Theatre is a big arena to work in and there is plenty of room for every type of production.  It's possible we may have some audience members that react to the production in some sort of negative way, but I would think that's simply because they haven't had the opportunity to be exposed to the type of work that The Space Between does.  That's not to say that's a bad thing, it's just saying that sometimes new experiences can be kind of scary and feel strangely.  One of the great things about theatre in general though is that it's so variable - it's not just one thing, it can be whatever you make it to be.

Q: Why do you think this production is of importance?

KT: Because it holds a mirror up to our society and it asks them questions and then it makes them look into the mirror.  To put it another way, as an audience member you're going to be asked questions when you watch this production and you'll be challenged to answer those questions.  You'll have to think about yourself as a human being and why you think and feel the way you think and feel.

Q: Don't you think that people think about themselves as individuals enough on their own?  Don't they investigate their own life enough on their own?  Why would someone need to come see A Humanities Cycle?  Can't people just go the movies and have fun?

KT: Well, no, I don't think people ask themselves enough questions on a daily basis.  I think that we're so inundated with the opinions of others on a daily basis that we tend not to do our own thinking as much as we could or should.  I think a production like this is really great because we're stuck in a room where nobody is offering us an opinion and we have to answer the questions for ourselves and on our own.   I think that's a really important process for a person to undertake.

Q: Anything else?

KT: Come see the show!