The Delegation Reports Back To The IPTN Playback At The US Social Forum

Another World Is Possible; Another US is Necessary

Atlanta, Georgia. June 27 through July 1 2007

Reports from:

• Susan Metz. Brooklyn, New York
• Deb Scott. Asheville, N.C.
• Mountaine Mort Jonas. Asheville, N.C.
• Jason Agar. San Francisco, California
• Kerry Cahill. New Orleans, Louisiana
• Karel Sloane Boekbinder. New Orleans, Louisiana
• Joyce Lu. Oakland, California
• Ira 'Ike' Sloan . Asheville
• Lloyd Daley. New Orleans
• U.S. Social Forum: The view from Canada by Judy Rebick

Susan Metz. Brooklyn, New York

Susan began as a Playback groupie in the late '70s. She retired from teaching English and psychology in public high school and learned Spanish to travel through Latin America. She has taught Playback in Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba and Venezuela. In July 2006 she graduated from the School of Playback Theatre. Brooklyn Playback Collaborate is her latest initiative. susanslists@yahoo.com

Here are two points of the fourteen 'Charter of Principles of the World Social Forum (WSF)' that were drawn up by the Brazilian organizations which conceived of and produced the first WSF in Porto Alegre from January 25th to 30th 2001:

The WSF is an open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and interlinking for effective action, by groups and movements of civil society that are opposed to neo-liberalism and to domination of the world by capital and any form of imperialism, and are committed to building a planetary society directed towards fruitful relationships among Humankind and between it and the Earth.The WSF is a process that encourages its participant organizations and movements to situate their actions, from the local level to the national level and seeking active participation in international contexts, as issues of planetary citizenship, and to introduce onto the global agenda the change-inducing practices that they are experimenting in building a new world in solidarity.

The first US Social Forum (USSF) was held this summer. More than 10 thousand people attended. Four hotels and venues throughout the central city were filled. The suffering of oppressed people in both Gulfs – the Middle East and our own South and the local homeless living near the Atlantic Civic Center where the events were held and where we stayed was a constant and disturbing reality.

Playback Theatre (PT) was present. From five different groups in four regions, we came together. Our three PT events were among the 900 presentations presented in the 28 page printed program everyone received at registration. We did one performance, Mountaine facilitated one workshop publicized for Queer people of all stripes, stars and shapes, and I taught in Spanish and English. We joined with those from the Ashe Cultural Arts Center, the sponsor of the NOLA PT when they presented the Truth be Told - Story Circle. Each event lasted two hours. Between 20 and 30 people participated in each.

Cultural transformation as a part of societal change has been a significant part of the conversation among PT practitioners for years. Last November I attended an organizing meeting for the Forum in NYC. The next day I raised our participation with Sarah and Jonathan, and then registered the IPTN as a participating organization. The previous February, 2006, I had gone to the Social Forum of the Americas in Caracas, Venezuela and offered a Playback workshop which was well received. I met Venezuelans working towards the cultural transformation of their society who invited me to teach PT at Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela. Last August, I did. Those experiences were so inspiring that I determined to bring PT and the Social Forum movements together once again.

I wrote to Deb Scott, the artistic director of the long-established Asheville, North Carolina company because of their proximity to Atlanta and our previous collaborations. Deb, Mountaine, and Raphael (whom we missed terribly as he was unable to be with us in Atlanta) helped to organize. Mountaine put out the call to IPTN members in North America. We consciously called for diversity because all the players planning to come up to that point were white.

I drafted proposals for PT events and sent them to the others for improvements. Then, we submitted them to the USSF Program Committee in December. The original plan changed. Mountaine was enthusiastic about presenting PT to the LGBT community, and his proposal was accepted. One PT event had been scheduled at same hour as the Ashe Cultural Arts Center's 'Truth be Told -Story Circle.' To strengthen our relationships with the folks from New Orleans, to learn about their practice and to support their work, we decided to join with them, so we cancelled our fourth offering.

I drafted a publicity/program including the hour and location of our events, an explanation of Playback, a brief bio of each us and contact information. It was thrown together and copied in Asheville before we drove to Atlanta. We explained why Playback had come to the Social Forum: "In the audience, telling a story or as an actor, Playback shows us what is important in our lives – creativity, self-awareness, cooperation, acceptance, spontaneity, trust, empathy, and affirmation. Our intention in Playback is to help facilitate personal and cultural transformation. Together we can create a new and humane culture rather than feel trapped in a culture that treats a person as an object whose worth is measured in money. That's why we are at this historic and inspiring gathering."

Each of us distributed copies of the publicity/program in our travels through the Forum. I also hand-lettered announcements on newsprint and taped them near the entrance to events on similar themes. We all prioritized the tasks of our delegation.

Over 4 days. I participated in two other activities: one preparing for the next UN Women's conference to be held in Sofia, Bulgaria in October, 2010 (Playback Theatre anyone?) and a panel on Socialism for the 21st century in Latin America which was highly informative. We heard plenary speakers each evening (on : Gulf Coast Reconstruction,: US Imperialism, War Militarism and Prisons; Indigenous Voices; Immigrant Rights; Liberating Gender and Sexuality; and Workers' Rights in a Global Economy), On Wednesday evening we sacrifices the opening concert. We rehearsed.

We had dinner together on that opening evening and did a go-round of introductions as we ate. Then we rehearsed at a Yoga study a friend of Mountaine's graciously let us use. Deb led the rehearsal as we asked her to conduct. Doing Playback, we got to know each other better, and we came to agreements on how introduce ourselves, to enact pairs, to begin and end stories and how to conclude the performance.

Those gathered Thursday at 1 PM in section A of the divided Atlantic Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel contributed their impressions of the Forum. Then, we heard and enacted four stories. The first was about the separation and reconciliation of a father and his son who were avid Giant fans. The second centered on tensions faced by a student organizer, the gender power-patterns that everyone recognized with laughs of acknowledgement. We heard from a young woman determined to come to the Forum without knowing exactly how she would travel there or get home, which we enacted as a chorus. The last teller shared a collage of deep feelings. We invented, and that enactment provoked much discussion thereafter.

On Friday morning Mountaine facilitated the gathering on Queer themes. It was very well received. Early Friday afternoon a few of us found a moment to review the show. We felt satisfied with our collaboration. Then, we all went to the Ashe presentation. The process was explained by the originator of the Story Circle, John O'Neal, and conducted by Kerry. The session began with a ritual prayer and dedication. Then, we divided into three circles of between 7 and 9 people, and each person used 2 to 3 minutes to share any experience. In our circle, John then asked us to recount one image stimulated by any two of the stories. Most of us remembered the image of a rescuer in a boat during the New Orleans inundation seeing a statue of Mary watching him from a tree. We returned to circle-of-the-whole, and Kerry led the PT team as we represented some of those images using varied styles of enactment. The processes of Story Circle and Playback have not been fully integrated. The experiments presented challenges, which we felt that we met in the moment.

The two-hour workshop I facilitated on Saturday afternoon was our last offer. About 25 people of different ages, complexions, cultures, inclinations and regions showed up. Three were Imokalee agricultural workers from South Florida who spoke no English. I facilitated a few group building activities and improv games, and then we did a go-round of 'flares'. I invited each person to tell a brief impression or story. Across the circle was the teller's actor. With support of those on either side, the three represented the experience. The goal was to give everyone a chance to tell and to act. Six members of youth theater group from Knoxville contributed their energy and talent. One of their leaders was so taken with Mountane's workshop that he brought his whole team to mine. I was gratified with the positive response of participants and sad that we had to leave directly thereafter so others could meet obligations at home. We missed the closing event of the Forum.

Judy Rebick from Canada reported on the Forum. Her complete comments are included at the end of this report. About the closing assembly, Judy wrote, "The forum ended in a People's Movements Assembly, where various regional and issue caucuses presented their resolutions. Several new national networks were formed and the bonds of solidarity were deeply forged among those who are usually divided. People left with the commitment to organize social forums in their regions, cities and neighborhoods. Over the course of the week, the social forum became a synonym for creating a movement of movements everywhere."

Upon my return to Brooklyn, several residents of a neighboring public housing development shared with me the Report Back a comrade had organized for a local church basement. We discussed the Brooklyn Social Forum process and planning an event here to support the tribunal those in New Orleans plan from August 14 through the 19th to bring to light abuse of authority and institutional neglect that communities there continue to suffer. Playback anyone?

Lessons I Learned: Planning, Preparation, Implementation and Follow-up are equally important. From the first through the last step an open conversation; whatever time it takes is well invested. It pays off to stay together. Our good will and the values of Playback as institutionalized in the form we practice will carry us towards our own growth, build alliances of solidarity with others and contribute to the transformation of our culture.

Deb Scott. Asheville, N.C.

Deb is a third generation social activist . She earned a master's degree in Humanistic Education and worked in the theater in NYC for many years. She is a founding member of Asheville Playback Theatre and its conductor. She works as a life coach for low income individuals. debescott@hotmail.com

I went to Atlanta with the hope of introducing playback to the Social Change movement, (a pretty grand ambition!) and the desire to be stretched by performing for, and with, a new and diverse group of people.

I had forgotten what it is to be in a great sea of people, intent on their work and causes, passionate and articulate, in the crucible of a very, very hot city. Of great interest to me was the street life that surrounded our somewhat seedy hotel, sandwiched in between one of the parks and a large and welcoming Drop In Homeless Center. This scene was juxtaposed with the throngs of workers for social change who moved on through the living room of the homeless with minimal interaction. One suggestion for the next Social Forum is to consider programs that interact with the host city. In retrospect, I wish the playback group had spontaneously offered a performance at the Drop In Center some evening.

The context of our work made me acutely aware of assumptions and the importance of moving gently into others' experiences. I found myself exhausted by constantly taking stock of my responses. Is this a cultural bias vs. a personal preference? Am I holding onto the "Master Narrative" as I listen to what is being said? Where are my blind areas? What does it take to educate the privileged (me), so often unaware of our privilege? And what does it ask of our neighbors who find themselves in the tiresome role of constantly enlightening us? I feel gratitude to those who continue to teach people like me out of their dedication to the creation of a new world and new understanding, one conversation at a time.

I saw once again that any tool kit for making a paradigm shift can benefit from the playback principles—listening, honoring human experience, being willing to initiate and to follow, and making everyone right. These principles allowed members of 5 playback companies to become an ensemble in a matter of hours, and allowed us to create a safe place for some difficult learning to happen. How I wish more groups carried such tools into their meetings and board rooms…

I conducted the first event, a performance with our new ensemble. I felt very confident that the team of actors would work well together. The stories we heard reflected themes from the conference: generational and cultural alienation, the challenge of organizing, the overwhelming call to attend the Forum, and the final story of living as an international.

This last story was told by a woman born in South Asia, and now working in the US with immigrant factory workers, finding moments of belonging through music and cross-cultural relationships. It was a difficult story to conduct (and not an easy life to live) and I felt a sadness coming from the teller. The actors created a kaleidoscope of impressions, swirling around the teller's actor, and ended with a chorus of voices saying "home".

While the teller seemed to leave the chair moved, another audience member after the performance raised the question of cultural appropriation. She felt for example that it was inappropriate for a white actor to sing the blues even though this was specifically mentioned by the teller. The question has burned its way into my thinking about how to handle stories that are culturally specific. How do we honor the spirit of the story without resorting to cliché or cursory "playacting" when the actor is unfamiliar with cultural references? Is it enough to bring the emotional dynamics to the forefront, and in a general way honor the common humanity that we all can relate to? I think not.

So I am learning in real time some of the lessons Jonathan and others at the School have taught for years. about the responsibility of playback conductors and actors to be grounded in a broad and inclusive awareness of the world around them, of cultural, of power dynamics, of historical and geographical facts, of roles people play, as well as of what we do not know and need to ask. The days in Atlanta were filled with discovery, and I had a great time with my expanded playback family, asking hard questions and playing together. Thank you all.

Mountaine Mort Jonas. Asheville

Mountaine is a radical Faerie which means he's weird and different and also quite like the other inhabitants of this planet who happen to be in human bodies. He LOVES being a part of creating a new future, one honored story at a time, through PT in which he serves as a trainer, conductor, actor and musician. mountaine@gmail.com

How was the queer workshop?

The workshop 'Introduction to Playback Theatre for Queer people of all Stripes, Stars, and other Diversss Shapes' was unusual, but I consider it a huge success. Kerry from New Orleans was my co-facilitator, and Daniel from our Asheville troupe played music. In addition to the most of the IPTN playback team, we had about 20 participants, all of whom were new to playback, many people of color from a wide variety of ethnicities.

We started with a half-hour of warm-up games. Although people arrived groggy, many with morning coffee in their hands, within the first minute, everyone in the room became fully engaged in play – how exciting that was! Then we introduced fluid sculptures, with a demo from the IPTN team. We continued with about 5 more fluids in which participants joined the seasoned actors, working with rich material about people's experiences of the Forum. Several tellers expressed disappointment about the way various activist factions were pushing their own agendas rather than finding new ways to work together. The fluids were excellently done.

The playback team had time to enact one full story before several members had to leave for another commitment. It was a story that had just happened on the streets of Atlanta, involving an "obnoxious" street person shouting "There are too many homosexuals in this town," and the teller's empowered response. The enactment was both funny and moving, and the teller was extremely pleased with it. (He has been to playback shows in Asheville, but said he's never told a story because no one onstage had brown skin like him…)

Once the seasoned playbackers left, a discussion ensued about how playback works in social activism settings. Kerry and I were aware that this was taking time from further playback enactments, but we chose not to interrupt it since the conversation was so meaningful. Topics included how to represent ethnicity in playback, what to do when a story is told that seems to require more diversity than the actors have, and one young man's feeling that he would find it impossible to tell a story of his queer life for non-queer actors to perform.

It was great to work together with Kerry – although we had just met two days earlier, our co-facilitation felt wonderfully seamless. However, I would consider not providing demos from seasoned actors in future intro workshops. I've found demos valuable in longer classes, where participants have made more of a commitment to doing playback before they arrive. In this situation, I think it might have been better to explain the forms, and the bring playback newcomers right up to try them out (perhaps with Kerry and me taking turns as actors). With this format, we might have convinced people to stop talking and get more hands-on playback experience during the brief time we had together.

Finally, there was enthusiasm at my announcing my availability to facilitate 3-day trainings without charge, specifically to seed queer companies, anywhere in the country. Several people expressed an intention to follow up on this. I truly hope they do!

General thoughts on attending the USSF

My purpose in attending the Social Forum was twofold:

1. to offer the terrific tool of playback theatre to those who were interested in experiencing it and
2. to expand my own awareness of issues related to class and race diversity.

On both of these counts, I got what I'd hoped for. It was really a pleasure to get to know some playback folks who were new to me, and working together was a joy. I believe that for the most part, we represented playback theatre well. One Asheville activist who did not attend our events told me that she heard several excited reports about the great workshops we offered!

Among the many specific memories and impressions that I'm taking away from the Forum are those that are directly related to my own learning curve in playback work. My perception is that I rarely have fallen into the trap of choosing a stereotypical mannerism to represent ethnicity; it's fascinating to me that I chose to do so at the Social Forum, of all places. I'm grateful that the feedback was so direct - more than it might have been at public playback shows in Asheville where our audiences have been mostly white. My choices in portraying an Arab woman were unconscious (in the retrospect of "20-20 hindsight") – first putting a piece of fabric on my head like a shawl (although perhaps it looked something like a burka), and then doing my imitation of an Indian style of dance which I know just a little of, but which has nothing to do with Arab culture. It was the next day that Jason told me he'd had a conversation with the story teller, who was not pleased with my characterization.

The message was driven home for me in the queer playback discussion on ethnicity, in which I mentioned having once used an Indian accent onstage – only once, in 12 years of playback. I recalled that it was a funny story, and that I thought carefully to make sure I felt right about doing a "comical" accent. However, an Indian woman in the group wondered why this would be a good choice in any situation. Thinking more clearly about it, this led me to two significant realizations. 1) There's nothing funny about an Indian accent. It's another way of speaking English, and if it makes people laugh, they're laughing at differentness, something I never want to encourage. 2) I'm not proud to say that the reason I felt okay to use the accent on that one occasion was that I scanned the room to make sure there were no Indian people present.

I'm grateful that my consciousness on ethnicity was raised through being at the Forum, and I feel I'm less likely to make playback choices like these in the future. I'm also thrilled at the possibility that our meeting Carpetbag Players from Knoxville may lead to collaborative work with people of color. I feel an increasing longing for ethnic diversity in Asheville Playback Theatre, and truly hope that we have turned a corner on this issue through meeting the Carpetbag folks and working with them at the Social Forum.

Beyond playback contributions, I attended several presentations on a variety of issues, and found them powerful and confronting, inspiring and overwhelming. I had nightmares every night of my stay, due to the difficult sociopolitical issues I was being exposed and re-exposed to, coupled with the discomfort of staying in a cheap but sleazy hotel (the tobacco smell from the room has permeated everything I had with me, and I'm not sure how to get it out of my Thermarest pads). Still, there was something right about staying in cramped and challenging quarters for this event, in a neighborhood full of homeless people. My friends staying in comfortable hotels were able to get away from the confronting Forum experience, but I couldn't escape as easily. (However, I was really happy that the New Orleans contingent was in the Hilton – if anyone deserves a break from difficult conditions, it's the NOLA folks!)

Jason Agar, San Francisco, California

Jason began with Eugene Playback Theater in Oregon in 1999. He contributed to the formation of Manila Playback in the Philippines and last year formed the Pinoy PT company to perform stories of the Filipino American Community in the Bay Area. As a bicycle and pedestrian safety educator, he is working to build a better transit system through the Safe Routes to School Project. Jay_dagar@yahoo.com

My journey to the US Social Forum was a roundabout one. It would make a rich "chorus story". I decided to go the Social Form first and later found out that there would a Playback Troupe that I could join while I was there. What an excellent combination, Social Change networking with people from all over and also Playback! I just needed to figure out a way to make it work for myself.

Our group was mostly "Euros", and they were looking for "people of color" to balance them out. This is a mirror for the way that racial equity is being framed in a broader sense presently. The solution to racism is laid out as one of representation. If there are people of color in the group or "diversity" in the group then racism will have been addressed. This, however does not change the economic or social power structure or misinformation about others that we are raised with. It does not bridge the gap in our experiences of daily life. Being able to hear each other out and be accountable to each other, in the process of working together can bridge that gap. Playback as an improv form relies on connection and trust between everyone at the performance. When that trust breaks down, the whole process breaks down. Barriers and conflicts are opportunities to build a group that can go to challenging places and do difficult stories because they have dealt with them personally first. During our first time together at the Social Forum I asked people in our group to make a commitment to take me seriously if I brought something up and really consider what I was saying, even if it was outside of their realm of experience.

In turn, I agreed that I would bring up the issue "gently' with the goal of building trust and respect within our ensemble. This was a necessary agreement for my participation in the troupe. It put into place a framework to address issues on different topics outside of race. It also grounded our group in a common agreement to respect each other through differences and conflict.

My highlight was the way that we worked together for 4 different workshops/performances, figuring out how to support a different leader for each one. We came from 5 different companies all with their own Playback "dialects" and figured out common performance language. We had our challenging conversations and we had our fun also. For me, all of this is an affirmation that how we work together is the main factor in what we accomplish together. The only thing better was my surprise birthday cake from the group. Thank you all!

Kerry Cahill. New Orleans, Louisiana

Kerry has been involved with Playback for a year and a half. She spends her time teaching theater after school and being involved in the New Orleans theater community Kerrycahill23@hotmail.com

How I got to the Social Forum?

I became involved with a program called 'Truth Be Told' dedicated to bringing racism to the table for discussion. It has been integrating Playback and a process called 'Story Circle' to reach out to the community in New Orleans and allow people to tell their stories. My director notified me that a group was going to the US Social Forum, caravan style. I happily accepted the invitation. Fourteen of us caravanned to Atlanta.

Why go to the Social Forum?

My motivation for going to the Forum was two fold. I wanted to support the Playback process, the ASHE Cultural Arts Center, and the'Truth Be Told' project. I also had a lot of curiosity about the other aspects of the Forum. I felt like a sponge soaking up the ideas and issues that I came across.

How was the Social Forum?

When we arrived at the Social Forum, Karel, and Lloyd and myself from the NOLA Playback Theatre met up with four from the Ashville Playback group, Jason and Joyce from California, and Susan from Brooklyn. Thanks to good planning, we found each other easily. We worked out schedules and rehearsals and all sorts of other stuff. I began to wear the Playback hat for ASHE. I had a wonderful time collaborating, discussing, and working out kinks with all the other players. We got to expose them to the 'Truth Be Told' project, and they shared with us their years of experience, forms, and rehearsal techniques as well as much more. The Social Forum became something that brought out a lot of issues that playback deals with everyday: ethics of representation, interpretation, diversity, and the culture of power. It was eye opening to hear people who had never seen playback ask questions regarding race, ethnicity, and diversity within the process. It was a very successful trip, and I am glad I could make it.

Karel Sloane Boekbinder. New Orleans

Karel has been a professional theater artist since 1987. She loves Playback because it gives individuals the opportunity to have their stories witnessed while at the same time providing the group a chance to find commonalities with the individual and each other. She is one of fifteen NOLA performers collaborating with Even Ensler on 'Katrina Monologues' due to premier in 2008. Karel.sloane@gmail.com

My personal challenge at the USSF was to create equilibrium between two responsibilities. I went as a representative of the Ashe Cultural Arts Center, and also a member of NOLA Playback Theatre. Sometimes that made scheduling difficult, as I wanted to be of service to both of my affiliations, to create a balance between two parts of this 'pair'.

The U.S. Social Forum gave our NOLA Playback company an abundance of opportunities to compare and contrast how other practitioners approach the PT ritual, and explore the differences between hard and soft rules. These opportunities led us to a deeper understanding of the diversity of the Playback forms. I have been explaining Playback as a 'listening canvass.' During performance, company members coalesce around the teller's story, painting it out for the audience, creating a mood that can be witnessed by every one.

Playback illuminates. It transforms all who watch. NOLA Playback company members experienced how others start a show. To start the 'Overcoming Barriers to Solidarity' performance, The International Playback Theatre Network group immediately broke the fourth wall by entering from behind the audience, whispering "Stories…stories…stories…" as they traversed the edges to take the stage. The conductor provided the title of the story, rather than the teller. The Company ended the show by building a tableau, one ensemble member at a time, using the phrase, "What I'm taking with me is…" This ending left the audience with a final image that linked the entire ensemble with all the tellers. The International Playback Theatre Network provided us with tools we can take back to New Orleans to use in our Playback practice.

The interfacing of rituals is an ongoing challenge for NOLA Playback. In New Orleans, our Playback company is engaged in the 'Truth be Told' project. The project intends to use the rituals of 'Story Circles' and those of Playback Theatre to share Black and White experiences with race and racism. The 'Story Circle' theatre form is primarily an Afro-centric one that derives from of the oral tradition of story telling. The Playback theatre form is primarily a Euro-centric one from improvisational theatre. We don't have the cross-cultural interface all worked out. We do have the desire to figure out what works, and, use what we learn to move forward. We felt humble and honored to have The International Playback Theatre Network join us for our Truth be Told - Playback workshop. This union allowed us engagement from many corners, New York, North Carolina, California and Louisiana, as well as an expansion of our knowledge base.

Racism is a huge barrier to solidarity. Having the extraordinary opportunity to partner with members of The International Playback Theatre Network at the U.S. Social Forum indicates our collective desire to address issues of race and racism.

What I am personally taking with me from the Forum is a deeper understanding of the Playback form. I discovered what drives Playback is a desire to be of service, combining firmness with flexibility. This combination is located even in the language of our Playback rituals - like fluid sculpture, which we of NOLA PT use frequently. Coming to a deeper understanding of the infinite flexibility of the Playback form, and, the willingness to be of service strengthens my commitment to being a Playback practitioner.

Joyce Lu. Oakland, California

Joyce performs with the Oakland based Living Arts Playback Theater Ensemble directed by Armand Volkas which works groups experiencing historical traumas. She is an actor, dancer, teacher and director primarily concerned with the intersections between art, healing and social justice education. She has a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from UC Berkeley, and an MFA in Asian Performance for the U of Hawai'i at Manoa. Joycelu3@yahoo.com

I joined the IPTN delegation at the US Social Forum (USSF) in response to an email I received calling especially for "people of color" to join what Susan, who organized the delegation, described as a "mostly Euro" group of Playback practitioners. I was initially a bit concerned about what this meant. Obviously, it was an attempt to achieve some kind of diversity, but what kind? Physical, or cosmetic diversity, or something deeper? Despite my concerns, I did want to meet and learn from other Playback practitioners, and I was also interested in attending the first USSF. In the end, it was great for me to meet and work with others who share a love of Playback Theater. I found that we all share the desire to serve humanity through our art, and that we share a certain language in terms of the major conventions of Playback. We also discovered the ways in which we speak this language differently.

Part of the challenge of collaborating came from coming from troupes with different styles of doing Playback. In our troupe, Living Arts PT in the Bay Area of San Fransisco, we are accustomed to a short huddle to consult with the other actors before doing an enactment. It was challenging for me to perform without this opportunity to verbally check-in with others in the ensemble.

Another challenge came from the fact that we come from different cultural and class backgrounds. Especially difficult for me was one story in which a South-Asian American woman described her experience of living in the U.S., including relationships with and inspiration from different cultural traditions. Enacting this story challenged us to not simply reiterate a long history of cultural appropriation that supports European colonial and imperialist ventures. Minstrelsy and other forms of cultural drag have been used for centuries to paint pictures of people of non-European descent as inferior, or inhuman. "White" people may dress-up as non-"white" people in various festivals, on Halloween or at a frat party - contexts that permit the of expressing desires that have been repressed by certain dominant Christian traditions. Meanwhile, however, they retain the privilege of being insulated from the everyday oppression that non-"white" people face in the U.S.

Some members of the audience and our ensemble felt unsatisfied with the enactment of this woman's story, because some elements seemed to fall into a mocking of other cultures, albeit unconscious and unintentional. This launched a conversation about what the responsibility of a Playback practitioner is in terms of working with material or populations with which one is less familiar. We talked about emphasizing the relationships described in a story rather than trying to portray the culture. For example, the teller's partner is Arab. It is more important to play the love relationship than it is to try to play an Arab. Afterwards, another audience member expressed discomfort at seeing a European American actor attempt to sing the blues. We talked about if there might have been a way to represent the essence of the blues without having to try to play a blues singer.

There is a certain pleasure we derive from playing dress-up, and a certain license that the history of white supremacy gives us to perform the cultural traditions of others. But being a responsible Playback actor means being vigilant of this history and of our own social locations relative to this history. In a split second I must be able to distinguish when I am making a choice to serve the teller with my knowledge of other cultures versus when am I just showing off or playing for my own satisfaction that I can speak another language, sing someone else's song, or dance someone else's dance.

Working with folks from Ashé Cultural Center was a highlight for me. I could see how they integrate Playback with other structures. I especially appreciated how John O'Neal prepared the space by asking us to form a circle and to dedicate the work to someone significant to us. We also prayed together as a group. This reinforced the necessity of a ritual preparation of the ground for working with each others' stories, and the possibility of finding new ways of calling on the support of the spirit that can work in diverse groups. Especially in this strange environment of the U.S., where we are all still struggling with a legacy of genocide, sexism, heterosexism, and racism, we must continue to educate ourselves, take the initiative to heal ourselves, and to work to bring light to our own blind spots. I believe with support from spirit in holding the stories that are entrusted to us, we can do what is in the best interests of the teller.

Despite the challenges we faced, it was a highlight and a privilege for me to meet people from different Playback groups and work/play together. I am also very grateful that we were able to communicate with each other about our discomfort. I hope that we all can continue to find better and better ways to use Playback Theater to work together towards decolonization and positive social change.

Ira 'Ike' Sloan (a gentle bow). Asheville

Ike has been in Asheville PT for a year and a half. He is a recovering corporate psychiatrist now expressing appreciation of the human condition through Playback, community theater, magic, balloon art and puppetry. He is also part of the behavioral medical faculty at the MAHEC Family Medicine Residency Training Program in Asheville. Lhs2day@hotmail.com

I volunteered to go to the USSF purely for naïve reasons - a new and unusual experience, a chance to see how the people of the present "movement" are doing, a chance to perform with a new, spontaneously formed Playback ensemble and mostly to see what Playback had to offer within the movement. My experience far exceeded the superficial reasons for going.

The first and most wonderful aspect of the journey was the meeting new Playback players, totally enjoying each of them and our becoming a very effective ensemble with little rehearsal. It's magic and a true testimonial to the usefulness of the Playback tool.

I discovered that the present social change movement has the same energy and intensity as that of the 60's but with a far broader agenda in a context in the US that is even more disturbing than the US of the 60's. The USSF agenda is about social justice, bringing together people working towards this goal in the interest of different oppressed groups. The purpose seemed to me to get groups and agencies, each interested in their specific area of correcting injustice, to work together, unite and have greater impact in the world.

Our Playback group took that question and played it back. It played it back to each teller, to each audience member and to each member of our ensemble. The "red thread" was present and palpable. The very focus of this thread came to light from the story about the Asian-American woman working within a very diverse setting with many cultures and styles being expressed. It was indeed a difficult story to live, to tell and to play back. On some level, she seemed to be telling us that music of each culture best communicates across the diversity. We played it back using music, and it was "successful". The teller seemed moved and satisfied. Each audience member, at least those who were really present, was touched. One reacted in a negative way regarding a white woman singing the blues. I felt, she sang the blues beautifully, and it was the element that, in my opinion, made the playback moving. How can a Playback ensemble that is not diverse, in that the faces the audience sees are not diverse, handle a story that presses this issue? In essence, the Playback performance asked the very question of every person present asked and which the teller asked in the story.

Playback does not seem to me to be a solution to problems, social or personal. I am very pleased it is not therapy. It seems to me an opportunity for those truly present to consider alternatives. Two of the many possible ways change can come to a problem situation are from gaining new information or from using old information in a new, creative way. By playing back a story creatively, the teller and the audience members see information that may be new or may be old but set in a creative medium. One can become creative in the presence of creativity. Creative people inspire creativity in others. I think this story was a total success for everyone present, even those who found it disturbing. It was story about a disturbing, difficult situation.

For the playback members, it bought forth the very resonance we hope stories will evoke in those other than the teller. How do we handle diversity? Certainly the only credential an ensemble needs is not a "colorful" face. That surface does give the audience the first impression that there might be depth in the Playback ensemble's understanding, but is no guarantee. Communication among the Playback members, careful thought and study will bring them closer, but always short of the actual experience of any specific culture, race, orientation, economic group. Our task as responsible Playback performers is to keep working at it, do the best we can with what we have, and encourage those experiencing the performance to take it as an opportunity to move in whatever direction it takes them. That may be a solution to a problem or a tear or a laugh or remembering a resonant personal story or a negative reaction with questions or merely a moment of entertaining escape.

The question I left with is not "Who has the right to sing the blues?" but rather "How can we sing the blues together?

Lloyd Daley Musician New Orleans

Lloyd learned to play the piano from his mother. As a teen-ager he was playing in the high school band. He played with professor Longhair's drummer, Sheba, and Jame's Brown's drummer who encouraged him to continue developing his musical talents. He works with the Ashe Cultural Center projects. lloydday@yahoo.com

U.S. Social Forum: The view from Canada by Judy Rebick

After spending five weeks in Bolivia this summer, I was convinced that the new paths out of this destructive, hateful morass we call neo-liberalism would come from those most marginalized by its greed and violence. Little did I imagine that one of the strongest signs of this direction would come from the belly of the beast itself. Ten thousand people, overwhelmingly poor and working class, majority people of colour, at least half women, and including a massive number of youth gathered in Atlanta Georgia at the end of June for the US Social Forum (USSF) signaling what could be the birth of the most powerful social movement the U.S. has ever seen.

"Never in my wildest imagination, did I think I would ever see something like this in the United States," Carlos Torres, a Chilean refugee now living in Canada told me half way through the forum. The sentiment was repeated again and again by Latin American visitors who were there as emissaries from the World Social Forum (WSF). It was radical, it was militant, it was feminist, it was anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist, it was queer, it was loud and lively and it was brimming with love, kindness and a deep sense of solidarity. The slogan of the USSF was "Another World is Possible, Another US is necessary." It was interpreted both as another U.S. and another "us" meaning the left has to reinvent itself.

And it was a major step forward for the World Social Forum movement. The idea of a U.S. social forum came from a couple of people who went to the 2001 WSF in Brazil and then brought a few more with them in 2002. They formed a group called Grassroots Global Justice and began the process of organizing a U.S. Social Forum, firmly in the WSF spirit. One of them Fred Ascarate, then with Jobs for Justice, now with the AFL-CIO, explained to the opening plenary that "It took this long because we wanted to do it right by building the necessary relationships among the grass roots organizations and ensuring the right outcomes." And the right outcomes were to create the conditions to unite the disparate grassroots people's movements around the U.S. across race, age, sector and region. They got the idea from the WSF but they took it beyond where anyone else has managed to go, except perhaps in Mumbai. In Nairobi, poor people demanded a significant place in the WSF planning process and in Atlanta, they had one. The National Planning Committee represented what they call national and regional "base-building" groups, whose base is mostly poor and working class people. It seemed to this observer that the forum shifted the balance of power on the American left to the poor and oppressed from the middle class. Time will tell what impact this will have.

Every plenary focused on building alliances among the myriad of grass roots movement across the United States. Most emphasis was on a "black-brown" alliance to combat the racism that divides African Americans from their Latino and immigrant brothers and sisters. But there was a lot of focus on student/labour alliances and environmental issues were completely linked to social justice issues. Support for gays, lesbians and transgendered people who have been major targets of the Bush administration seemed universal. The forum ended in a People's Movements Assembly, where various regional and issue caucuses presented their resolutions. Several new national networks were formed and the bonds of solidarity were deeply forged among those who are usually divided. People left with the commitment to organize social forums in their regions, cities and neighbourhoods. Over the course of the week, the social forum became a synonym for creating a movement of movements everywhere.

"People are asking me when Atlanta has ever seen something like this "Jerome Scott of Project South and veteran Atlanta activist speaking of the opening march. "I've been reflecting on that and my answer is Atlanta has never seen anything like this. The Civil Rights movement was mostly African American and last year's May 1st (immigration rights) demo was mostly Latinos but this march was the most multi-national action I have ever seen. It was beautiful."

Most of every one of the 900 workshops over four days was filled to the brim with activists who were sharing strategies in everything from food security to community/labour alliances to a new taking back our cities movement against gentrification. The plenary speakers were majority women, people of colour, and young people. There was not a single left-wing star among them. In a culture obsessed with celebrity, the organizing committee decided they didn't need any, even the good ones. None of the big NGO's in the United States were on the planning committee. The idea that foundation-funded, majority white, centrist and Washington dominated NGO's and think tanks have hijacked the left was present throughout the forum. These groups were welcome to participate but not in a leadership capacity.

Another extraordinary feature of the forum was the role of indigenous people who led the opening march and participated on several panels as well as their own plenary. Much of the vision came from them. After talking about the melting of the glaciers, Faith Gemmill from the REDOIL (Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Land) in Alaska said, "Our people have a prophesy that there will come a time in the history of humanity when people are in danger of destroying ourselves. When that time comes, a voice will arise from the North to warn us. That time is now. I was sent here to give you part of our burden to speak up now against the greed" And Tom Goldtooth who represents the Indigenous Environmental Network on the national planning committee said, "We must talk from the heart and shake hands with one another. A prayer has taken place that this spirit is going to grow. No matter who we are we must demand not reform of a broken system but transformation. We need to organize from the grassroots." And many did speak from the heart.

The plenary on Katrina was stunning to me. While I certainly followed the immediate aftermath I had no idea of the continuing efforts to white wash New Orleans. Dr. Beverley Wright speaking from the floor said, "our parents and our grandparents fought to buy a house to pass on to their family and they are trying to take that away from us when they talk about turning the place we lived in East New Orleans into a green space. They're not talking about turning the place rich white folks live into green space. " Another community leader said, "Katrina is both a reality and a symbol. If you work in justice, if you work in health care, if your work in housing, you are in Katrina."

One of the most powerful speeches was from Javier Gallardo from the New Orleans Workers Centre. A guest work from Peru, he explained that when African Americans were displaced, hundreds of workers, like him, had been brought in from Latin America for Gulf Coast reconstruction and their employers names are on the passports. Their ability to stay in the U.S. is dependent on the employer. He said that there is now a practice that when the employer is finished with the workers, he sells them to another employer for $2,000 each. "What is that?," he asked. "We call it modern day slavery. They want to divide us but the old slaves and the new slaves can join together and together we can defeat them," he continued to thunderous applause. The old slaves/new slaves metaphor wove its way through the rest of the forum in the powerful idea of a black-brown alliance, that veteran activists said would transform left-wing politics in the United States and especially in the South where the vast majority of the working class is now black and brown.

Another impressive feature of the forum was the handling of conflict. When the Palestinian contingent objected that they were the only group not permitted to speak for themselves in the anti-war plenary, the organizers read their letter of protest to the next plenary. When the report of the indigenous caucus was stopped at the end of their allotted time by the moderator of the Peoples Movement Assembly by removing their mike, they took grave offense and felt silenced. Within ten minutes most of the indigenous people in the room were on the stage with the consent of the organizers. What could have been an explosive divisive moment with a lot of anger and hurt was handled with incredible skill by both permitting the protest and making sure it was interpreted in a way that created unity rather than division. I had the feeling that a new culture of solidarity was being born, one we tried for in the feminist movement but never quite accomplished.

Of course there were weaknesses in the forum. While strongly rooted in the traditions of the Civil Rights movement by the symbolic location in Atlanta and the presence of veteran civil rights activists, there was less discussion of working class or even feminist history. Yet the impact of those movements were strongly felt in the powerful female leadership present everywhere and the strong emphasis on workers issues and organizing. None of the big environmental groups were present. While the issue of the war and U.S. imperialism had pride of place, the mainstream anti-war movement had little presence. The forum organizers bent the stick quite far towards poor, working class, indigenous, queer and people of colour groups and perhaps this was necessary to create the kind of movement really capable of making change in the United States.

In her famous speech at the 2002 World Social Forum in Brazil, Arundhati Roy famously said, "Remember this: We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them. Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing. "

It wasn't a quiet day in Atlanta but I could hear her shouting there, "What do we want? Justice. How will we get it? People Power."