BROWN BAG
THEATRE COMPANY

I think as adults, we often forget what the mind of a child looks like. Or more specifically, our own minds when we were children. As a child at 6 years old, I didn’t need to have it spelled out for me to feel the fissure of my parent’s relationship resonate. The infidelity, addiction, mutual volatility, grief, and pain were all laid out in front of me. But never once was I an unhappy child. I loved to read, swim, dance, draw… to do all the things a normal kid enjoys doing. In my years studying psychology I found a term to match this behavior: resilience. I learned that many children have unmatched resilience when faced with trauma, always seeing the bright side of every situation. But I also know that many aren’t as fortunate to overcome these circumstances. But because of the support of my family, particularly my older sister, I always choose joy. When she was going through her own struggles as a young teenager at a new school with newly separated parents, she made sure I had someone to dance around the house with, laugh uncontrollably with, and read me a bedtime story. There is nothing quite like the bond of sisterhood. When I was in the first grade I was asked to do a project about who my hero was. My older sister was my automatic answer. In a time where I wasn’t sure if my parents were my true heroes, she showed me the light. She reminded me how to choose joy. But she didn’t have anyone to be her hero. 

Like life, Best Thing in The World is about a lot of things. Each character in this story is facing their own inner battles, longing for something just out of reach. At its core, it is a story about the power of care and the sacrifices we make for the ones we love. It portrays the world through the eyes of a bubbly six-year-old Micah who is navigating her childhood in the absence of her Marine father, the unsteady presence of her depressed self medicating mother, and the constant care and affection from her hero, her older sister Elena. Beyond that, it is a story about joy and love. Choosing joy over fear. Loving even when it is hard. Finding joy in the small things. Loving in the midst of addiction and mental health struggles. Whether it is a sister, grandparent, friend, or partner, we all have someone who has given us everything they have to give to help us find the light. But what happens when someone gives so much? How do we find our own light? When things get tough, we somehow find a way to balance the good and the bad, the same way the ocean waves always make their way back up to the shore. There must always be a balance, a force pulling things together. In Best Thing in the World, we see Elena and Jodie try to find the balance between caring for others and caring for themselves. But just like Micah’s love for the ocean, there is always a tipping point: a time for the waves to come back to shore, a time to receive all of the love and care you have been giving. In directing this play, I am finding myself pondering these questions: What does it mean to care for others? How does it feel to receive genuine care? and At what point must we begin to care for ourselves and put ourselves first? I have noticed that in our lives, caring for ourselves is almost always a more courageous and radical act than caring for others. When working on this show, I keep coming back to the ocean. A huge natural force outside of our human control. The ocean always finds its way back to shore. I hope in watching this show, you find your way back to yourself. Find that six-year-old that lives deep inside you, the one that thought anything and everything was the best thing in the world, and love them again. Be them again.