Draft Text

To be human, we need play: To create counterpoint to the tensions of our lives. Play refreshes us, reframing our pursuits in games, sports, entertainment, and recreation. In fact, entertainment is the largest component of what most communities call culture.

The activity of play is integral to the creative act. The ability to fail, to try out variations, allows the individual to explore the possibilities of any particular gesture and to fit gestures together, thereby forming new experiences. Play allows us to get events and objects out of order, to structure the narrative in new ways. It does not follow sequences, because it is an end to itself. This is the process of discovery in any field, from the arts to the sciences. The first time a child drops an object it is an accident, but he or she repeats the act over and over to explore gravity and the limits of the parentsÕ patience.

To entertain someone literally means to hold that personÕs atten- tion, so it is by definition an interactive process. We can entertain each other through performance, or any creative act that occupies us in the exercise of our minds and bodies. The entertainer and audience participate in a process of creating an entity that is more than merely the act itselfÑperformance is by nature interactive. This exchange serves to draw the participants into a dialog in which the audienceÕs attention might be brought to some new or unexpected facet of the world. The audience may also be made aware of its own potentials and limitations, say through the grace of a dancer.

This process of interactivity is perhaps most apparent in what may be the oldest form of entertainmentÑstorytelling. The bard or griot engages a small audience, who, in turn, participate by asking ques- tions, suggesting plot, and actively altering the course of the tale. The best comedians tell stories, engaging the audience: Laughter is a social activity. It is very hard to laugh alone, and it takes a great deal of discipline to amuse oneÕs self without the interaction of others. Like the comedian, the coach or the director, the conductor or the curator, and the editor engage us as players, audience, actors in an orchestration of talents.

Games are among the most pervasive means of play, usually involving more than one person. They are simply played with an agreed-upon set of rules or structures that create the values of the game. Winning may be a matter of finding new structures within the rules: It may be that the best poker players win by under- standing the game as a narrative of our human frailties. Play may be a sublima- tion of other agressive traitsÑdomination and competitionÑallowing us to turn them into creativity. We have a vicarious identification with the champions of the sports we watch. Professional wrestling and stock-car racing are the two most popular spectacles in the United States. Their champions become cultural heroes, state governors, and the subject of all forms of iconography.