By: Ylena Zamora-Vargas
Most, if not all, of our
knowledge about the world comes from light. Indeed our tropological narratives
usually begin with some form of light, or at least, Genesis 1:3 suggests it to
be the first creation of God. However, in “Eye Piece”, a play written by
Pulitzer Prize nominated Rinde Eckert, there is an apotheosis of darkness or
rather, blindness, characteristics a priori to any real form of truth or
knowledge. In fact, on closer examination, the word “darkness” appears before
“light” in Genesis, specifically in Genesis 1:2. That is, at the origin of
everything that we know, we must first learn to see the darkness, to face it,
to let it guide us, all three of these steps embodied in Eckert’s masterpiece.
To see the darkness,
Eckert brilliantly uses the metaphor of “Blindness”, to illuminate the
contradictions of society’s reliance and trust in vision and reason. He
presents blindness as the birthplace of creation, of thoughts, almost suggesting
that reality is a lie and that dreams are the only true propellant of humanity.
Meta challenges are littered throughout this play that mess with your head as
they debunk your familiar, “solid” foundations of epistemology. To add insult
to injury, Eckert resuscitates the ancient Greeks, those to whom we are
indebted for our legacy of rationality, truth, justice –and then proceeds to
undercut all of their contributions, pointing to the absurdity and yet
inadvertent wisdom of the twisted “tragedies” of Tiresias and Oedipus. He
re-interprets Greek legacy, modern art and medicine, in a unique way.
To face the darkness,
Eckert masterfully uses “Thanatos” as a foil and to let darkness guide us he
employs “Fear”, acknowledging its benefits yet highlighting its chains.
Moreover, the play is wonderfully self-referential and honest about its
time-space allocation, consistently reminding its audience that it’s not real
but a representation of an alternate reality, reminding its audience that they
are in a theatre and that they are watching actors pretend. The constant
musical backdrop created by Eckert himself with unusual instruments further
compound the effect of each intersecting story of blindness (an artist, an old
lady, a husband, a preacher, a janitor) that is conveyed to undermine our
traditional notions of awareness. Furthermore, the variegated lighting
throughout the performance was almost like a song, really the anthem of the
play, for its irony was both haunting and liberating.
Finally, the dynamics of
the cast, fantastic chemistry, and masterful synchronization evidence the
immense collaborative effort of this production. The only disillusioning part
of the experience were the few empty seats in the back. Mutatis mutandis, “Eye
Piece” is a provocation, a challenge to assume a new perspective toward
reality, and an elucidation of the limits of sight. The inevitable conclusion
is that progress has always come by seeing from the imagination, from the
inside out, not from the outside in.
For ticket information
visit: http://barnard.edu/events/eye-piece
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