Some thoughts on… Reaching Escape Velocity

How do we tear away from the momentum we create for ourselves?  Many times we enter into orbits and stay rotating too long. We remain comfortable in our jobs and continue working even if we are not growing or gaining new experiences.  We endure broken relationships because we’re too scared to leave or be alone.  We assume there are few options available if we leave the known path.

For an object to move away from a well-established orbit, it must achieve escape velocity, the speed needed to "break free" from the gravitational attraction of a massive body, without further propulsion.  Let’s see what the Arts have to say about getting out of a rut.

Fun Home, the 2015 Tony Award winner for best musical, is Alison Bechdel’s memoir describing her coming out in college and the subsequent suicide of her gay father a few months later.  With music written by Jeanine Tesori along with book and lyrics by Lisa Kron,  the show is an inquiry into the family interactions that provide clues to the motivation behind her father’s death; for example, her mother’s knowledge of the father’s dalliances, the patriarch’s love for his daughter, and his inner struggle to acknowledge his true self while at the same time support a seemingly perfect life with three children.

This is an intimate production with the audience immersed into the daily household watching the unfolding story from a 360-degree perspective.  Alison doesn’t shake her self-imposed guilt, but she conjectures that her father likely faced his fears and found that the only way out was a path of self-destruction. For her, freedom comes from rising above his actions.  The story is as haunting as it is uplifting.  No better candidate for the Tony award.

Waitress is a musical coming to Broadway in the spring and which just finished a successful run in Boston at the A.R.T.  The original movie by Adrienne Shelly was an art house gem that was overshadowed by the death of the author.  The story, brought to life again on the stage by Diane Paulus, is about a pie-maker who uses her exceptional talent at the local diner/pie shop.  She stays in an abusive relationship with her husband because she is too scared to leave, and then faced with a pregnancy, she keeps the child and stumbles into a messy love-triangle.

The music and lyrics by Sarah Bareilles drives the performance and the main character played by Jessie Muelle wins the audience through her earnest yearning and soaring voice.  Although she doesn’t have the resources to change her path, the birth of her daughter pushes her onto a route that she wouldn’t have taken by herself.

The two shows provide hints on how to reach escape velocity.  First we have to face what’s scaring us – fear of inadequacy, inability to retool skills, display of failure. This examination and self-knowledge though painful and revealing may give us the courage to depart from our orbits.

Second and perhaps more important, we need an exogenous kick – an event that will trigger departure.  For the father in Fun Home, the kick was the freedom with which his daughter was able to express her nature.  For Waitress, it was the birth of her daughter. 

In both cases, similar to a satellite circling in space, without the exogenous push the character would stay in their self-prescribed trajectory.  A friendly kick can go a long way.