Yyyyyyikes! I've fallen so far behind now that we only do one blog for reading and one for class each week. Whoops!
So last week, we watched Jana Sanskriti, which was really incredible to me. It was astounding to see into the lives of Indian performers doing exactly the work we're being trained to do. Their performances were beautiful and maintained a lot of Indian theatre traditions. I realized that Forum Theatre is not a style, but is more of a canvas--a structure. It is the bones that the styles and techniques are stretched over. Forum Theatre is a method, a way in--a set of almost universal conventions that allow for different subject matter handled in the most appropriate way. It is a guide to creating a safe space.
I wonder if that part is more difficult here in the United States. It seems that we have a more difficult time succumbing to a safe space for fear that it is not genuinely safe. We spend so much of our lives as Americans being advertised to and spoken subversively to, coerced and convinced. We learn as a second nature to be wary of anyone who tries to lure us into a sense of security and safety because as soon as we unclench, that's when they'll rob us blind or try to sell us on a new religion.
Additionally, the travelers in Jana Sanskriti spent a lot of time in the villages they performed for--they learned the customs and the problems. They learned the people by working alongside them and building that show-me-don't-tell-me trust. I wish we had the opportunity to do that with ITT. I think people would be more comfortable volunteering--it never seems to be a space that is quite safe enough to entice anyone. And using patient silence as a pedagogical tool requires a lot of confidence. Being able to stand in front of a classroom and wait patiently and silently, locking eyes with each student and silently encouraging them to take a risk and chase down an education...that's exhausting! And difficult! I wonder if that would help make the space feel safe, though, or if it would be a situation where spect-actors felt pressured to comply and participate.
I think a lot of it has to do with the energy of the room. I think a joker or facilitator has to be able to read and receive the energy of the room, match it, and guide it upward--out of a place of fear or insecurity or boredom and into a place of confidence and fun and excitement. I hope we can accomplish that with our Forum piece. Shannon would like to be the Joker, and I know she has experience in classrooms, so I think that will be helpful and beneficial.
Once the safe space is established, it seems like everything flows really nicely--like that skeleton of Forum Theatre takes over and guides the story through to the end. The whole process has to take place in an environment of support. It's almost like one needs to lighten the mood and keep the audience entertained while guiding them through their own process of pulling together their solutions to the posed problems.
I feel like there's not as much of a possibility to work side by side with our audiences in structures like ITT as there would be if we were something more like the Jana Sanskriti troupe. I recognize that there's no way we could afford the time and there's no way we have the budget to pull something like that together, but it does leave a kind of nagging longing in me. I'd like to someday try my hand at facilitating. I feel like it might be something I'd be good at. Addressing large groups of people is a stand-by strength of mine, particularly if I know what I'm talking about and have a structure in place for it. Maybe someday.
Until then, the work deserves to be done in any capacity I can assist in.
No comments:
Post a Comment