As I write this, I have just returned from watching a play done by a small, but growing, theatre company in Iowa City, called Dreamwell Theatre.

The play, entitled “Eve-Olution,” follows the lives of Alison and Liza as they consider and experience the balancing act of motherhood and careers, and all of the promise and compromise that accompanies that challenge.

As the blurb for the show says, we learn, through the experiences of Alison and Liza, that “sometimes we become people we never intended to be.”

The production of “Eve-Olution” did, for me, what theatre was created to do. It made me think. It allowed me, through the characters and the story, to consider the choices we make in life, including the rewards and consequences of those choices. It held up that great mirror, which theatre is, at its best, and forced all of us in the audience to look at ourselves, our lives, our choices, and the effects that result from those three elements.

I had a chance to talk with directors Matthew Falduto (a founder of Dreamwell in 1997) and Brian Tanner. They are intelligent and fascinating individuals who truly have an understanding of what theatre was meant to be.

Matt explained to me that the founders of Dreamwell intended the new entity to be “a theater that creates challenging, innovative and inclusive theatrical experiences.” That it is.

I chose this focus for my column this month because I think it is important to occasionally reflect on the roots of the performing arts.

Some time ago there was an excellent PBS series entitled “Empires.”

In one of the episodes from that series, “The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization,” the producers looked at the effective beginnings of theatre in ancient Athens. As the episode pointed out, “The Ancient Greeks took their entertainment very seriously and used drama as a way of investigating the world they lived in, and what it meant to be human . . . The three genres of drama were comedy, satyr plays, and most important of all, tragedy.”

Yes, theatre came into being as a way to make people look into a mirror and see the whole of the human existence, and their places in it. That is why theatre is necessarily the nearest to human life, and perhaps the most significant, of all the arts.

Theatre does a number of things. It suspends reality, sparks the imagination, tells a variety of human stories, looks at all sides of life, and sometimes simply provides entertainment. However, the most important thing it does, and was created to do, is make people think.

Matt Falduto and I touched on that very issue as we talked. We both agreed that the original intent of theatre is more important today than ever before.

In a nation where, in this day and age, corporate ownership of the media forces “news” reports to march in lockstep with the agenda of the rich and powerful, and people seem to have allowed thinking and analyzing to become a lost art, so to speak, I believe it is more important than ever that theatre do its part to reverse that trend.

Dreamwell’s production of “Eve-Olution” made me keenly aware of that fact, and it made me very proud that Starlighters II often provides, perhaps not as much as we should, such stimuli for thought. To that extent, the ancients would be proud of us.

Of course, stimulating thought is only one of many elements of what we do at Starlighters II, as we strive to address the full spectrum of theatre, and the artistic needs and wishes of all individuals, and our society as a whole. As always, we invite everyone to join us in this adventure.

I applaud Dreamwell for their more focused mission, and encourage you to take in one of their shows . . . between Starlighters II productions, of course.

More than ever, I implore you to support Starlighters II Theatre, and other area theatres, including your local high school drama programs. As President John F. Kennedy pointed out, theatre, and the other performing arts, are the “soul” of our nation.

Help keep that “soul” alive and well!

See you at the theatre!