Another Magical Winter Session
Often, in a playback theatre course, the group process that happens is something special and unique. It’s wonderful (literally full of wonder) how a group can come together at the beginning of a course, mostly strangers to each other, often tentative, somewhat nervous if not curious, and by the end be incredibly bonded, like a family, with connections that sometimes run deeper than many family bonds. These connections are a function of the process of sharing and enacting stories. This is the power of Playback Theatre.
At this Winter Session’s Core Training, students came from from Germany, Brazil, and both coasts and the Midwest of the US. They came with many different backgrounds and a rich diversity of interests and reasons for coming. Some were completely new to Playback. For some it was a homecoming, reconnecting to Playback after many years. The peaceful and nourishing setting of Falling Waters contributed to the learning, the process, the connections. This fine group is now connected to the large global family of Playback Theatre.
~Tim Van Ness, Core Training Teacher Winter 2012
From Participants:
About Falling Waters:
I can’t imagine a better location/place for this training. I’ll surely look to ‘come back’. The hospitality of the sisters, the ‘homeiness’, and the natural beauty – a homerun!
About the experience:
My weekend at the core training has changed me in a way that I cannot express. I feel that sparks that had been dormant for a long time were suddenly burning with a magnificent fury. It felt like everything that occurred before that weekend was part of a chapter of my story that was now closed and that I was on to begin writing the next one.
Besides having the experience of learning and practicing playback, my personal journey during our time at Falling Waters was epic. Without a doubt, I have experienced a transformation. It was just what I needed. I will always consider it to be one of the most wonderful times of my life, from start to finish. Having all of you there was so integral to my process, and I am so grateful to have each and every one of you in my life now. No matter where our paths lead us we will always have the bonds created during this magical time. A time that seemed somehow suspended in time and space, removed from every other part of the world.
Playback Theatre Leadership Training
The Centre for Playback Theatre is happy to announce the dates for the next PT Leadership Training. In association with the Centre for Playback, The School of Playback Theatre (UK) will be hosting the 2012 Leadership Training at The Buckden Towers, Buckden, England.
This course offers students a chance for an extended training with playback theatre’s founder. It will emphasize skill development, especially in conducting. It will teach theory. It will also confront the issues that face playback leaders, including company life, performance standards, and community relations.
For more information visit: Playback Leadership – United Kingdom
BAPT at U.S. Customs & Border Protection
Big Apple Playback Theater (BAPT) had a great performance in August for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency at JFK airport. They were invited in for their Family Heritage and Diversity Program. Approximately 60 people were in attendance and many told their stories about their work family and home family. . .
One woman, a mother of five, happy to have her middle child going off to college- one less person at home!; another man, in uniform, worked at JFK for 20 years, leaving to work at SFO for a better position- leaving his aging mother and all of his colleagues behind a pair; a supervisor feeling anxious because the fiscal year ends the end of September and there is a lot of loose ends to tie up = high stress; another woman planning a 90th birthday party for her dad and though very happy and proud that he is still so lucid and alive it has been a very emotional process weeding through all the photos and memories for the slide show; one of the stories was about how a woman, who when young, used to travel the world during summers (instead of going to summer camp) and visit relatives in different countries and one summer when she was ten she lived on a farm in Germany with her German grandparents and she had to deliver a baby calf at 5am or else she wouldn’t get any breakfast!
Audience members really got into it after hesitating for the first few moments… it was adventure that really paid off!
The Wonders of Teaching Playback
The students sat holding a giant circle of twine. They came from Denmark, Brazil, Canada, Australia, and the US. Odia Jordaan, from Pretoria,South Africa, another student, had asked them to write on a piece of paper and tape to the twine one way they had used playback theatre. “Pick one setting,” she said. There was a diversity of answers: “in a school,” “for a corporation,” “at a memorial service.” She then asked them to tape a piece of paper with one setting where they dreamt of bringing playback theatre: to corporations, to immigrants, to families, to troubled youth. Then, after giving individual pieces of twine to each member, she invited them to run it from their spot on the circle across to anyone else whose setting they aspired to. The result was a network of connection that captured not only the wide range of applications for playback theatre, but the spirit of connection among its practitioners.
Odia’s presentation was part of a 4-day course called Teaching Playback Theatre to Beginners taught by Jonathan Fox that recently took place at Falling Waters in Saugerties, NY. It followed the three-day Beauty of the Form taught by Jo Salas. This course focused on the different playback forms and the art of when to use them. “I now have much more confidence about what to do,” said one of the students. “And it is so important to come to the source.” Jonathan and Jo are the founders of playback theatre.
Thanks to Our Generous Supporters
The Centre for Playback Theatre wishes to thank all generous supporters of our 2010 fundraising campaign who made donations totaling over $14,000 since October. These gifts are of tremendous value to the Centre at this time of transition. Donations came in accompanied by gracious messages from international supporters from Hong Kong, Israel, New Zealand, Bali, Germany, Australia, Switzerland, Canada, and the USA.
Thank you for your support!
This communication came from Fe Day of Aotearoa, New Zealand:
MANY THANKS and much love to all at the School – and good wishes for our worldwide community
MAY WE reach out in effective ways and do wonderful transforming work, to help humanity think and respond to our challenges WITH intimacy and belonging, not alienation and objectification! THANKS for all you do, dear sisters and brothers!
Using Playback to Fight Slavery
In November, Shivanna Puttaiah and Kiran Kamal Prasad of Bangalore, India, visited the Playback Centre and attended a public performance of Hudson River Playback Theatre. They were here on a US tour after receiving the distinguished Harriet Tubman Freedom Award from the DC-based Free the Slaves on behalf of JEEVIKA, a grassroots organization that works in rural villages outside Bangalore, where the Dalits or “untouchable” caste has endured centuries of poverty and humiliation.
JEEVIKA helps slaves understand their rights and free themselves from bondage and was founded by Kiran, a former Jesuit priest, who has vowed to improve life for the marginalized and poor. The group incorporates playback theatre and other theatre forms in their vital educational work with slaves and former slaves. The goal, says Kiran, is “inculcating in them a sense of freedom and purpose in their lives, and making them resolve to come out of bondage. We motivate them. We encourage them to come out of slavery and be independent, to support their families in a dignified way.”
Shivanna Puttaiah grew up in slavery, yanked from school at age 12 to work off the family debt as a farm hand. “When I was a bonded laborer, I was treated like an animal. When I see bonded laborers, I have fire in my heart,” he says. Shivanna is now free, after learning from JEEVIKA that bonded labor was outlawed in India more that 30 years ago. He slipped away from the farm and filed court papers to win his freedom. Now, he’s a leader in JEEVIKA and shows others how to follow his example. “My parents gave me birth,” Shivanna says, “but it is JEEVIKA which gave me a way to lead an independent life. That is why I feel JEEVIKA is just as my father.”
To see a video, go to FreetheSlaves.net or go to Jeevika-free.org for more information.
Honoring Families
Centre Company Partner Big Apple Playback Theatre was awarded a $10,000 grant by the Geen Foundation to provide playback performances to disadvantaged families. Big Apple Playback Theatre, based in New York City, works in schools and other settings with young people. Congratulations!
My Recent Trip to Bangladesh
~ By Jen Kristel
My recent trip to Bangladesh was very full and complex – Bangladesh itself is complex- socially, economically and politically. This trip however, had a little more complexity to it, than in my previous visits, in that it included a trip to the small village of Mirasarai to do anti bullying work using art, and Playback (using the No More Bullying model designed by Hudson River Playback Theatre Company) and to support continued grief and trauma work with a community that had experienced a horrendous disaster of losing 45 boys after a futball game last year. A team of 15 multi-skilled people met for intensive team-building and training, then traveled together to Mirasarai for 3 days of field work. Setting the stage for this kind of work was important. This project unfolded over the last 6 months and included extensive skypes and 2 assessment trips by a small group prior to my getting to Bangladesh. We worked to support people on a one to one, family, schools and community level around issues of grief and community wide bullying. Stories from parents included one of a man who worked with the team over the 3 days and shared that he felt a deep weight was removed with the help of our team, and a woman emotionally reconnected with her daughter for the first time since the accident. Children connected deeply on the ways to prevent bullying.
A lot of work and training goes into this kind of project. More work needs to be done, both team building and in Mirasarai. A deep understanding of Playback Theatre for one, counseling skills and of cultural/ethnic and religious differences are others. Our team was experienced in multiple ways and our toolbox for this project included basic, grounded counseling skills, art therapy, story telling and Playback Theatre. It truly was an eye opening and heart opening experience for all of us. For a more extensive look at what we did please go to www.jenniekristel.wordpress.com
Posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2012 at 9:36 am in Uncategorized.