The issue most affecting family relationships today — “What’s different?” About you, your family, religious affiliation, political opinion, ethnicity, the way you live your life.
Last week I saw “What’s Different” through the eyes of young people. They were performing in sold-out shows of “Oklahoma,” staged by the Tapestry Theatre Company in Boulder, Colorado.
The rollicking 1943 musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein highlights differences between “cowboys” and “farmers.” It takes place back in the day when Oklahoma was a brand-new state in 19th-century America.
What was different about this 2018 performance
In the Tapestry Theatre Company, 
there are two casts of characters for each performance. Stars and Understudies. The stars are “different” because of what is commonly referred to as their “disabilities.”
The understudies are talented high school students with experience in acting, singing, dancing. But that’s not “enough” for these talented young people. They believe the words they sing, “that the land they belong to is grand.” click here They give weeks of their summer vacation to be on stage helping middle and high-school students with disabilities to succeed.
Year after year, many understudies and stars return to the Theatre Company. They build upon the family relationships of performers who care about each other.
The audience
If good theatre touches the emotions of the audience, Tapestry Theatre Company has raised the barre. 
I wasn’t the only one in the audience with tears welling. We saw the joy and pride on faces of the members of both casts as they received the audience’s applause.
To borrow a line from one of the Rodgers and Hammerstein songs, the young people in this theatre company offer “plenty of heart and plenty of hope.”
As I walked out of the performance, one song kept going through my head. “We know we belong to the land, and the land we belong to is grand.” I couldn’t help reflecting on the difference it might make in our American union today, if The Right and The Left both found the common ground sung about in Oklahoma.
Notes: The cast picture above was provided by Tapestry Theatre Co. For more information about the Tapestry Theatre Company, click here
For more information about Connecting the Dots blog and the author, click here
