BETWEEN THE LINES: A weekly look at the creative process through a literary lens.

WHAT DOES LEGACY MEAN TO YOU?
The cast of Daniel Goldfarb’s Legacy reflects on the transient nature of theatre and the ways acting traditions are passed on.

ERIC BOGOSIAN
The nature of theatre, that it’s fleeting, that you have to be there, makes it a radical experience. We look at the world through screens, two-dimensional panes, we forget that experience is not like that. The energy between the audience and the stage is the most important part of the play. Once I was in a CD shop. I said to the guy, “You have so much amazing music here,” and he said, “This isn’t music. This is recorded music, music is when people are playing and listening and there,” and I think that’s what theatre is.

HALLEY FEIFFER
At Wesleyan, these Tibetan monks came and made sand mandalas. It really kind of changed my life looking at those, because they stayed there for a week and of course got blown away. I was like gosh that’s exactly what we do in theatre. Sometimes when I look at really well-made cupcakes I think about that. Why did they put all this work into that cupcake? Someone’s just going to eat it.

JESSICA HECHT
At Williamstown, there’s such a spectrum of age and experience and I worry we could lose our sense of history. I studied with members of the Group Theatre, I did plays with Arthur Miller, and I am blessed to know and work with people who created this theatre. That’s a legacy. So Eric and I met these artists—they were vital when we were starting—there’s a middle generation that never met them but who were affected by their work, and there’s a whole new generation who view us as the elders. It’s this domino effect. The theatre is the only form where the tentacles of those who came before can be felt.

JUSTIN LONG
To consider the idea of a legacy when talking about theatre is difficult because theatre, for me, is about letting go of one’s ego and exploring a side of human nature for no other reason than the joy of that exploration. Ego is the thing that makes us concerned with reviews and standing ovations and how attentive the audience was—things beyond our control and, more importantly, things that have nothing to do with that joy of immersion in a play. The motivation to create a legacy through art isn’t nearly as noble as the motivation to just create art. That’s why theatre is so powerful. It exists only in the moment. Its legacy only lives on in the hearts and minds of the people who went out of their way to witness it. I’m so sorry that none of this is funny.