WHAT IS THE WINTER/SUMMER INSTITUTE IN THEATRE FOR DEVELOPMENT?

The Winter/Summer Institute in Theatre for Development (WSI) is a multi-country, multi-university project that challenges participants to create collaborative, issue-based, aesthetically provocative theatre. The goal is to empower both student and community participants with the tools and resources necessary to create similarly inspired work in their own communities and lives. Launched this June (2006) in Lesotho, Africa, the Institute included students and faculty from the National University of Lesotho (host); the State University of New York, Empire State College, New York City; the University of Sunderland, United Kingdom; and the University of the Witswatersrand, Republic of South Africa (see individual participants).

Students and faculty from the four participating schools (31 total) came together in June and July in Roma, Lesotho to create a piece of theatre focused on the role of gossip and silence in the spread of HIV, a play which would ultimately be taken into the rural communities of the Malealea Valley for further collaboration with local villagers. The Theatre for Development (see TfD details) focus of this first Institute was a response to the community health situation inside our host country, Lesotho. Along with most of sub-Saharan Africa, Lesotho has a staggering HIV infection rate currently estimated at 37-50%, and disproportionately affecting young women between 18 and 24. As part of addressing the pandemic we wanted to look at how gossip and silence, in Lesotho and in each of the cultures we represented, could lead to disempowerment and danger in the face of the most significant challenges of modern life.

Pre-Institute readings of relevant material, like Catherine Campbell’s Letting Them Die and University of Pretoria’s Jonathan Stadler’s work on rumor, gossip and blame (see reading list), were enhanced and enlarged by a series of presentations by National University colleagues on topics ranging from language taboos to the role of customary practices in the spread of HIV/AIDS (See presentation list). This established a shared platform from which our multi-cultural company could build creative group work.

Using ideas and inspirations from the readings and presentations as a starting point, the faculty devised improvisational tasks for students/actors, and facilitated in varying degrees as the work progressed. Creative work was structured and guided by faculty, but the core of the work was actor-driven, actor-improvised and actor-imagined – drawn from a rich and complex cultural interaction of stories, dreams, myths, songs, dances and lived experience (see details of creative process). The resulting theatre piece, Dance Me to the End of Love (Ntjeke Ho isa Pheletsong ea Lerato in Sesotho), was a montage of scenes derived from the improvisational work that had been deepened and refined through the creative shaping and direction by the faculty (see scene list).

The play began with a procession of songs and movement. Music, played and sung by the actors, was woven throughout the montage (see music list). Using a mixture of primarily English and Sesotho (with bits of Zulu, Portuguese, Tswana, Spanish, Xhosa and Afrikaans), the cast played multiple roles. Four Gossips (2 male; 2 female) served as transitional commentators, scene announcers, and translators, and a silent Trickster assisted (or resisted) the Gossips, and helped define the flow of the play.

Dance Me to the End of Love was performed on the National University of Lesotho campus in Roma on July 3rd and at the Maseru Sun Hotel’s convention center in the nation’s capital on July 4th (see video). After each show, a post-play bilingual discussion with the audience was facilitated by WSI faculty member Selloane Mokuku of NUL. The company then traveled to the Malealea Valley in southern Lesotho to connect to the locally-driven community project there guided by Moso Ranoosi and Gillian Attwood, and based on Paolo Friere’s REFLECT Circles (see more on Malealea community work).

After being revised and rehearsed (to translate as much of the play into Sesotho as possible), Dance Me to the End of Love was performed for a Sesotho speaking audience of Malealea villagers on July 6th. The outdoor venue, chosen for WSI by REFLECT Circle members, was in front of the community health clinic where HIV tests are given.

The performance was the first step in community dialogue and collaboration with village residents. Post-performance there was a bilingual discussion with the audience, again facilitated by Ms. Mokuku; and then 30 participating villagers began work with Institute actors and faculty. After dividing into 3 groups, each with enough Sesotho/English speakers to translate, the next 5 days were spent in intense rehearsal sessions. During this time, facilitating and directing roles were largely passed from faculty to Institute actors (see details). Using a process similar to the one they had just experienced, Institute actors worked with village actors to improvise scenes based on villagers’ responses to the performance. The result was three new scenes reflective of village concerns.

These new scenes were interwoven with several scenes from the original show and a new musical finale was created. This new drama, now almost entirely in Sesotho, was the centerpiece of the 20th Anniversary Festival of the Malealea Lodge on July 11th. Forty mounted Basotho ponies led the procession of Insitute and village actors in song and dance from the Lodge to the Festival grounds, where over 500 village residents and the village chief watched the show (see video).

WHAT’S NEXT?
Post-WSI 2006 events are in the planning stages. Some are already happening! (see calendar).

PHOTOS

Along with the photos and video footage already highlighted, hundreds of photographs of WSI by professional photographer Rik Walton are available for viewing (see photos).

OUR FUNDERS

The Winter/Summer Institute was made possible through grants and donations from the following foundations and institutions: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), The Heidtke Foundation, The Margaret Reuss Trust, The Unger Foundation, the National University of Lesotho, the State University of New York Empire State College, the University of Sunderland and the University of the Witswatersrand.

And from the following individuals and companies: Azade Ardali, Claudia Auer, Ginger Bowan, Dorothy & Jack Brandt, Claire Brett, Eileen P. Campion, Larry & Christine Carsman, Tim Connor, Merry Conway, Bob Covington, Larae Essman, Jeannette Fitton, Glorious Food, Inc., Anna Gorgy, Dr. Jerome & Betty Gross, Neil Gross, Dr. Jeannine Haas, Annette Lang, Be LaRoe, Dr. Lilla Lyon, Dr. Laurie Malkoff, Richard & Sally Mann, Michael Minogue, Gregor Paslawsky, Jenny Radel, Donald Shetler, Barbara R. Staton, Elizabeth Stein, Alice L. Sullivan, Michael R. Taitt, Lewis Warsh.

Please Contribute to the Ongoing Work of the Winter/Summer Institute!
(contribute!)