Beyond Reason, Compelled To Go, May 21, 2011

Beyond Reason, Compelled To Go, May 21, 2011
© Gordon McCall


Two years ago I introduced a course in collective theatre creation for our Purdue University Dept. of Theatre. I called the course Hot Water - the goal was to create a devised piece of theatre based on our emotional relationship to water. That journey established a partnership in the project with Rick Thomas, Head of Purdue sound design and some of the students of that original exploration. Since then, I've created phase 2 of the project in Montreal with a group of professional actors and this summer intended to get to Australia to pick up my earlier research down under that I had begun 3 years ago. But a funny thing happened on the way to Australia. The Mississippi River came calling.

This past week, May 18, 2011, to be exact, it occurred to me that the disastrous flooding that's happening with the Mississippi River right now was foretold in the research we did on the first incarnation of Hot Water. Thanks to Patrick Midgley, one of the graduate acting students involved in the project, drawing our attention to the US Army Core of Engineers and their history of being at war with the mighty Mississippi, we became aware of the precarious balance of the Mississippi and a giant part of the US population. Nevertheless, I have to admit I didn't think we'd see the potential tragedy unfold in our lifetime but suddenly, less than 3 years later, the disaster of epic proportions is underway.

This is the first time in history the Atchafalaya River, the spillway and the Mississippi River have been engaged in the last ditch action plan of the US army core of engineers to prevent New Orleans from being washed away. As I write this the release of the spillway has dropped Lake Ponchetrain by 2 feet. It was expected to crest at 19'6" but is now at 17'6" so it seems releasing the spillway is working.  By the way, the catastrophe depth is 20'. But the bulk of the water still lies upstream near St. Louis. The river will crest in Vicksburg, Mississippi this coming Tuesday. If all goes as planned the worst part of the disaster will be averted but at the costs of thousands of peoples homes, livelihood and possible lives. Averting the river to a lesser populated area as they've done will still destroy thousands of peoples' llves. But thousands more will be saved and the economic livelihood that so many states depend on from the Mississippi will be saved. So the few are paying the price for the many. But what a price.

To cut a long story short, I hope to be in Vicksburg, Mississippi interviewing people and shooting a documentary on this historic and tragic occurrence on Tuesday. This Saturday, I, along with Rich Dionne and professional actor, Kent Allen, will drive to St. Louis and pick up the Mississippi there. Next morning we'll begin the drive down through Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana to Baton Rouge or New Orleans and back. The plan is to be back in Lafayette, Indiana by next Thursday afternoon. Along the way we'll stop at several towns in danger of disappearing and interview people. One of the great ironies of this tragedy is that the water is threatening to flood several major battlefields of the US Civil War. This year and for the next three years the country is focused on celebrating or at least recognizing the history of that war. It's the 150th anniversary.

The questions we'll be asking will focus on the people's emotional connection to the river, especially in those areas related to the Civil War. The thrust of the project is our emotional connection to water. I'm most interested in exploring people's resiliency in the face of this tragedy. I don't know quite what to expect. I have heard through a friend in Pittsburgh who just returned from the South that there's a lot of anger directed toward the Army Core of Engineers right now. That's going to be interesting to investigate.

But at the heart of this adventure is the pure joy of breaking free of planned events, trusting inspiration and instinct and setting off into the unknown on short notice with two good friends and knowing that we might discover or create something magical, or not, but that we'll be enriched by the experience and will share that enrichment with others.

I have a good feeling about this. It's been a long time since I felt that rush of adrenalin when I knew I could take action on a moment of inspiration. On the other hand, I know that we'll be witnessing and experiencing the raw reality of people coping with unimaginable personal disaster -  a sobering and humbling thought.