Home / Chronology / The As If Body Loop / More About The As If Body Loop The following articles appeared in Actors Theatre's subscriber newsletter prior to the 2007 Humana Festival THE AS IF BODY LOOP "Blessed are they who hope for Him. " —Isaiah 30:118 "We’re going inside of ‘em, we’re going outside of ‘em—inside of ‘em! Outside of ‘em! And when we get them on the run once, we’re going to keep ‘em on the run. And we’re not going to pass unless their secondary comes up too close. But don’t forget, men—we’re gonna get ‘em on the run, we’re gonna go, go, go, go! And we aren’t going to stop until we go over that goal line! And don’t forget, men—today is the day we’re gonna win. They can’t lick us —and that’s how it goes . . . The first platoon of men—go in there and fight, fight, fight, fight, fight! What do you say, men!" —Knute Rockne In the 18th and 19th centuries several sects of Jews established the practice of their faith around joy and ecstasy. They believed we should always be rejoicing because we should never doubt that God will send us the Messiah. Various references in ancient Jewish texts indicate that there are people among us who bear the pain of the world to keep us from losing hope as we wait. After centuries of debate it was decided there were 36 of these people among us, keeping us from falling into despair, which is an affront to God and would lead to the end of humankind. Every letter in the Hebrew alphabet corresponds with a number. Lamed is the letter that is 30, vav is 6, so these 36 people are known in Yiddish as the Lamed Vavniks. These 36 people are unknown to us, each other and maybe even themselves, however, without them, the world cannot survive. The Lamed Vavniks are like the best teammates ever. They’re like Ronnie Lott. In 1985, the free safety of the San Francisco 49ers was told he needed surgery on the pinky finger he had broken the season before in an opposing player’s facemask. season ending surgery? Unacceptable. Ronnie Lott had the tip of the finger amputated instead. He didn’t miss a down. He played through the pain and then even gave up part of his finger to keep his team’s dreams of victory alive. The As if Body Loop is a phenomenon which occurs when you witness someone experiencing an emotion and then experience the feeling yourself. Think of it like this: Scott Norwood has to make this field goal for the Buffalo Bills to win the super Bowl. Snap. Hold. Kick. "No Good! Wide Right!" You’re a Bills fan, so you’re swearing and wondering why this guy isn’t clutch in the post season. Then the camera zooms in on him and he knows it’s there so he’s trying not to cry. "I feel so bad for him," you think; that’s sympathy. "Could I live with myself after failing so publicly?" you wonder; that’s empathy. The suicidal nausea both you and Norwood are feeling; that’s the As if Body Loop. "I found the idea that there are 36 people who carry the pain of the world incredibly moving and, in some way, it made a lot of sense," Ken Weitzman says, "and the As if Body Loop concept is about the power of being a witness. In my mind they are different ways of challenging the idea that we are individuals only." In The As If Body Loop, Weitzman investigates both these theories of interconnectedness through the story of Aaron and his estranged and eccentric family. Aaron works at NFL Films and believes in the inspirational healing power of sports; he turns to gods like Ronnie Lott. His brother Glenn is studying to be an energy healer under the guidance of their mother. Their sister Sarah begins freezing to death (literally), which brings Aaron back home. When it seems like Sarah might be a Lamed Vavnik, the search for a cure becomes that much more exigent—if they lose her they might lose the world. To save her, they set out to save the people she was trying to save in her job as a social worker. "I want to raise the idea not just of connection but of the dire importance of it and also raise questions about the way we look at our responsibility to one another," Weitzman admits. The ability to empathize gives humanity an edge. It gives us the ability to strategize well, on field and off. Humans also work better in teams where we combine our individual strengths and look out not only for what’s ahead, but also for those around us. Look at how many times Rockne says ‘We’ in that speech. Perhaps in achieving the As if Body Loop we share each other’s pain and spread it around a little. Which is good, because 36 people are not going to be enough to help that kicker. Go, go, go! —Julie Felise Dubiner KEN WEITZMAN Ken Weitzman is a serious sports fan. Knicks and Jets. Right out of University of Michigan he worked for NBA entertainment and then held a variety of other jobs in sports. How do sports connect to both theatre and the American dream? “A team sport is very much about individual strength and character and coming back from injury and that whole sort of frontier mentality” says Weitzman, and adds, “I think sports is so, so underutilized in theatre. I think it is just such great dramatic material.” While creating documentaries and producing sports shows for television, he kept one foot in theatre and performance. It was while studying acting at the Atlantic Theatre that he realized he wasn’t an actor. “They used a very particular text analysis technique. I loved it …as a writer.” He taught with Young Playwrights, Inc. (“I loved the teaching,” he remembers), but a full-ttime commitment to a life as a playwright would be a whole new game and would require a new playing field, and new teammates. Although all of his friends and family were in New York, Weitzman decided to relocate to the West Coast and attend the prestigious graduate program at University of California, San Diego. Here he found the close-knit team of collaborators he needed. A seminar with director Les Waters turned Weitzman on to interview-based playwriting. This technique initiated the project that would later become The As If Body Loop. “I was working with a few actors whom i love, and I was interested in the idea of whether somebody can actually heal another person. They would go out and get interviews with people who were sick with unexplained illnesses and also with people who tried to heal these type of illnesses…there was great material that came from that.” Weitzman also was able to continue teaching. At UCSD he led courses on playwriting, screenwriting and, on one occasion, contemporary sports films. Weitzman’s plays began to attract national attention even while he was still in school. Arrangements was produced by the Atlantic Theater Company and received the 2003 L. Arnold Weissberger Award at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. And even while in school for playwriting, he kept one foot in sports. Spin Moves, about girls’ basketball and the American dream, was developed as part of the Bay Area Playwrights Festival and at Arena Stage. Weitzman’s seemingly disparate interests continue to come together in surprising, topical ways. The mythology of football is a motif in The As If Body Loop. On a larger level though, all of his plays deal with the necessity of forming connections with others —whether on a team, or in a family —even when being American seems to proscribe it. “Connection between people, even the very idea of saving another person, healing another person, goes against that sort of frontier mentality that our country is founded on.” Weitzman continues to investigate this paradox. “I was an American culture major in college,” he confesses. “I do think there’s something about these foundational metaphors that our country was built on that I keep returning to and somehow wanting to subvert or at least work through or question.” —Cara Pacifico