The Acting Company

Before you ask me--

No, I have no intention
Of seeing that show

The Acting Company

Oh, I'm sure it's good

People often write very well
About things
They know nothing about

This isn't the first time
Someone's written a play about theater
It may not even be the first time
Someone's written a play
About this theater
But it's certainly the first one that's played
So close to home

I do not know who this boy is
This writer
Who's decided
To take a stab at guessing
At what it means
To be a part of this acting company

I have been a part of this company
For all fifty of its existing years

And I have no intention
Of writing a play
About what that was like

No one who has ever been in this company
Has written about the experience

We're a little bit like the mafia
In that way

We don't take kindly
To telling tales
Out of school, so to speak

That's the reason we stopped inducting people
From the community
Into the company

People from out-of-town
Have an easier time
Keeping their mouths shut

People from around here, well--

Gossip is in their blood

So the fact that somebody
Was curious about what goes on
Behind the walls here
Amongst the acting company
Well--

It doesn't surprise me

But it doesn't particularly interest me either

I've lived the reality
So why would I want to engage
In the fantasy?

I'm sure this boy
Probably got a few things right

Maybe more than a few things

The ups
The downs

Has there been fighting?

Of course there has

Fifty years
In the theater

It's a miracle no one was killed

Well...

I should say it's a miracle
More people weren't killed

Now, it's America
It's a free country

Everybody has the right
To do and say
Whatever they like

I'm an artist
Nobody believes in freedom of speech
More than I do

But if there were rights to things
To...stories

If it were possible to say
That only certain people
Had the right
To tell certain stories

Then I believe it would be fair to say
That only people who have actually been in the acting company
Have the right
To speak
About what it's like
To be in the acting company

Then again, maybe some of you
Are just interested in fiction

Sometimes the truth
Isn't preferable

Especially not to a theater-going audience

That's been my experience anyway

So maybe you don't want to hear
What I have to say after all

Because all you'll get from me is the truth
And as I said

I'm not talking