Identity Politics

Identity is a bitch. By the time we’re grown up enough to ask ourselves who we are and what the hell we’re doing with this thing called life, we realize our so-called self is an infinitely convoluted and mysterious patchwork — a mashup of past indignities, adopted attitudes and a certain incommunicable something howling deep inside for meaning and contact.

The search for identity and authenticity is at the heart of Constant Revolution, a fetching new work written and performed by students in Lane Community College’s theater arts program. The play, directed by Willow Norton, is itself something of a quilt, an assemblage of bits and pieces of individual stories stitched together by themes that are distinctly existential, and which constantly complicate the dilemma of being and becoming.

The young cast — Darius Bunce, Sabrina Gross, Pia Sosa Hildenbrandt, Milo Kent-Pettit, Emma Rain and Alex Vowles — is uniformly excellent, and boy can they write. The intersecting skits and soliloquies, which take on everything from early romance and identity politics to consumer ennui and the crunch of career choices, exhibit a surprising level of maturity and sophistication. They are by turns surreal and pedestrian, played out on a stark stage that becomes at one moment a wintery dreamscape, at another the setting for a teenage party.

Constant Revolution finds a delicate balance between narcissistic obsession and human communion, as each actor brings an isolated and beleaguered self to bear upon the world, sometimes bumping up against one another, striking sparks of recognition or fanning the flames of incomprehension. Such is life, but the play deepens our everyday experience by making our interior monologues explicit and therefore lyrical, loaded with yearning. Imagine Beckett in the land of Millennials, with their cell phones, sinister ironies and downgraded opportunities. Waiting for Go, perhaps.

But, unlike Beckett, the play refuses to wallow in a fumblesome striving that forever veers toward nihilism. Yes, Constant Revolution takes on the big ontological and existential questions of life, but it does so with a spirit that is essentially optimistic. Communication may crumble, but its crumbs can mark a path that leads to understanding. It finds its guiding principle in a poem by Jack London, a line of which states, “The function of man is to live, not to exist.” Living, unlike merely existing, is a kind of artistry — an authoring of the self that is itself a creative act, a moving from inwardness outward.

In this sense, the play’s title reveals a dual meaning: It is at once highly personal and implicitly political. To confront the world with one’s truest self, a thing of perpetual motion, is a supremely revolutionary act. The stories that comprise Constant Revolution would seem to argue that identity can’t be purchased in the marketplace, nor can it be constructed in bitterness and fear.

The play answers Beckett’s famous line — “I can’t go on, I must go on” — with a simple affirmative: Go on. This is the hope that trumps all despair, and it’s inspiring to behold in a troupe of young artists, especially in these dark days. It is, and ever has been, the only hope we have.

Constant Revolution plays 7:30 pm Thursday through Friday, Feb. 23-25, and 3:30 pm Sunday, Feb. 26, at LCC’s Blue Door Theatre; $10, students and staff free.

A Note From the Publisher

Dear Readers,

The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.

That’s because of you!

Not just because of financial support (though that matters enormously), but because of the emails, notes, conversations, encouragement and ideas you shared along the way. You reminded us why this paper exists and who it’s for.

Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.

We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.

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None of this happens by accident. It happens because readers step up and say: this matters.

As we head into a new year, please consider supporting Eugene Weekly if you’re able. Every dollar helps keep us digging, questioning, celebrating — and yes, occasionally annoying exactly the right people. We consider that a public service.

Thank you for standing with us!