The Pursuit of Happiness

The Berryville City Council voted in April to call a special election to extend a current 0.5 sales tax for 10 years to secure the repayment of bonds for capital improvements. On July 11, voters approved these capital improvements in the amounts of $550,000 for sewers, $4,400,000 for streets, $1,200,000 for parks and recreation, $125,000 for the fire department, and $225,000 for the police department. On July 7, Berryville also celebrated the opening of the new Carroll County Career Center, accompanied by a $1.3 million-dollar grant from Tyson Foods.

Meanwhile, the Eureka Springs City Council performed its quarterly production of The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade. What the play is actually about is never clear, but it involves a lot of improvisation, the hurling of hot ripostes, and impressive pledges to fight one thing or another – or two things and several another other things – to the death. The play ends with cast members flouncing off the stage into a dark and stormy night.

I asked some millennials – people aged between 18 and 35 – to review the performance. “The play debuted in 1967, before I was born,” one kid said. “And it sucks. It’s tired. It’s old. Maybe they should try something new like Economic Development, Baby! or Opportunity for People! I mean, I’d go see them.”

“Econ plays well in other towns,” another kid said. “It has extended runs and actually makes money for the towns, and for the people who live in them. Why doesn’t the council put that on? Or something like My Pony Knows More Than One Trick, or Better Than Fake Hospitality! I’d go see those plays.”

“Oh, yes, I would too,” a young woman chimed in. “And I’d love to see My Dream House on $9 Bucks an Hour. I know it’s escapism, just fantasy, but it’d be wonderful if I could believe, if only for an hour, that I could buy a house and raise a family here in Eureka Springs.

Would it kill them to put on a different show?”