If you are serious about it, art helps make sense of the world. Ten years ago (!!) a group of earnest young 20-somethings entered my classroom at the Atlantic Theater Company’s Acting School and announced they’d formed their own theater company. That left me with little to do. The purpose of the class was to cajole them into forming one, on the theory that supporting them as they created their own work during their final year of school would provide a useful map for navigating their artistic dreams afterward – in the big bad world.
But this group was ahead of the game then, as they are now. They didn’t need the speech encouraging to get over whatever tensions had built up over two years together as college theater students at NYU, and work together to put on a play. They were ready to get on with the work. They’ve always been serious about make believe.
And so, ten years on, though I’ve long been their cheerleader, and then board member, and now Board Chair, Pipeline has always given me more than I’ve given them – something to watch and wonder at and admire. As my professional life has moved farther away from theater, they are my pipeline to a world I often miss, where art wrestles with life. If you are reading this, then they’ve been that for you, too, in some way. So as the wild ride of 2018 winds down, and an unknown 2019 ramps up, what better time to support those building meaning, distraction, and serious entertainment out of nothing?
Geoff Berman
Board Chair, Pipeline Theatre Company
Executive Director of the New York State Democratic Committee
