Lessons From "Lovely Day"

How well do we communicate on issues of war and peace? The role of the military in society? Whether parents should encourage or allow their children to participate in the military? These are tough subjects at any time, but made much harder when they are disagreements within the family. That is the theme of the play ‘Lovely Day" by Leslie Ayvizian, which ran from November 30 to – December 14 at the City Theatre.

Recognizing the potential impact of the short play, City Theatre turned to the Thomas Merton Center to find and train volunteer facilitators to preside over open discussions held after each performance. Tim Vining brought in Scilla and Paul Wahrhaftig of the Fostering Constructive Conversations Project, to train and coordinate the project. Around 30 facilitators facilitated 45 sessions, reaching approximately 1,250 people.

The play was cleverly written with many metaphorical relationships between the interplay of the family and the national and world situation around issues of war and peace. The impact of the play and discussion was often intense but it was a wonderful forum for people to listen to each other. One person said, "I was a Bush supporter, but Fran’s (the mother) issues gave me something to consider." Another commented, that the play was an analogy of polarized views in society, helped by the media, and we need the opportunity to dialogue. A number of women were deeply moved by the struggle that the mother Fran goes through to reach her understanding that "Mother’s can’t send their children to war."

There were two student performances. One of the students observed, that he saw his Dad who is in the military in Martin (the father), and that it is the job of the military to offer the bigger picture of peace and freedom in the world. But he also related to Fran and saw his Mom in her, and recognized her fear of seeing him go off to war. It opened up some new perspectives for him.

The thirty trained facilitators felt privileged to watch night after night as the audience experienced the struggle of Martin, Fran and their son Brian, and afterwards to lead the discussion on the issues raised. We feel very grateful for City Theatre for their courage in bringing the opportunity for this dialogue to Pittsburgh.

- Scilla Wahrhaftig

Sam Freed and Leslie Ayvizian in "Lovely Day" at City Theatre
(Photo by Ric Evans)