Whenever I attend something
theatrical – ballet, comedy show, play or concert - always get my creative
juices flowing. Aside from being
entertained and stimulated by the unfolding creative arts, I also feel inspired
as a writer and as someone who has a vivid imagination. I also think of how I’d make the show better,
even though I know nothing about producing such things. Do you experience the same things?
I recently attended Alvin
Ailey’s American Dance Theater, a rich performance at the City Center in New
York City. It’s the 45th
season for the celebrated and honored dance company. As I watched the dance unfold, I thought
about how books and publishing just don’t have such a grand stage.
Sure, many things are connected to books. Many plays were books first
and many books are written about plays, music groups, and artistic
performers. But when will books be on
the stage, center row?
I guess theater is a book
acted out and dances are what words look like when expressed in the human form.
How else could books be a show?
One thing that the theatrical
arts get that books really don’t is the public group experience. We read privately, at our own pace, in our
own voice. But when we attend a theater,
we experience the same things as a group, side by side on another, by the
hundreds or thousands. We can see it,
feel it, and hear it. Dances and plays
are multi-dimensional, alive, and powerful.
Oh, as a writer, I would love to feel that.
Writers hear quiet applause
online, through FB likes, or newspaper reviews, or small gatherings in bookstores. But when does the writer feel
his or her fans, living out the words written in a book?
Dancers sprawling across the
stage, in uniforms that reveal the sensual and sexual body of a young dancer –
amazing! A voice that fills an arena and
lifts its audience to feel its soul – tremendous! A play where actors and
actresses demonstrate a dream, an ideal, or a piece of history in crystal-clear
color -- stupendous! But books feel flat and
isolated and hidden. Or are they?
Books enliven readers and
stay with them long after they’re read.
Their words define our lives and help us see the world differently. Maybe books get individual stages, millions
of them, for us to act out.
Our minds serve as the
spotlight, the theater of our dreams, fantasies, and desires. We may read the same book but our experience
of it will vary. A book gets a new stage with every reader. How do books play out in your life? For me, I see life dancing and singing and
dramatizing the best we could ever experience as long as it’s lived through the
eyes of our books.
2016 Book Marketing & Book Publicity Toolkit
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