If ever a tent was filled with romance to inspire love — it was one created by set designers to celebrate with art award recipients.
What is the connection between romance and the arts? The two interwoven create the fabric of love. To hear the words spoken in honor of the award recipients, one knew immediately why every couple needs time off from their daily routine to visit an art gallery or museum, attend a musical event, participate in theatre. During those uplifting moments, the anxiety of the day, the week will dissipate.
Stopping to honor: Tonight many people stopped and took time to honor recipients of the awards named for the main sponsor of legislation that established the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities, Senator Claiborne Pell. As we listened to the words and what it means to cherish works of art, music, and theatre, I wondered why we didn’t stop more often to honor and cherish those we love.
Those we love: I have been thinking a great deal about friendships, relationships, family, frustrations, and anxiety. The world as we know it moves too quickly, our plates are too full, our calendars brimming over. When do we have time to think about those whom we love? So often in the stress and strain of not enough sleep, we become people that even we don’t like — and yet, when do we stop? Tonight many of us stopped. Many of us gathered to honor Roger Mandle, Peter Geisser, Consuelo Sherba and the Trinity Rep Acting Company. Award Recipients
I am I ever so grateful to those friends who made it possible for me — for us — to create a memory.
The tent of romance: After the presentation we were escorted to a tent that filled nearly a city block of theatre sets where we dined on mini servings from the Japanese bar, a Latin lounge, and a French Bistro. Each had adjoining living rooms, intimately created and defined. We sipped our champagne in a French provincial room of Oriental carpets and silver candleabras.
Couples and vision: For a brief moment in time the willing suspension of disbelief captured us and we began to appreciate the words quoted by one of the speakers, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18)
Couples and lovers need a vision — everyone in a relationship needs a vision. But for the vision to blossom, we must renew our commitment daily.
Pell Awards Gala
Copyright 2008 Rita Watson