Setting the Stage

written for UPAF and read by the Fine Arts teachers at USM

The plays have been written,
The songs have been penned;
The orchestra’s tuned
With a message to send.

Arrangements completed;
Costumes, lighting refined;
Rehearsals and practice
With audience in mind.

Dancers and musicians
And actors of all ages
Learning their crafts
By increments and stages.

Giving their hearts and minds
Performing for the masses –
And through their skilled passion
Our culture purposefully passes

From the stage to the eye
From the pit to the ear
By virtue of Tchaikovsky
And Gershwin and King Lear
And struggling playwrights
Whom, by the very same token,
Deserve to have their thoughts
And messages spoken
And composers taking risks
With rhythm and form
Choreographers challenging,
Redefining the norm.

They are the fabric –
These arts we perform –
That wrap us
Sustain us
Keep us
Connected and warm

Enveloping us in
The art that is giving –
The beauty of being human,
The miracle of living.

Keep these arts vibrant
Allow them to flourish
Make them accessible
And see to it they nourish
Generations to come
Talent, ideas – as yet undefined.
(My apology to the bard)
The audience is the thing.
And with that in mind,

The stage has been set
For an impassioned plea.
Listen. Think. Act. Support
The arts in Milwaukee.

© Jeff Wilson, 2009