A wake-up call to build it all over again. Great writers can be timely many times. And so it is with Thornton Wilder and "The Skin of Our Teeth". I'll be honest with you, I didn't "get" this play when I first read it, or the fifth time I saw it (most recently off-Broadway), but working this script with these young actors and blossoming techies, revealed its thumping message: we can laugh in the face of fear and bullies. We can stand up for whatever we believe, even as they level the pepper-spray. Some days, nowadays, it feels like the 70's all over again, but the world is both and 'awful place", as Sabina says,
and a revelation every time we choose to get out of bed. Thanks for letting me play with your terrific kids. Thanks to Beacon for letting me live a dream (a good one) for lo these past fifteen years. And even though "The Skin of Our Teeth" is my swan song, the end of the play isn't written yet. As Mr. Antrobus says, there are three big things that matter:
1. the voice of the people, even in confusion (sound familiar?)
2. the integrity of the family (and this can mean your classroom, your school, your town), and
3. the wisdom of the ages recorded in books and art.
So here we are at 2017, and it starts all over again.
-Dale Lally
