New Year’s Optimism

I stopped myself just now.

Throughout this week I’ve thought, “people seem to be more optimistic this year than previous new year’s.” Then I stopped myself. I realized I was wrong. The thought itself is a symptom of not holding onto the new year optimism. We forget. Too quickly. What is a “New Year” besides one month becoming the next? There are twelve of those, and no one says to you, “Happy New Month!” One week becoming the next? Fifty-two of those. One day becoming the next? That’s where it gets fun. There are three hundred sixty-five of those (and one extra this year). Now this is not going to be a rant about there always being tomorrow. “There’s always tomorrow” is essentially giving up on today. But a year seems so full, so large, and the celebration to ring it in has to be fittingly grand. Nobody loads up on cheap champagne for April turning into May. Why not? May is pretty great. I’d pop a confetti cannon and get drunk for May. And why isn’t a midnight kiss something you get when August 20th becomes the 21st?

Obviously you’re not going to throw a NYE caliber party every night of your life. But if the optimism stems from celebrating the year’s immeasurable potential, how do we celebrate the same for each day? How do we celebrate life the way we celebrate years?

For me this year it will be live theatre. Our Artistic Director Mikey Laird had a New Year’s Resolution to see more theatre as well as create more theatre. Sounds good to me Mikey. Live theatre inherently celebrates life. Nobody sees a play and says “I’d love to see them act in a movie.” It’s always the other way around. People crave life. Not many people clap after seeing a film at the cinema, but it’s even rarer to see someone refuse to do so after a play.

I look forward to 2012, a year full of potential, and I relish the opportunity to see and tell stories that live up to that potential on all of the wonderful stages that fill this city with life.

-C. A. Burke