World Theatre Day Blog

As I posted on Sunday, Augusto Boal, founder of The Theatre of the Oppressed, and writer of this year’s World Theatre Day International Address, has died.

Here in Vancouver, the man closest to Boal is certainly David Diamond, Artistic Director of Headlines Theatre. Yesterday, Diamond sent out this eulogy which he wrote for his friend and colleauge, and I asked him if I could share it.

It is with deep sadness that we acknowledge the death of Brazilian theatre director and founder of the “Theatre of the Oppressed” (TO), Augusto Boal. In the early hours of May 2, 2009, the world experienced the passing of a visionary theatre artist, activist and educator.

Boal’s passionately theatrical spirit and his uncompromising commitment to human rights, combined with an infectious sense of play, spread the ideas and practice of TO around the world.

Boal leaves a rich legacy of innovation in theatre and social activism, books, articles, and inspired hearts and minds. As Chris Vine, a friend and colleague from NY wrote upon hearing this sad news, “…we are all grateful for the lives Boal had touched, inspired and linked together artistically, politically and personally, transcending time and distance.”

To me, personally, he was an inspiration, a mentor, a colleague and a beloved friend. No more fiery emails back and forth, Augusto? This is so hard to contemplate. You will always be a welcome “Cop in my Head”. Thank you for so much.

Messages have been posted on the International Theatre of the Oppressed (ITO) website from Adrian Jackson, a TO practitioner and translator of Boal’s books, http://www.theatreoftheoppressed.org. and Bárbara Santos, on behalf of the Centre of the Theatre of the Oppressed (CTO) Rio. Access Bárbara’s message by clicking on the image of Boal in the upper right of the home page. A condolences registry, where you can leave your thoughts, is available by clicking inside the “interventions” link of Adrian’s message.

On behalf of all of us at Headlines, our condolences to the Boal family, CTO Rio, the global TO community, and all. Boal touched the lives of so many.

David Diamond
Artistic Director, Headlines Theatre, Vancouver BC, Canada

–Rebecca Coleman

I was stunned to receive this email today from Carla Estefan, with whom we had quite a lot of contact during our World Theatre Day celebrations. Augusto Boal was the given the honour of writing this year’s World Theatre Day International Address.

The playwright and theater director, Augusto Boal, died in the early hours of today, at 78 years, of respiratory failure in the Samaritan Hospital in the district of Botafogo, Rio. He suffered from leukemia and was hospitalized since April 28. The location and time of the funeral have not been disclosed.

The work of Boal, who was also essayist and theorist of theater, gained prominence in the 1960s and 1970s, when he created the Theater of the Oppressed, which was internationally recognized by combining drama to social action.

Boal graduated with a degree in Chemistry fromthe Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in 1950, but then traveled to the United States, where he studied dramatic arts at Columbia University. Back in Brazil, his first piece as a director was Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, which garnered him an award from the the APCA (São Paulo Association of Art Critics). He directed of the show Opinião, with Zé Kette, João do Vale and Nara Leão, which went down in history as an act of resistance to the military coup of 1964.

From Boal’s WTD International Address:

Weddings and funerals are “spectacles”, but so, also, are daily rituals so familiar that we are not conscious of this. Occasions of pomp and circumstance, but also the morning coffee, the exchanged good-mornings, timid love and storms of passion, a senate session or a diplomatic meeting – all is theatre.

Participate in the “spectacle” which is about to begin and once you are back home, with your friends act your own plays and look at what you were never able to see: that which is obvious. Theatre is not just an event; it is a way of life!

We are all actors: being a citizen is not living in society, it is changing it.

Boal was a man who truly used theatre to change the world. A bright light has gone out today, and he will be sorely missed.

Read the entire WTD address.

Read my interview with David Diamond, Boal’s colleague here in Vancouver.

–Rebecca Coleman

In Quebec City today, young and veteran actors took to the local buses for World Theatre Day in a guerrilla type of theatre and read pieces from different plays engaging surprised bus travelers! At the end of the en route performances, at the Grand Theatre, writer, André Ricard and young actress Édith Patenaude read the traditional World Theatre Day’s International message, this year written by Augusto Boal.

Henry Godinez, Artistic Associate and Curator of the Latino Festival of the Goodman Theatre, has been working to bring a Cuban theatre troupe to Chicago for several years, and there are hopeful signs that it will be possible during the 2010 Festival. U.S. citizens can help support this initiative by adding your name to the open letter from U.S. Artists, Arts Presenters, Arts Educators and Cultural Scholars in support of Cultural Relations with Cuba, and we’re sure international artists can help in the effort as well!

Online at http://www.cubaresearch.info/cubaletter2009, En español

February 17, 2009 (submission date)

President Barack Obama
The White House
Washington, DC

Dear President Obama:

We are artists, arts presenters, arts educators, cultural entrepreneurs and scholars, and cultural heritage and policy professionals from diverse political persuasions. We have been adversely affected by the cultural embargo imposed by the U.S. government against both Cuban and American artists and cultural institutions. We are writing to request that you make concrete changes in U.S. policy towards Cuba that will allow for the uninhibited flow of art, culture, information, ideas and debates, as well as travel by artists, cultural workers and professionals, and arts and cultural aficionados between the two countries.

U.S. policies towards Cuba – worsened many times over by the previous administration and criticized throughout the world – have prevented us from engaging in critical communication and collaboration with our Cuban counterparts, compromising our nation’s cherished ideals of freedom of expression and preventing cultural interchange between two societies that share a historic relationship lasting over two centuries.

In 2007 we requested policy changes from the Bush Administration so that respectful, critical dialogue and principled exchange could take place between the peoples of Cuba and the United States and our respective governments. Our petition fell on deaf ears. As citizens, artists, scholars, educators and cultural workers from all artistic practices and from advocacy and service organizations in the arts, we now call upon your Administration to:

1. open a respectful dialogue with the government and people of Cuba in accord with established protocols supported by the community of nations;

2. end the travel ban that prevents U.S. citizens from visiting Cuba, and allow for Cuban artists and scholars to visit the United States, thus eliminating the censorship of art and ideas, and

3. initiate, by working with the U.S. Congress, a process that can result in the development of normal, respectful bilateral relations between our countries.

The artistic and cultural communities in the United States and in Cuba are catalysts of imagination and creativity. We are committed to serve as bridges for our fellow citizens. Now, we need our government to take leadership and re-open the pathways of exchange.

We look forward to working with you to advance the interests of the United States and of Cuba.

Sincerely,

Patch Adams, MD, Clowns Against War, Arlington, VA
Michael Alexander, Executive Director, Grand Performances* & Chair, California Arts Council*, Los Angeles, CA
Mavis Anderson, US-Cuba Cultural Exchange, Washington, DC
Jorge Artiles, Music Event Producer, Havana Productions*, Miami FL
David Asbell, Executive Director, Lobero Theater Foundation, Santa Barbara, CA
Stuart A. Ashman, Cabinet Secretary, State of New Mexico Cultural Affairs, Santa Fe, NM
Bob Augelli, Ph.D., Director, Rosa Blanca Project, Lawrence, KS
Stephen Bailey, Executive Director/CEO, Grand Opera House, Wilmington, DE
Philip Ballman, Co-Founder, Mondo Mundo Agency, Brooklyn, NY
Sean Barlow and Banning Eyre, Afropop Worldwide, Brooklyn, NY
Laura Bickford, Film Producer, Los Angeles, CA
Mark Bingham, Musician, Piety Street Recording, New Orleans, LA
Larry Blumenfeld, Journalist and Music Critic, Brooklyn, NY
Beth Boone, Artistic & Executive Director, Miami Light Project, Miami, FL
Jimmy Bosch, Musician/CEO JRGR Records, New York, NY
Joe Boyd, Record Producer and Author, London, England
Robert Bozina, Professor of Music, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA
Bill Bragin, Director of Public Programming, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts*, New York, NY
Emerson Bran, CEO/Booking Agent, Emerson Bran Management*, Van Nuys, CA
Vinie Burrows, Actor & UN Representative, Womens Intl Democratic Federation, New York, NY
Joseph Cabral, Musician, The Iguanas, New Orleans, LA
Judy Cantor-Navas, Journalist, New York, NY
Jim Cassell, The Berkeley Agency, Berkeley, CA
Regina Cervantes, 9/11 Rescue Worker, Cast of SiCKO*, Yukon, OK
Paul Chin, Executive Director, La Pena Cultural Center*, Berkeley, CA
Jimmy Cobb, NEA Jazz Master, Drums, New York, NY
Aaron Cohen, Music Journalist, Chicago, IL
Neal Copperman, Executive Director, AMP Concerts/¡Globalquerque!, Albuquerque, NM
Wilson Corniel, Musician, Richmond Hill, New York, NY
Maria Costa, Producer, Los Angeles, CA
Susan Criner, Owner, Gulf Coast Entertainment, Houston, TX
Jose Cruz, President, Jazz/Latino, Inc., Guilderland, NY
Hector Cruz-Sandoval, Filmmaker/Producer, Los Angeles, CA
Barbara Dane, Musician, Oakland, CA
Juan Dies, Executive Director, Sones de Mexico Ensemble, Chicago, IL
Charlie Dos Santos, Producer/Engineer, New York, NY
James Early, Artists and Intellectuals in Defense of Humanity, Washington, DC
Emiliano Echeverria, Independent Scholar, Radio Producer, KPFA/Pacifica Radio*, San Francisco, CA
Jacob Edgar, President, Cumbancha, Charlotte, VT
Wallace I. Edgecombe, Director, Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture, Bronx, NY
Cynthia Elliott, Executive Director, Symphony Space, New York, NY
T.J. English, Author, New York, NY
Diana Ezerins, Programming Coordinator, The Kennedy Center, Washington, DC
Cory Fisher, Journalist/Field Producer, SiCKO*, Nevada City, CA
Charles Fishman, Executive Producer, Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, Washington, DC
Dale Fitzgerald, Arts Presenter, The Jazz Gallery, New York, NY
Juan and Miriam Flores, Independent Scholars, Brooklyn, NY
Quetzal Flores, Musician/Producer/Pro-Activist, Quetzal, East Los Angeles, CA
Gerald Fried, Composer, Santa Fe, NM
Tom Frouge, Manager/Presenter, Avokado Artists, Placitas, NM
Steve Frumkin, President, Jim Wadsworth Productions Agency, Cleveland, OH
Kathryn Garcia, Director of Programming, Arsht Center for the Performing Arts*, Miami, FL
Keith Ghion, President, Geodesic Management, New York, NY
Rob Gibson, Executive & Artistic Director, Savannah Music Festival, Savannah, GA
Danny Glover, Actor & Activist, San Francisco, CA
Tom Gold, Agent, The Rosebud Agency, San Francisco, CA
Paul Goldman, Agent, Monterey International, Carmel, CA
Arturo Gomez Cruz, Public Radio Mgmt, Jazz89 KUVO-FM/DOCA Commissioner City-County of Denver, Denver, CO
David Gonzalez, Ph.D, Poet/Storyteller, Nyack, NY
Peter Gordon, Composer/Musician/Educator, New Rochelle, NY
Jose Griego, Ph.D., President, Northern New Mexico College, Espanola, NM
Tom Guralnick, Executive Director, Outpost Performance Space, Albuquerque, NM
Herbie Hancock, Musician/Chairman, Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz*, Los Angeles, CA
Louis Head, US-Cuba Cultural Exchange, Albuquerque, NM
Oscar Hernandez, Musician/Composer, Los Angeles, CA
Ariana Hernandez-Reguant, Cultural Anthropologist, University of California, San Diego
Gloria Herrera, Attorney/Producer/Presenter, Los Angeles, CA
Danny Hoch, Playwright, Actor, Brooklyn, NY
Marguerite Horberg, Chicago, IL
Ralph Irizarry, Musician & Indie Label Owner, Brooklyn, New York
Suki John, Ph. D., Specialist on Cuban Dance, Ft. Worth, TX
Danny Kapilian, Producer, Brooklyn Academy of Music & National Geographic*, Brooklyn, NY
Mike Kappus, President, The Rosebud Agency, San Francisco, CA
Robert Kraft, President, Fox Music, Los Angeles, CA
Craig Knudsen, President, Knudsen Productions, Berkeley, CA
Alexia Lalli, Heritage and Preservation Consultant, New York, NY
Greg Landau, Musician, Producer & Professor, City College of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Saul Landau, Filmmaker, Alameda, CA
James Lepore, Professor, George Mason University, Arlington, VA
Vivien Lesnik Weisman, Filmmaker, Santa Monica, CA
Sandra Levinson, Director, Cuban Art Space / Center for Cuban Studies, New York, NY
Lee Lockwood, Writer and Journalist, Weston, FL
Alison Loerke, Artist Representative, ALIA Productions, Seattle, WA
Ana Lopez, Professor, Tulane University*, New Orleans, LA
Linda Lucero, Executive/Artistic Director, Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, San Francisco, CA
Howard Mandel, Writer/Broadcaster/Educator, Jazz Journalists Association, New York, NY
Ev Mann, Executive Director, Center for Creative Education, Kingston, NY
Dave Marsh, Writer-Broadcaster, Editor, Rock-Rap Confidential, Norwalk, CT
Robert Martin, General Manager, Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Bill Martínez, Arts Immigration Attorney and Presenter, Martínez & Associates, San Francisco, CA
Ivor Miller, Author & Cuban Culture Specialist, Boston University, Cambridge MA
Marilyn Miller, Professor, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Tom Miller, Author, Tucson, AZ
Tom Miller, General Counsel, Send A Piana to Havana, Oakland, CA
Rick Mitchell, Artistic Director, Houston International Festival, Houston, TX
Robin Moore, Associate Professor, University of Texas School of Music, Austin, TX
Kevin Murray, Senior Vice-President, William Morris Agency, Beverly Hills, CA
Lukas Nelson, Musician, Paia, HI
William Ney, Executive Director, UW-Madison Multicultural Arts Inititatives*, Madison, WI
Hilary Noble, Musician, 83 Lyndhurst St., Dorchester, MA
Arturo O’Farrill, Musician & Founder, Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, Brooklyn, NY
Michael Orlove, Senior Program Director, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Chicago, IL
Juan “Papo” Pepin, Master Percussionist, Pepin Productions, Bronx, NY
Wendy Perron, Editor in Chief, Dance Magazine, New York, NY
Scott Price, Artist Manager, OTA Records, Oakland, CA
Dafnis Prieto, Musician, New York, NY
Marc Quiñones, Musician, Q&A Productions/Allman Brothers Band/8yMas, Bronx, NY/New Jersey
Margaret Randall, Poet, Albuquerque, NM
Joe Randel, Director, ArtesAméricas, University of Texas Performing Arts Center, Austin, TX
Raices Collective of KUNM-FM, Albuquerque, NM
Arturo Riera, Chairman of the Board, San Jose Jazz, San Francisco, CA
Ann Rosenthal, Executive Director, MAPP International Productions, New York, NY
Bernard Rubenstein, Conductor, Copland/Gershwin New Music Group, Santa Fe, NM
David Rubinson, Music Producer, San Francisco, CA
Bobby Sanabria, Grammy Nominated Musician & Educator, Manhattan School of Music, New School, Bronx, NY
Alan Roy Scott, Songwriter, Events Producer & Artist, Music Bridges, West Hills, CA
Cynthia Semon, Media Consultant & Promoter, Los Angeles, CA
Lian Calvo Serrano, Booking Agent, Tempest Entertainment, New York, NY
John Sinclair, Poet, Journalist & Broadcaster, Detroit, MI
Bill Smith, Booking Agent, Eye for Talent, San Francisco, CA
Felipe Smith, Professor, Department of English, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Isabel Soffer, World Music Institute, New York, NY
Vicki Sola, Writer/Broadcaster, Teaneck, NJ
Scott Southard, Director, International Music Network, Gloucester, MA
Patricia Spears Jones, Poet/playwright, Brooklyn, NY
Ned Sublette, Independent Scholar, New York, NY
Clyde Valentin, Executive Director, Hip-Hop Theater Festival, Brooklyn, NY
Manuel Valera, Musician, New York, NY
Jim Wadsworth, Music Promoter, Jim Wadsworth Productions Agency, Cleveland, OH
Jack Walsh, Executive Producer, Celebrate Brooklyn Performing Arts Festival, Brooklyn, NY
Bill Wolfer, Producer/Musician, Palm Springs, CA
Cindi Younker, Director of Programs, Buckman Arts Center, Memphis, TN
Isabel Yrigoyen, Presenter/Producer, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Mark Weinstein, Musician, Glen Ridge, NJ
Erica D. Zielinski, General Manager, Lincoln Center Festival, New York, NY

plus 359 additional signatories online as of January 27, 2009

What: Student 10 minute play festival

Where: Black Box Theatre, Pless Hall (82 Washington Square East)

When: Friday, March 27th at 8 pm
Saturday, March 28th at 2pm & 8 pm
Sunday, March 29th at 3 pm

Cost: FREE

Featuring…
The Great Harvest, by Dori Robinson – Directed by Mimi Liu
Awake, by John Socas – Directed by Stephen Black
One Tennis Shoe, by Shel Silverstein – Directed by Ashleigh Hill
Random, by Karl O’Brian Williams – Directed by Beth Slepian
And You for Me, by Annaleigh Kress – Directed by Annaleigh Kress and Alex Gordon
You Know, by Joe Salvatore – Directed by Guleraana Mir
An Original Physical Theatre Piece, Facilitated and Directed by Liz Wexler

From The New Victory Theatre:

We are opening our latest show, La Famiglia Dimitri on Friday. We’d like to invite the New York community–those who live here or those just visiting for the weekend– to join us for our 7pm performance. I’ve also set up a special 10% discount code that people can use to see the show here on Friday night.

The New Victory Theater is New York’s theater for kids and families, presenting a wide variety of professional productions from around the world. This season, we are presenting 15 incredible productions from masters of theater, circus, dance, music and puppetry–family theater your family never outgrows. The New Victory Theater is located in the heart of Times Square on 42nd Street.

La Famiglia Dimitri makes its US premiere at The New Victory this Friday. Working together, five members of the Dimitri family perform traditional circus stunts like unicycling, magic and more. Live music and playful drawings accompany over two dozen acts in this two hour show. Clown Dimitri, the head of the family and one of the world’s greatest clowns, uses funny facial expressions and exaggerated body language to keep the routines coming and the excitement building until the grand finale…a dramatic tightrope journey over the audience!

Ticket Prices:
Orchestra and Front Mezzanine: $35; with discount: $31.50
Rear Mezzanine: $25; with discount: $22.50
Balcony: $12.50; with discount: $11.25

https://secure.newvictory.org/newvictory/tickets/reserve.aspx?performanceNumber=943&emailsource=FD1113

From the Irish Theatre Institute regarding their plans for Friday, March 27, 2009:

To celebrate World Theatre Day, Irish Theatre Institute will host an informal coffee morning at its premises 17, Eustace Street, Temple Bar. Dublin 2.

http://www.irishtheatreinstitute.com/events.html

Carla Estefan, production manager of several theater companies from Sao Paulo, Brazil including Cia. Triptal, sends us this update on 3/26’s planned events in Augusto Boal’s home town:

O Movimento Redemoinho, que une grupos teatrais de 14 estados do país, tem participado do intenso debate que ocorre há anos sobre a reformulação das políticas públicas para a área cultural. Nesse período,na contramão de propostas de ação pública baseadas em renúncia fiscal, chegou a formular um projeto de fomento – o Prêmio Teatro Brasileiro – que prevê não apenas a manutenção de trabalhos continuados, mas a produção e a circulação de espetáculos, através de verbas do orçamento da União. Em paralelo, através de documentos públicos, discussões e artigos de jornal, reafirmamos nosso interesse em trabalhar a favor da construção de ações públicas que sejam capazes de desprivatizar e desmercantilizar os processos culturais que ocorrem no país hoje.
acesse:
1- http://www.grupos.com.br/group/redemoinho/Messages.html?action=message&id=1205095909532341&year=08&month=3&prev=1
2-http://www.cooperativadeteatro.com.br/newsDetails.do?id=732
3-http://teatrodegrupos.blogspot.com/

For your english edification, here’s a translation:

The vortex movement, which unites theater groups from 14 states of the country, has participated in the intense debate that occurs many years on the reform of public policies for the cultural area. During this period, the contramão proposals for public action based on tax waiver, has to formulate a project to promote – the Brazilian Theater Award – which provides not only the maintenance of continued work, but the production and circulation of spectacles, through funds from At the Union’s budget, through public documents, discussions and newspaper articles, we reaffirm our interest in working for the construction of public actions that are capable of deprivitasation and demercantilization cultural processes that occur in the country today.

Doug Howe of the Internationalists sends us this WTD happy hour event in NYC –

Come join The Internationalists for a Happy-Hour Celebration of World Theatre Day 2009. Augusto Boal’s Message will be read at 6:30pm and a video of Robert LePage’s message, recorded by friends of the company from around the world, will be broadcast. Drink specials last all evening and include $3 domestic bottles, $4 domestic drafts and $5 well drinks.

Friday, March 27, 2009
5:00pm – 8:00pm
The Irish Rogue (Upstairs)
356 West 44th Street (bet. 8th and 9th Aves.)
New York, NY

It’s Brisbane everyone and Queensland Theatre Company is welcoming in World Theatre Day as the clock ticks past midnight.

Around 11pm this evening, cast, crew and friends from the opening night after party of That Face will head to South Brisbane’s Sling Bar inBoundary Street, West End.

If you’re a theatre lover, join us!