The June 2008 Interplay, Full Text PDF 2.12Mb, is available.
This issue re-opens the discussion on playback and interculturalism. Bi-cultural and cross cultural work within a playback company in preparation for bicultural and reconciliatory work is presented through the story of Paula Kingwill from South Africa. Bev Hosking from New Zealand reflects on how her work with Maori theatre director Christian Penny has influenced the way in which she teaches playback theatre. The function of the playback performer as documenter and enthnographer is introduced in my article and Mountaine Mont Jonas’s journal of his recent work in Cambodia demonstrates the way in which the playback artist can be visitor in very different cultures. Read about new work in Lithuania while new groups continue to be feature with astory from Chilean playbacker Loreto Campusano. The issue also reports on the PhD award bestowed on Playback founder Jonathan Fox in German earlier this year.
One student to the School of Playback Theatre wrote: "This unbelievable experience with Playback people this summer had an immeasurable impact on me, my life, and my work."
This summer they have an exceptionally exciting list of courses, at beginning and intermediate/advanced levels. Whether you are just curious or a committed practitioner interested in picking up specific skills, you are invited you to check out their offerings.
All courses take place at Manhattanville College, a lovely campus just outside of New York City.
Jonathan Fox, the founder of the Centre for Playback Theatre and the founder of Playback Theatre itself, has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Kassel, Germany. The doctorate recognizes Jonathan for "artistic and scholarly achievement in theatre."
The Education and Humanities faculty, representing education, philosophy, theology, psychoanalytic psychology, and music, were unanimous in this decision. The University of Kassel has awarded only four honorary doctorates in its history: this the first to an American, and the first that honors a recipient for both scholarly and artistic achievement. At the end of April there will be an award ceremony and a one-day academic conference at the University.
It is a wonderful and well-merited recognition, not just of Jonathan and his more than thirty years of extraordinary work, but also of Playback Theatre itself.
We can be proud of him, and of ourselves too. ---- From the Centre for Playback Theatre faculty, Board of Directors, and staff.
Notes of appreciation can be sent to the Dean of the faculty or to the President of the university.
Some words about the 3rd Annual Global Playback Event on the 18th of November from:
- Theater Rob Heiligers
- Wordt Vervolgd
- Playback for Change
- Moffitt's Improvisational Theatre Troupe
- Asheville Playback Theatre
- others...
GlobalHumanRightsPerformance_07.pdf
To all our friends that Playback Theatre is in their heart. Whether a practitioner, group member, actor, conductor, musician, or staff: we are all blessed to share this path.
For this coming NEW YEAR I wish that the Playback Theater way will bless us with meaning, support, wisdom, grace, and of course fun, to both enrich our lives and share with our friends and audience a like.
May our work and message travel the globe and help bring happiness, reconciliation tolerance, and love.
With much holiday cheers
Aviva Apel-Rosenthal -- IPTN President
The Playback Centre has made the 2008 playback theatre training program available. There are basic courses, advanced courses and combinations of playback theatre and other approaches. There is a winter session, a summer session, and courses in New York City. There is also a course offering that will take place in New Orleans in August, focusing on delivering playback theatre to communities in crisis.
The summer session will take place at a new location, Manhattanville College, a beautiful campus only a 30-minute train ride from the center of NYC. You will be able to commute at a special commuter price.
New Book: Do My Story, Sing My Song: Music therapy and Playback Theatre with troubled children, by Jo Salas, a co-founder of Playback theatre. (2007). (ISBN 978-0-9642350-6-9; 177 pages; $19). Do My Story, Sing My Song can be ordered by going to Tusitala Publishers or call 845.255.8163. Quantity discounts and review copies are available on request.
Do My Story, Sing My Song tells the stories of children in residential treatment, diagnosed as severely emotionally disturbed, who took part in music and drama therapy with the author. Engaging, informative, and moving, this book is for general readers, teachers, parents, artists, therapists, policy makers, and anyone interested in children and the arts within or beyond therapeutic contexts.
Cultural activities are supposed to be as a meaningful tool for life quality development, social integration and social change in Europe cultural and social politic more and more. Culture and social fields tend to integrate. Projects combining arts and social work are a new and innovative thing in Lithuania and other new EU countries.
Playback theatre is making the first steps in Lithuania. This year our company has attained the support to introduce and to develop an innovative social impact’s tools and methods for increasing the social integration possibilities for the people living in social isolation. In the project are integrating traditional teaching methods (theoretical material, lectures and discussions) and to make learning process for target group more efficient – methods and elements of expressive arts and Playback Theater. (Full Story)
Emergency PT Europa with Jonathon Fox in Hungary 14 - 17 September 2007 - Report by Brian Tasker
In late summer, over a long weekend, representatives from Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Lithuania, Serbia, the UK and the USA gathered to meet with Jonathon Fox for a workshop on using playback theatre in response to civil and natural emergencies. The meeting took place at the delightful Biofalu Ecovillage Centre in Mariahalom about an hour south of Budapest hosted by an equally delightful group of Hungarians including Jozsef Paradi and Aniko Kaposvari who organised the event. The impetus for the workshop had been the PT response to the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in New Orleans in 2005. This resulted in the formation of the NOLA Playback Theatre Company to provide a forum for those stories to be told. We were very fortunate to have a member of NOLA PT present, Enchante Franklin, who lives in New Orleans and shared some of her experiences of that time with us. (Full Story)
Join the IPTN delegation to the second international conference "For World Balance" in Havana, Cuba during January 2008. Program includes cultural and social activities as well as gatherings to practice Playback and prepare for the conference. Jonathan Fox will be featured on a plenary panel.
- For more information about the conference
- With questions: ptunesco08@gmail.com
Come! This is a unique and exciting opportunity to learn about Playback and about Cuba. We look forward with great enthusiasm to this time together.
La Red Internacional de Teatro Playback Anuncia la formacion de una delegacion a la segunda conferencia internacional "Por el Equilibrio del Mundo".
ORGANIZADO POR LA SOCIEDAD CULTURAL JOSE MARTI En colaboración con la UNESCO de las NACIONES UNIDAS La Habana, Cuba Enero 2008 Ofreceremos a usted una oportunidad de aprender y practicar con la comunidad de TP en Cuba, con invitdados de todos partes del mundo, e incluso con Jonathan Fox, fundador de Playback y director del Centro por Teatro Playback. También, nosotros vamos a participar en la segunda conferencia "Por el Equilibrio del Mundo" del 28 al 30 de enero del 2008. El tema de la conferencia será por un medio ambiente sostenible. Planificamos actividades estimulantes y dichosas antes y después de la conferencia.
- PARA MAS INFORMACION sobre la conferencia
- Con preguntas individuales: ptunesco08@gmail.com
Venga! Crearemos este capítulo en nuestra historia personal y colectiva.
Coming up soon:
- Ritual in the Heart of the Story - a 4-day training (1-4 November 2007) with Aviva Rosenthal from Israel, and
- Playback Music and Song: Empowering the Actor/Musician - a 3-day training (2-4 November 2007) with Di Adderley and Felicity North from Manchester/York Playback.
Contact ukplaybackschool@gmail.com for further details or call Veronica Needa on +44 7779 945 991 or +44 207 221 2694
School of Playback Theatre (UK) offers a programme of training in Playback Theatre from beginners level onwards.
These courses will take place at a residential venue in Todmorden, Lancashire, and will be a wonderful opportunity for playbackers to connect and catch up with our global news.
New Zealand Playback Theatre Summer School 7 - 16 January, 2008. Brochure (PDF, 6MB).
This Summer School will involve an exploration of PBT as an approach to creating a dialogue in a community.
This is our tenth year of gathering at Paekakariki. Over the years the Summer School has attracted participants from various parts of the world. The mix of languages, and cultural and performing backgrounds creates an exciting and challenging environment for learning about working with difference.
Over the ten days we will focus on the theatre and play of the PBT form and combine these with other approaches and disciplines to do our work. There will be sessions in voice, and waiata ringaringa (action songs), plus a range of sharing and listening processes designed to foster receptivity and connection. All of this will help us to extend our exploration together.
DATES/TIMES: Monday 7 January 2:00pm - Wednesday 16 January 2:30pm
WHERE: Paekakariki, Wellington, New Zealand
FEE: NZ$1525.00 (GST inc.) (includes food and accommodation)
ENQUIRIES: Bev Hosking Ph (04) 475 8643, or Christian Penny.
The 3rd Annual Global Playback Event: HUMAN RIGHTS: Stories That Uncover Our Hearts - Sunday, November 18, 2007
After receiving suggestions from many Playback company members around the world, the theme of Human Rights seems to be one that people favor and is in keeping with what Playback is about. We changed the subtitle to open up the possibilities of stories from diverse experiences, not all negative.
Once again, we are hopeful that many Playback companies and groups will use the opportunity to join together at this time to create a feeling of solidarity and to alert your community of our shared stance for a better world.
Please let us know as soon as you decide so we can add you to our promotion and on our website. Address any questions or comments to Raphael Peter, Mountaine Mort Jonas or Deborah Scott.
Two playback workshops are being offered by Jonathan Fox in Italy in November 2007.
- Healing with Stories: a ritual for the blesses of the memory. How to deal with traumatic events in the personal and community process. November 1. Milano Italy. Flier, PDF, 75KB.
- The Third Dimension: stories of self and society, a playback theatre workshop. November 2, 3, 4. Sondrio, Italy. Flier, PDF, 89KB.
Playback Theatre Sampler that will be held on September 15 in New York City. This is the perfect chance for someone to get an initial exposure to playback. The teacher is Hannah Fox, daughter of the founders of playback and a professor of dance and theatre at Manhattanville College.
Taste the excitement of acting out a teller's personal story. Tell your own!
Hannah will also be teaching Core Training a 4-day intensive playback workshop from November 2-5 also in New York City.
To register or for more info, contact the Centre for Playback Theatre.
The delegation report to the IPTN about Playback at the US Social Forum "Another World Is Possible; Another Us Is Necessary" held Atlanta, Georgia June 27 through July 1 2007 is available. The delegation report includes a summary from a Canadian ally.
=Who is coming=
The Who is coming list is growing and growing.
=Forum=
There is a new easy to use Forum available for those attending the Playback Festival where you can interact with playbackers from all over the world. >Register to the Forum and start to communicate with people before the Festival!
1) Paul McIsaac would like to talk with playback people about his workshop at the Festival.
2) Paula Patterson would like to know who would like to join her in a daily "walking party" from Casa de Portugal to Nikkey Palace hotel.
3) Mountaine Mort Jonas would like to know who is going to travel around Brazil after the Festival.
The June 2007 Interplay, Full Text PDF 1.7Mb, is available.
In this issue stories focus on emerging companies and the way their visions guide their development. Read about how new companies in Sri Lanka and UK are being supported and nurtured. This issue also draws attention to education and research. Erene Kaptani reports on her research in London with refugees and you can read about recent moves in playback training including the shift from School to Centre of PT in New York and the progress in the German and UK Schools of PT.
Interactive and Improvisational Drama: Varieties of Applied Theatre and Performance, edited by Adam Blatner, M.D. with Dan Wiener, Ph.D. This is a wonderful resource book for anyone involved in theatre and the performing arts. The book opens with a chapter on Playback Theater written by Hannah Fox and has a comprehensive collection of essays covering a tremendous amount of ground in the field of applied and interactive theatre.
Johnathan Fox will be giving two workshops around the Playback Theatre Festival in Brazil:
- Guidance and Support for Playback Leaders
- The Essence of Playback Theatre
You can get more information and register for these workshops directly with the Centre for Playback Theatre.
The Central European School of Playback Theatre offers comprehensive training for playback theatre for people coming from Central and East European Countries.
- C o r e Training in Playback Theatre in English language. Residential near Budapest in Mariahalom. 4 - 8 July 2007 (5 days).
- Playback Theatre Festival in Budapest with Hungarian and international companies. 8 - 11 July 2007.
- Conductor Workshop in English and Hungarian language. Teacher: Dr. Jozsef Paradi. Residential near Budapest in Mariahalom. 12 - 15 July 2007 (4 dayss).
- Emergency Playback Theatre by Jonathan Fox. In English with translations. Residential near Budapest in Mariahalom. 14-17 September 2007.
- From Stereotyped Representations to Authenticity on the Playback Stage by Petros Theodorou (Thessaloniki). In English with translations. 16 - 18 November 2007.
Central European School of Playback Theatre Training Brochure (Full Text PDF, 186Kb).
You can now register for the International Playback Theatre Festival in Brazil. This will be a very exciting and enriching meeting of playbackers from all over the world.
The Festival is being held August 16 to 19, 2007 - São Paulo - Brazil. To get more information about the Festival and register, go to the following website: www.playbackfestival.com.br/.
New publications about playback theatre:
- Playing the Other: Dramatizing Personal Narratives in Playback Theatre by Nick Rowe. This is an important new book that both critiques existing theory and eloquently articulates new concepts. Jessica Kingsley, London. 2007.
- Hudson River Playback Theatre has published Half of My Heart, a book of immigrant stories, based on a project the company has undertaken. Jo Salas and Leslie Gauna (of Houston PT) are editors. The book is bilingual in English and Spanish.
Also:
- The Change Handbook, a compendium of participatory, whole system methods for organizations, for a chapter about playback theatre written by Sarah Halley (Playback for Change) and Jonathan Fox.
- For French readers, Daniel Feldhendler has written Théâtre en miroirs: L’histoire de vie mise en scène. Published by Editions TÉRAÈDRE
- Hannah Fox (Big Apple Playback Theatre) has written a chapter on playback theatre in Interactive and Improvisational Drama: Varieties of Applied Theatre and Performance. Adam Blatner, Ed. (with Daniel Wiener). iuniverse, 2007.
- For more on pt in Spanish, see Improvisando la vida real by Jo Salas.
- Instructional DVD, Performing Playback Theatre, with subtitles in Spanish and Japanese.
Dates: June 9 to 13, 2007
Artsinscene is a five days meeting of the various arts that we can integrate to the Playback Theatre. It is a opportunity to develop arts, and to share our personal stories during the performances, healing one self enjoying the thermal and living in contact with the wonderful nature in the middle of the Alps.
Information about the Workshop including programme and enrolment Full Text PDF, 190Kb
The Centre for Playback Theatre (which encompasses the School of PT) has some exciting offerings for 2007. Here are a few highlights with links to full descriptions:
Teaching PT , New York, Jonathan Fox, July 6-8. A new course designed to give experienced playback theatre practitioners practical information for teaching pt at an introductory level; certificate given upon completion.
PT Practice, New York, Hannah Fox, July 9-20.Ten days for students involved in playback theatre on an ongoing basis ready to commit to learning advanced skills and how to run a company.
Guidance and Support for Playback Leaders, Sao Paolo, Brazil, August 15-16 (before world conference) Exploring challenges of playback theatre leadership and sharing recent discoveries.
Emergency PT Europa, Hungary, September 14-17. When disaster strikes, people desperately need a forum to share their stories, and playback theatre can be a wonderful resource - if we can organize it. The purpose of this workshop is to acquire tools for delivering playback theatre to communities suffering from a natural or civil emergency.
Ritual in the Heart of the Story, England, Aviva Apel-Rosenthal, Nov. 1-4: Creating and performing rituals that enable us to experience the power of transformation, healing, and artistic satisfaction in playback theatre.
The full training program over 25 courses.
Playback in the Academy Conference. June 8-10, 2007. School of Dramatic Art, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ont., Canada.
The focus is the investigation of playback theatre in education, its scope, its relation to community practice, its future, as well as research models to assess the effectiveness of playback theatre.
Announcing the creation of the Centre for Playback Theatre. The Centre is designed to support playback theatre practitioners everywhere and promote playback theatre throughout the world. At the same time, Centre for Playback Theatre will continue to offer the excellent training that the School of Playback Theatre has become famous for.
Please check out the new, expanded web site.
Three Playback training workshops are being run by the School of Playback Theatre in Winter 2007:
Men in Playback. This weekend workshop is for men working in playback theatre to support each other, develop leadership potential and learn new skills. Teachers: Jonathan Fox with Charles Schnarr.
Core Training. In this four-day intensive, you'll learn all the basics, with lots of opportunities to practice. Teachers: Jonathan Fox with Penny Clayton
Playback Theatre Experience. This intermediate-level workshop offers a dual focus on performance and conducting. Teacher: Jo Salas.
The International Playback Theatre Festival will be held in São Paulo, Brazil. August 16 to 19, 2007.
Two new books on Playback Theatre have been published:
Nick Rowe, Playing the Other. This book is an exploration and critique of 'playback theatre', a form of improvised theatre in which a company of performers spontaneously enact autobiographical stories told to them by members of the audience.
Jo Salas and Leslie Gauna (Editors), Half of My Heart /La Mitad de Mi Corazyn. A collection of personal stories told by immigrants to the USA from Mexico and other Latin American countries who attended a series of twenty bilingual performances.
The New Zealand Playback Theatre Summer School 2007 - with Christian Penny and Bev Hosking
The Playback Theatre Summer School is held at Paekakariki, a small town on the Kapiti Coast thirty minutes north of Wellington. The workshop venue is adjacent to the beach, and has a wide view of sea, sky and Kapiti Island. There will be plenty of time for swimming, walking and enjoying this beautiful environment. Brochure (PDF 2.4MB)