Moving Forward, the Role of the Artist: Myanmar Update 5

A semi-final update from Michael and Joanna in Yangon.

We're in the final days here in Yangon, and it's been pretty packed with excitement --  if you consider immersing yourself in Myanmar performing arts culture to be exciting (which I do).  This will likely be my last missive from these parts, as we’ll be swamped with preparing a "work-in-progress" performance of the work on Sunday before heading Stateside on Monday. 

The work with Thukhuma Khayeethe has good days and great days; there is still much work to be done if this show is to hit the stage, but we are off to a good start and look forward to continuing over the next year or so.

Last Friday Feb 3 was the opening of the 3rd International Festival of Contemporary Theatre and Performance at the French Institute.  When we made our plans to be here we actually didn't know until later that the festival was taking place, but we attended the Friday and Saturday panels, lectures and videos, and Joanna was invited to talk about our work along with Thila Min, the director of Thukhuma Khayeethe.   We've been making new friends and contacts, and joining in some spirited discussions.

Of the many topics (not just at the festival but also with our collaborators): 

¨      Now that there may be a new openness and permissiveness for contemporary productions, what will become of the traditional performing arts? (Since the military has been in charge there have been no new plays written and many of the old were banned, even burned.)  

¨      What will be preserved, or should be preserved, or not? 

¨      Should the public be given what it wants, or what the artist thinks it needs?  

¨      How much effort should be put into contemporary arts:  what if the current "freedom” doesn't last-- not only might censorship fall into place again, but might artists be exposing themselves to new harassment and imprisonment?  

¨      And who will support new work?   Many of the young people attending stated that the biggest obstacle to a life in the theater is the family: parents want their kids to get "real jobs"; an old story most keenly felt in struggling economies.

One of the local artists who asked many traditional vs. modern questions is Moore Minn, the impresario, director, and star of one of the few remaining large Zat Pwe performance troupes.  The Zat Pwe is a traditional form of performing arts that manifests at the larger festivals around the country.  It's a nine-hour marathon, beginning at around 9 pm and ending at 6 am. Depending on the company, the production may (or may not) start with dances and rituals to Buddha as well as the local deities called "Nat.”  This is generally followed with the singers in the troupe coming out individually and covering local pop songs.  Next, a stylized dance-theatre piece from the life of Buddha; a pop concert covering western hits; traditional high energy dancing by the male Minthar(s) and/or female Minthamee(s) possibly combined with the antics of the Lu-Byet comedians ("Mr. Not-at-all Serious"). There may also be short dramatic or comic scenes, depending on the aesthetics of the company director.

Joanna and I were invited to see Moore Minn's show that Saturday evening.  A strikingly handsome and serious looking man of about 40, he was introduced as one of Myanmar's preeminent traditional singers and dancers.  Thus, we had a certain expectation of a "traditional" performance, and indeed much of the standard menu as outlined above was there.  What we did NOT expect was his intense, spot-on, full hour Michael Jackson impersonation, complete with Thriller production value (break-dancing zombies), moonwalks, mime and crazy limbs akimbo. Especially fantastic from a you-gotta-be-kidding-me perspective was Michael Jackson singing The Macarena.

You could have lit the city of Yangon with Moore Minn's energy, which was most remarkable because he attended the conference all day Friday and Saturday, AND did all night shows Friday night and Saturday night (which he also drove to and from, about an hour outside of Yangon). When and where he got sleep I don't know.

Another big surprise was the total lack of applause from the 1000 or so spectators.   Not that they didn't like it, they know this guy and his work and they paid their not inconsiderable admission of $3 or so, they just don't express it.   And many stayed, as we did, for all 9 hours; though many of the younger set left after the pop stuff and the older crowd arrived for the comediennes and the dancing Minthars.

Okay, that's it for now.  Thanks for listening.  We'll post the pix and videos as soon as possible and send you the links when available.  Until then, stay warm, healthy and safe wherever you are.

Much love from Yangon,

Michael and Joanna

Volpone Rehearsals: Myanmar Update 4

After six rehearsals the show is really taking shape.   Well, I think so by watching the actors, though I don't understand a word they are saying (as they are improvising in Burmese).  Still, they are beginning to "embody" the characters and come up with some funny “bits". 

Volpone is a Shakespeare era comedy, written by Ben Johnson in that same "Shakespearian language" which takes some getting used to.   It's beyond even the best of our English speakers here (heck, it's beyond me a lot of the time), so Joanna and I have been 'translating" the Elizabethan into modern-ish English, while also cutting and editing so this three hour play runs more like 60 minutes.  Since these translations are not set into Burmese yet, the actors have been improvising to get the feel of the characters and the plot, which has a lot of twists and turns and intrigue.

Traditional Myanmar theatre has a lot in common with "traditional" western theatre (ie, Shakespeare and Commedia del'Arte).  Since the military junta has been in charge, traditional/classical Burmese theatre is all you could study, as contemporary theatre techniques and modern plays have been viewed with suspicion and heavily censored. Thukhuma Khayeethe (the local theatre ensemble) wanted to do a Commedia era piece that could lend itself to modern interpretations, and Volpone is a great bridge between the classical and modern.

The actors have a lot of clown and comedy experience from performing social theatre productions for children and communities around Yangon. Joanna, Anna Zastrow and I did a 10 performance tour in 2010 with the newly formed Thukhuma Khayeethe to local monastery schools with the Hand Washing Show in 2010.  They have several new actors and actresses added in the last year, and this will be their first "serious comedy".

So we'll see how it goes... 

Foreign Policy: Myanmar Update 3

Another update from Michael in Yangon, where all is still well.  

IT IS BETTER TO BE INVITED THAN TO OCCUPY

We had an interesting chat with one of the young (21) receptionists at our hotel, a very nice, friendly, good English speaker.  On the subject of food I mentioned that Joanna and I were both fond of Japanese food, and she kind of frowned and said that, well, they had a lot of trouble with Japanese people.  I asked, "you mean Japanese tourists who stay at the hotel".  "No," she said, "the Japanese people who invaded my country and did very bad things!"   She then went on to list a variety of hideous tortures, hardly exclusive to the Japanese but certainly used by their thugs when they ran amok in China and SouthEast Asia in the 1940's.  I did let her know that we've had some wonderful experiences touring in Japan and have some very lovely friends who are Japanese, and, well, after all that was several generations ago.  She was not swayed in her opinion. Just one of those reality checks concerning foreign policy: some people just don't forgive and forget.   BUT... we did a check with a number of other locals, and it seems that this kind of thinking not so prevalent. Most everybody else either likes the Japanese or is indifferent.

MAYBE IT’S BETTER TO WALK

Actually, most of the public buses here are Japanese made, with the steering wheel on the right side, like in England/Japan, but they drive on the right side, like in the US.  Which means they have to modify the doors, sealing the ones on the left and cutting new ones in on the right (the sidewalk side).  The buses look like hell, not just from that but being driven hard and fast.  Why? Because the buses are rented by the driver and the ticket taker, much like a taxi is rented from a cab company.  The passengers they pick up that day is their take (after the rental fee) which means the buses race each other to get to bus stops first.  It's pretty crazy.  It's not the kind of free market economy conducive to safety, but it's what they have at the moment.

Follow up Tid-Bit:

I mentioned in a previous email that the locals are happy that internet restrictions have lifted somewhat and they can now get You Tube.  I should add, however, that mostly all they can get is the opening page, not the actual videos which take far to long to download due to the slow connections.  But still, it's a start.

Visiting the Neighbors: Myanmar Update 2

Michael's Yangon update from January 22, 2012.

All's well that starts well here in Yangon.  We're working with 10 members of the group Thukhuma Khayeethe ("Arts Travelers"), four of whom we toured with on our last trip in 2010.  We've had three rehearsals so far.  Here's a little tid-bit from a recent rehearsal:

Our rehearsal studio is a rented, empty house in a suburban area in north Yangon called Inseine.  It IS pronounced "insane" but doesn't carry the same meaning--  though it might when we are through with it.  It is local to the famous prison of the same name where at least two of the actors were incarcerated several years for "political activities", in their pre-theatre days.

Anyway, we were doing one of those group circle exercises called Visiting the Neighbors, useful for ensemble building and character exploration.  It allows the actor freedom of physical and vocal expression.  Apparently, however, this neighborhood is not used to such freedom, because after about 10 minutes of what must have sounded like bedlam WE were visited by the neighbors, who demanded to know what the hell we were doing.  The offending character might have been yours' truly, who at the time was grabbing one of the actors by the lapels and shouting "Whaaaaat?!!!  He gave my money to WHOOOOOOO??!!!"   (Part of the exercise, of course.)

Clearly our theatre pals hadn't introduced themselves to the community and given them a "heads up" about what might go on.  We promised to be more "respectful".

More to come,

Watch this space.

What a Difference an Election Makes: Myanmar Update 1

Michael and Joanna left for Myanmar last Sunday to continue BST's collaboration with Thukhuma Khayethe (Arts Travelers).  Here is Michael's first update from January18.

Greetings from Yangon, Myanmar.

What a difference an election makes.  Today we met with our local collaborator, Thila Min of Art Travelers Theatre, and he was fairly giddy about how much has changed in the last few months.  The election was 4 or 5 months ago -- that is, the military regime handed over the government to "the people", though it was indeed one of the military favored parties that won most of the parliamentary seats. Since then, they have freed many political prisoners, Obama sent Hilary for chats with the government and the USA opened diplomatic relationships (we had an embassy here, but not an ambassador).   As Thila Min reports, people can now shout "freedom" in the streets, and say Aung San Suu Kyi's name without fear of imprisonment (until recently they had to refer to her as "the lady"; she being the opposition party leader lately free of her house arrest).  Heck, I just realized I can GOOGLE Aung San Suu Kyi's name and get results -- couldn't do that before!

They can now visit the websites You Tube and the BBC and Voice of America, previously all off limits. They notice there are WAY more tourists in town than ever before.  In fact that was a problem for us on our first night-- our two usual hotels were all booked, and all have raised their prices $5 per night.  We will be checking in to our favorite, Kung Lay Inn, tomorrow night.  We stopped by there and they still had our brochure on the desk from our stay in 2009! 

Our task here is to do some serious work on a play we've suggested to our collaborators in Arts Travelers: Ben Johnson's Volpone, a Shakespeare-era comedy about greed and con games (kinda resonated with us re: our collapsing US and world economy).  We're using the basic plot-line, but we'll update the language and situations.

We've been working with Arts Travelers in two projects, the last one being our tour around Yangon and the Mon and Katrin States with the Hand-Washing Show for kids.  Our hope is our version of Volpone will interest the sponsors of international collaborations to underwrite a tour of the show in Myanmar and the USA next year.  Their company has grown from the four members we worked with in 2010 to the 10 members they have now.  We'll meet the new actors for the first time tomorrow morning.

That’s the news at present.  We're pretty excited about being here and working with this energetic group.  

More to come,

Michael

Conclusions: Qatar Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations

Olivia attended the UN Alliance of Civilizations Forum on Development and Cultural Exchange in Doha, Qatar last week.  

Now that my bags are unpacked and my internal clock is on New York time, I can take a moment to reflect on the UNAOC Forum in Doha. Those four days sparked amazing conversations and insights with young leaders and more established leaders working to make the world a “better” place, but what specifically am I taking away from it?

New connections, to be sure. I met activists from all over the world (and I mean all over) who are working at the grassroots level to make their cultures more equitable. Simply being in a room that has that energy is exciting: I am reminded why I like going to work every day. These are young people who are not satisfied but who seek to make lasting changes. What could possibly be more important?

I attended a panel in which five Arab Spring activists talked about their experiences on the ground in Libya, in Tahrir Square, and in Syria. Their stories were violent, yes, but also filled with camaraderie and laughter and more than a little hope. I miss that true idealism: not Pollyanna rose-colored glasses, but honest belief.

I cannot read the news about Egypt today and not think of the blogger I was speaking to just days ago. Despite being so saturated with the events of the region, I never felt I understood clearly until she told me that folks all over the Arab world and the MENA region were listening to one song of freedom on the radio, and it kept them working towards democratic peace. That I understand perfectly: revolution needs art and music to breathe life into it.

I also got to talk to Israeli and Palestinian people about how to actually initiate dialogue in a region so stifled geographically and politically. There is no room (literally and metaphorically) for a new opinion or idea. Yet logically, it is not the same logic that has been used for decades that will solve anything. We have had years of hatred, stereotyping, fear and violence: what can we do now that will change the landscape even a little? My biased answer is theatre. I know that it works, and I know that it makes me confront my own demons. As we work towards peace, what could be more vital than self-reflection?

That is what I am struck by most: the questions that go unasked in my own society. We assume we have answers without ever bothering to ask about other people’s experiences and realities. Want to know how to make a dent in the housing crisis?  Awesome, me too.  How can we do that without knowing the experience of a homeless person,or a person who cannot make rent, or a shelter worker who does not have enough beds?

My solution to this is theatre: theatre to see a glimpse of someone else’s day-to-day reality, theatre to communication with populations who speak a different language, and theatre to remove the conversations from the intellect and relocate them in the heart.

Cross-cultural dialogue is a massive and necessary goal if we are going to work together in a global world, but it is impossible to mandate. Dialogue is not debate, nor is it academic. It must be relatable, real, and honest. The arts create that interaction because they seek to ask questions and to open up new perspectives.

I know this to be true: now my task is to continue to convince others.  I got to change a few minds in Doha.  Who is next?

Youth Gather in Doha

 Olivia is in Doha, Qatar to attend the UN Alliance of Civilizations Forum on Development and Cultural Exchange.  On December 10, she moderated the Pre-Forum Discussion for Youth Leaders.

Today, myself and 25 other UN Alliance Of Civilizations moderators (folks who had been moderating the online pre-forum discussion, members of the Youth Committee, and students from Penn State’s World in Conversation program) moderated four hours of discussion in order to come up with 7 concrete messages we want to send to world leaders. These messages will be presented tomorrow at the opening session of the 4^th UNAOC Forum in Doha.

I have spent the last three weeks moderating the pre-Forum discussion on how the arts speak to a shared human experience and what kinds of programs work.  Reading so many other young voices form across the world share their stories of singing in a choir, of performing in a show, and of creating a mural together reinforced for me that I am in precisely the right business.  Creativity and collaboration are the most effective way to reach across borders and truly see another being for who he or she is.

Today, the prospect of crafting a youth message that will be heard on a global stage is exciting in and of itself, but to do so with thirteen other youth leaders from all over the world is an opportunity I rarely get.  So often when youth connect, it is through the internet.  We do not sit together in the same room to engage in dialogue around issues of development and cultural diversity: that only occurs in my nerdy fantasies.   

Of course, through Bond Street young people do get to experience collaboration in the same room, but one or two countries at a time.  Today there were leaders from over one hundred countries sitting face-to-face.

Not that dialogue is enough: we must commit to setting goals together that propel us toward sustainable change.   Dialogue is a tool to reach a collaborative construction of methodology, ideology, programming, and more.  Even though this is the UN and there is a lot of talking, just talking is not enough.  Youth work quickly, we organize, and we spring to action.  There is certainly space for reflection and planning so we do not end up flying by the seat of our pants, but the focus must be on moving towards a goal.  I get frustrated when dialogue is the end and not the means because I and the other 400 folks here are not used to talk.  We are used to turning words into action.

I, in particular, am used to working with very few words.  The arts create a space to engage in dialogue nonverbally by sharing cultures and the human experience of living in them.  As one of the only self-identified artists here (and certainly the only one who works at an arts organization), I am consistently finding myself on the verge of yelling, “Just CREATE together!”  My pre-forum discussion proved that working together to create theatre, song, visual art, murals, or any sort of creative project breaks down the barriers that exist.

My goal for the next three days is to make as many people as possible-from Ban-Ki Moon on down- understand this fundamental value.  I know the arts work not just in Afghanistan, in Haiti, in Myanmar, in the Balkans, in Israel, but I have also seen them work firsthand in Nepal and in prisons in the US.  

I am reinforced in my mission every time I tell a delegate what I do and they immediately exclaim, “Wonderful!  That sounds so interesting/effective/useful/creative!”  Everyone has that positive reaction because using art to reach across borders makes some sort of innate sense to us. It’s about more than providing a voice to the voiceless: it is about empowering voices to speak us and be heard in whatever way they want to communicate.  

Creating the Shows in Kabul

Here are more of Kayhan’s thoughts about the creation process with White Star Company in Kabul, excerpted from her Artivism blog October 8, and 14. For the full stories, check out her blog here: http://kayhanirani.wordpress.com/.

I’m tired. Tired, tired, tired. I work 6 days a week with the actors, then spend many more hours at the apartment revising agendas, planning, and trying to connect with local and international NGOs who would be interested in supporting this fledgling theater company when we leave. We go to meetings in the mornings and then go to the university in the afternoons until evening working hard and pushing the students harder. The sky is dark when we leave and Kabul is getting chilly, “sard-e-st” … “it is cold” in Dari.

Kianaz works in the mornings then goes to our rehearsal, then school, then home where she is the sole supporter of her mother, father and younger brother. Her father is too ill to work and her mother cares for her brother and the home. We found out that she is still in high school but has persisted in knocking on doors and pushing her way into the Kabul theater department’s activities. If Kianaz can fight for her theater dreams amidst great responsibility and burden, I’m not too tired to give her my best.

Tired, annoyed, bored; these all seem like luxurious states of mind. These students are rising above great personal odds, societal oppression and national instability to make their dreams a reality at any cost – dreams of being theater artists. Their hopes are so much bigger than me. They give me energy when I am drained, spirit when I am down, and sweetness when I get sour.

Right now, the actors have chosen the themes of their plays and their stories. We started off speaking about sexual harassment on the streets, the challenge of getting married when you have no money, the problem of corruption, illiteracy, ethnic discrimination, unemployment and violence against women.

The men and women are working as one group but as two teams so that the women can bring their work out to women’s groups and spaces where they are safe. The women have chosen to work on two themes: 1. illiteracy and the oppression of women not to get educated; 2. the challenges of sexual harassment in the workplace.

The men have chosen to work on the theme of personal responsibility to the society. In a country torn apart by decades of war, strife and instability the family unit was the only type of real cohesion, support, and trust. People are still bound to their family unit and the idea of common good, public support, etc. is still being figured out. But this means on every level (from the average Mohammed to the highest Minister) people are likely to pass the buck, not be the leader, and only think in terms of family and known community. So the guys are showing a story about that.

They are a beautiful, fun loving, open hearted bunch capable of changing the world. Inshallah, this will be one of many big steps they take in leading their country women and men towards creative options for change.

Updates From Kayhan in Kabul

Kayhan blogged from Kabul during the most recent Theatre for Development Project. Here is some of what she had to say about the 2011 National Theatre Festival in Kabul on September 29 and about being an American in Kabul on October 2. For the full stories, check out her blog here: http://kayhanirani.wordpress.com/

The last four days at the Kabul Theater Festival has been heady, thrilling, hopeful, and heartful. I was overjoyed to meet most of the theater artists that I worked with last year. They were presenting their work at the festival (one of them won best scenery and costumes!) and they all looked radiant and full of life. Moreover, I met so many new, creative people working in MANY different provinces of Afghanistan and in different forms of theater.

We met groups who have faced great danger making their art, people new to theater, others who are well established, some on the cutting edge, and folks who are just joining in for the sake of it – maybe hearing about it for the first time. This is exactly the type of vitality and diversity you want to see in any field.

In general (and not just with theater folks) there is so much love, energy, brilliance, and hope I feel when talking to Afghanis. Just the opposite of what the mainstream media shows us. I suppose that outside forces need people to believe things are drab and hopeless to get support for unending war. Imagine if we heard about theater festivals, language schools, women judges, youth voices, inter-ethnic solidarity projects, music and dance forms, etc.?

The truth is, Afghanis are creating their futures with vision and dedication. I hope that reading this blog will allow you to reignite your hope for the people of Afghanistan and believe in their brilliance and power.  Hope springs eternal – through theater!

There is such diversity in the look and feel and styles of the various performances.

A brilliant young university student from Herat did a fantastic clown show and had us all laughing and crying. Her amazing mother and father joined her onstage for the curtain call. You could see how much they loved their daughter and supported her dreams. All artists should have parents like hers!

"Stupid American"
Being raised in a South/West Asian home, in NYC, I have the privilege to be able to see things from different cultural perspectives and to carry with me the knowledges of many people. (I use the plural to reflect that there is no one “knowledge”.) I am blessed to have an extended family of second mothers, sisters and brothers who have shared with me some of Puerto Rican culture, African American culture, LGBTQ culture, Jewish culture and so on. I am grateful to have that information and perspective as a part of my being.

But, I too get to be a “stupid American” sometimes – seeing things as funny or odd because of where I come from. It can be people, situations, or everyday things.  I realize the ethnic boxes and categories we have are measly and hollow.  Just look and see.  I am sure you’ll recognize a cousin, a sister, a neighbor, a friend.  No matter where you go in the world, human beings are more alike than we are different.

Film and Stage: An Update from Michael in Kabul

Another greeting from Afghanistan where the beer is cold and the nightlife wild. Hold it, wait... that was Belgium at the stilt festival. Funny how I confuse the two. We've been here in Afghanistan just over two weeks-- a week of the National Theatre Festival and a week training the actors (and actresses) of White Star Company. It's productive, and actually fun, though there's no beer and our nightlife is pretty much spent having dinner, downloading the day's video, writing emails, and planning the next day's events.

In the last couple of days the French Cultural Institute (among others) sponsored the first Human Rights Film Festival here in Kabul, with many entries from Afghanistan (and others from around the world). We caught a couple of films from Afghanistan, and I have certainly seen many over the years, and something occurred to me in comparing the level of Afghan film acting vs. stage acting.

Generally the film acting was pretty good -- better than most of what we saw at the recent theatre festival. To be clear, there was some real talent among the stage actors, both "old" (those who studied under the Soviets) and young. The "Best Actor" and "Best Actress" were in their early 20's and definitely the best, but there was a pretty big gap between these few and the others. I was trying to figure out why (aside, that is, from 30 years of horrible civil war and a shaky reconstruction). Here's a conjecture:

For most actors here, film and TV is the only role model, since actual theatrical performances are few and far between. (There was one complaint from a prominent western NGO sponsor of the Kabul University Fine Arts Department that the Theatre Department rarely stages student productions.) In film and TV (prepare for a sweeping generalization on my part) a lot of the work of an actor is taken care of by the location. Film an actor walking down a bleak alley in the dead of winter, and he doesn't have to act cold - he IS cold. Want an actor to look crazy? Have him slowly twirl around holding an apple standing in the middle of Kabul city traffic -- that really IS crazy. But on stage where you don't have the cold or the cars, the actor has to work that much harder to convey not just emotion but location. It's a whole different set of chops and techniques between stage and screen.

Similarly, an actor can spend an entire film at ground level, which could be monotonous; but different camera angles provide the welcome variety: filming from above, below, long-shot, close-up, etc. In the theatre, there's no camera to move, and you can't move the audience. You can move the actors... put one on a ladder, another under a table, but that assumes you have a budget to buy a ladder or a table for your production. Yes, the economy is that bleak for most of the artists here. But in my career I've seen some pretty amazing staging for little or no money. It usually requires a very creative theatre director, which may be another issue here.

Many of the Afghan directors, even of the theatre companies, are working in film and TV (and by film, we are really talking about digital video). They can certainly set up creative shots in a camera frame, but not necessarily a proscenium arch (for non-theatre types, that's the "frame" around the front of the stage). In my humble, subjective opinion, the best directed shows at the Theatre Festival were (in this order): a production from Tajikistan, a production of The Little Prince by an Afghan group with an Iranian director, and an actor/puppet production co-directed by a German puppeteer. Actually, the latter two productions were by the same group of Afghan actor/puppeteers whom we've been watching in the last couple of years. If the rest of the country improved at the same rate as this ensemble, Afghanistan would be a lot further along.

I also must mention an very impressive solo-woman's performance by a young Afghan actress that opened the festival. It was a pretty bold, funny, character driven piece (almost clown theatre) that I, and the audience, was NOT expecting. I shall venture to elaborate more on that in the future.

Gotta plan tomorrow's rehearsal. Watch this space.

Kayhan in Kabul: Kabul Goes to My Head

The last four days at the Kabul Theater Festival has been heady, thrilling, hopeful, and heartful. I was overjoyed to meet most of the theater artists that I worked with last year. They were presenting their work at the festival (one of them won best scenery and costumes!) and they all looked radiant and full of life. Moreover, I met so many new, creative people working in MANY different provinces of Afghanistan and in different forms of theater.

I was so happy to see all the forms that these shows took. People are really getting creative, getting inventive, and are taking the initiative to make art however they can.

We met groups who have faced great danger making their art, people new to theater, others who are well established, some on the cutting edge, and folks who are just joining in for the sake of it – maybe hearing about it for the first time. This is exactly the type of vitality and diversity you want to see in any field.

In general (and not just with theater folks) there is so much love, energy, brilliance, and hope I feel when talking to Afghans. Just the opposite of what the mainstream media shows us. I suppose that outside forces need people to believe things are drab and hopeless to get support for unending war. Imagine if we heard about theater festivals, language schools, women judges, youth voices, inter-ethnic solidarity projects, music and dance forms, etc.?

Hopelessness, despair, and cynicism are some of the most powerful weapons of the oppressor.  If we feel there is no point and that we can never win; then there will be weak efforts.The truth is, Afghanis are creating their futures with vision and dedication. I hope that reading this blog will allow you to reignite your hope for the people of Afghanistan and believe in their brilliance and power.

Without further ado … proof that hope springs eternal – through theater!

The first one woman show ever!

               

                              

                            Photos by Kayhan Irani

 
 
 
A brilliant young university student from Herat did a fantastic clown show and had us all laughing and crying. Her amazing mother and father joined her onstage for the curtain call. You could see how much they loved their daughter and supported her dreams. All artists should have parents like hers!


Love K

Read Kayhan's personal blog here.

From the Mouths of Youths: Quotes from the Final Evaluations

This is what the wonderful actors and students from Simorgh Film & Theatre in Herat had to say about the Theatre for Social Development Project during our final oral evaluations.

Regarding the Workshops:
"When I came to the workshop, I was really shy to even move, but now I really feel free to speak aloud and talk to audiences." – Zainab

"Playing different characters and learning body language helps me understand people around me and in the society." – Mohammad

"The families make a difference between the boys and girls so most of the time the boys have more freedom but, in the workshop, we just felt that we are equal with the boys and they are on the same level and I really enjoyed that." - Zahra M.

"The best thing for me was the stilts because its something very new in Afghanistan and it somehow just raised up our self-confidence." - Hussain

"We had many other workshops, but in this workshop everything was completely new and unique with lots of energy." – Zahra K.

"Violence against women in the family: this is something very useful to show in my society. What I learned in this workshop is that we can raise our ability and our imagination, and we could go to different villages and cities to show this educational theatre to the people who have never seen theatre and give them this message." - Hassan

Regarding the Performances:
"In the prison, we asked them what was their crime. They said they killed their husband… then they said ‘we say this because this is our sentence against us,’ but maybe the brothers of the husband said they did it. We thought they would be depressed, but they were clapping so much, even more than other places." – Sakina “Hasti”

"One of the women pulled me in and hugged me and kissed me so much and said she was really happy and the show was really great." – Marzia

"We do not expect that all of the police will benefit or change by one show, but we can just think that if at least 10 of them from 100 watch carefully and learn something, we are doing our job". – Mohammad

"What I learned by performing in so many different places was that most of the women have no good relationship with others and with society. They are fighting with each other! If we stand up together, we can solve this problem. This is the most important and useful thing for myself." - Rahela

"Theatre is a good way to transform all kinds of information – we can show different kinds of conflict in the families and in society. The most important thing is that we could just make them laugh and happy while giving them a message – they get the message while they are laughing." - Sakina

PHOTOS!

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To view photos from our project in Herat, please click below:

Performances

Workshops

Country & People

The girls perform at the Women's Shelter

Report by Anna: 
The very first performance that our girls' troupe undertakes (outside of the try-out for family and friends) is a show at a women’s shelter in Herat. The shelter is run by Voice of Women, an organization based in Herat led by Soraya Pakzad who has worked tirelessly since Taliban time to fight for women’s rights, and who started Afghanistan's first shelter in 2003.

There are about 40 women and girls at the shelter ranging in age from 15 to 25, and mostly under 20. They are escaping abusive marriages, and in most cases forced marriages. Some were about to be married off and ran away beforehand. They are lucky to have ended up here in the shelter, and not in jail or worse. If they are caught by the police they risk getting raped and put in prison, and if sent back home they may be killed.

Parwana, who works at VOW and is coordinating our visit, talks to me about the situation the women are in and decries the inhumanity of it all. She exclaims, “they feel…!,” and searching for the words she utters something about “not human!” I think she is saying the girls feel they are not treated as humans, but then I realize she is talking about the husbands, that they are not human the way they act. And she tells me about one girl who came to the center. The husband had cut off her fingers and slashed her face across the cheek from mouth to ear. What kind of man would do such a thing? And why? (Beyond its senseless cruelty, it even seems senseless out of practicality -- now the husband has to look at her disfigured face, and how is she going to be able to do his cooking and laundry with her fingers cut off? How does that serve him? But he doesn't think about this, he doesn't think at all.) Both are true – the girls are not treated as human beings and the men are not acting as humans. What we think of as human – humane – humanity… separating us from the beasts.

Unfortunately, this girl’s situation is all too common. Beatings and barrages of mental abuse are an everyday occurrence for young wives in Afghanistan, perpetrated by the husband and any or all of his relatives. Across Afghanistan, girls are forced into marriage and essentially condemned to life as a household slave. Often the girl is young and the man much older. It is not uncommon for a 12-year old to be married off to a 60-year old man! Many of these girls are driven to such despair that they set themselves on fire and burn themselves to death. It is difficult to fathom. In the Herat area there have been 100 such self-immolations in the past year. That’s two girls every week setting themselves on fire.

I look at the women, at the younger girls, and wonder about each one’s circumstances. But I don’t want to ask as it’s such a sensitive matter and I respect their privacy. And it's time to start the show.

The women laugh a lot, and they applaud at the end of each scene! The play is not necessarily meant to be that funny (although we have definitely incorporated some comic bits)... After all, we’re dealing with a serious subject matter that we want to earnestly bring awareness to: the abuse that mothers-in-law so often perpetuate, and how it destroys families. If women treat each other horribly, how can they make men treat them any better? We want to make sure people take it to heart and are moved to make a change. In this case, however, the laughter is good and it doesn’t mean they aren’t taking the play seriously or its message. Presented and received as a comedy, it is easier to take in the play and what it addresses. These women have lived through this, they don’t need to see it presented to them in a heavy and serious way. This is how comedy can be cathartic, getting to laugh about something that is painful. The women gain some vindication in seeing their reality acknowledged.

But this is not enough. In the Q&A afterward, one woman speaks up to tell us that we must show this play to the men, to the families, out in the community -- "they are the ones who need to see it, not us in here, we already know!" She is adamant and angry – and we assure her that this is indeed our intent. As we leave, the woman thanks us for our visit and asks us when we will come again. They rarely have any visitors, and hardly ever leave the shelter. But this confinement is a blessing compared to the hell they were living before.

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The play's the thing!

Report by Anna -- finally adding some further posts about our performances, end of April and beginning May in Afghanistan!

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The girls’ show is about a mother-in-law who abuses her daughter-in-law with constant put-downs and beatings. This is actually a big problem in Afghanistan. It is a pattern that gets repeated time and again. Often a young girl is married off to an older man who abuses her along with his grown sons and all other relatives around. Or a girl gets married to a boy -- both of them too young – with the boy trying to establish his manhood and beating his wife at the behest of his mother. A man might get a young wife just to be a slave to his mother. The mother was herself a young bride once who was mistreated by her mother-in-law. And so she perpetuates a behavior that has become ingrained. It is difficult to understand why women would stand against other women rather than stand together in this patriarchally oppressive society, or why a mother would discard her daughter, but it has to do with economics for one thing. A daughter brings no economic benefit, since women do not work, so she has no value (but to be a household slave).

In our story, the mother in law suffers from the bad memories of her own life as a young bride terribly abused, all the while lashing out at her young daughter-in-law, purposely getting her in trouble with her son, the husband, and beating her. One day, a friend comes to visit, catching her in the act of mistreating her daughter-in-law, and the friend berates her for it, telling the mother-in-law of her own misery having done the same. The friend’s daughter-in-law set herself on fire and killed herself as a result of all the abuse (this is a common occurrence in Afghanistan, I’m aghast to say!), now her son left her and she is all alone. The friend reminds the mother-in-law that she once was a young bride too. Slowly the mother-in-law realizes she is doing the very same that was done to her, and after some struggle, she decides she must and can make a change. In the end there is a reconciliation with the daughter-in-law. They realize standing strong together and supporting each other is a better way of living, and as a result, the son/husband also has a transformation.

To develop the show, we start our young actors off with a simple scenario and let them improvise around it, playing with character and action. They make our job easy as directors, because they are so creative! Of course, they have a lot to learn yet about theatrical presentation and how to make strong, physical choices on stage, but they are impressively adept already. Such clever dialogue, improvised on the spot! And funny little character quirks. In less than two weeks, we have a half-hour play fully developed and ready to go – and it’s amazing how much our work and our actors have grown. Madiya and Hasti who play the two narrators have become a knock-out clown duo. They bring the audience along the journey and provide some comic relief. And they’re really funny! Marzia has really found solid strength in her portrayal of a man. And Rohela is truly an amazing actor – intensely expressive as the mother-in-law, showing both nasty cruelty and vulnerability. Her transformation in the moment of reconciliation with the daughter-in-law is full of so many emotions. It is a very touching scene. (I just can’t believe this young actor is only thirteen years old!)

I am amazed at the talent, skill and dedication of these young performers, most of whom are only 12, 13, 14 years old! There are two girls who are 17 and 19, and then the boys are 16-21. During the course of our work, I forget how young they are, because they are so good, so dedicated and so professional! And they are tackling serious subject matters of family conflict and domestic violence, acting out beatings and abuse. But they are wise beyond their years and fully aware of the problems of their society. And, sad to say, many of the wives for whom this is a reality are only 14 years old (or younger)! Innocence of childhood is shattered early in this country.

I hope Rohela can continue doing theater, and the other girls, too. But the risk is that in a few years they will be married (off) and that will be the end of it. To encourage their families and the community to accept theater as something good, indeed, to show that it is something that can bring income to the family, we are paying the girls (and boys, too) a fee for participating in the workshops and for their work as performers. See, theater brings economic as well as social benefit to the community!

For the first performance, we invite the performer's families and friends as well as all the workshop students. We present the girls' and boys' shows and then we have a certificate ceremony for everyone involved in the workshops. It is great to see the smiles on the parents' faces!

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