This past Sept. 19-24, for the first time, China played host to the International Theatre Institute World Congress, and TCG led a delegation of 13 U.S. theatre professionals at the event. ITI is the world’s largest arts organization, co-founded by UNESCO in 1948 against the backdrop of the World Wars. ITI-China organized this 33rd international meeting in Xiamen (population 3.53 million), a major city on the southeast coast of the People’s Republic, 90 minutes south of Shanghai. It was highlighted by a series of performances, workshops and lectures showcasing the art of Chinese opera.
“The performance at the opening night celebration was a medley of different Chinese operas—for me it was the perfect introduction to a genre I knew very little about,” reports New York City-based producer and dramaturg Linda Bartholomai, a member of the U.S. delegation. “Apparently every region or province in China has evolved its own distinctive style of opera, so there are many more than just the famous Peking Opera. We got to see 10 different excerpts, some comic and some tragic, some acrobatic and some almost entirely static. All of it was eerily compelling.”
The official business of the congress was conducted in a large conference hall with semicircular seating divided by country, complete with headphones providing simultaneous translation—much like a miniature version of the United Nations. Starting with the fact that English and French were the official languages, one could not help noticing the Eurocentrism of the event, though diversity was everywhere. “When the U.S. delegation was asked to stand, I felt extraordinarily proud to be a part of a group that included women and men, gays and straights, and those with Asian, Jewish, African and Hispanic heritage,” declared Chicago-based director Julieanne Ehre. “I’m certain that most everyone in the room took in the range of backgrounds of our delegation, and it was a powerful moment. When we, as Americans, place value on equality, diversity and the rights of all citizens, we have the power to inspire those around the globe.”
Reports were given, motions made, elections held and votes cast. There were definite sources of tension: for instance, whether ITI should have the right to terminate the membership of “sleeping” centers, which are not active and which have not paid their dues (which are assigned on a sliding scale) for years. Watching some portions of the proceedings, one would barely have been able to tell that this was a group of artists rather than a gathering of politicians and bureaucrats—which was a reminder that we can never escape politics, and that while we may believe democracy to be one of the better systems of government ever developed, it really only works when enough people practice it with integrity and compassion. In this respect, this group of artists didn’t do too badly—by the congress’s final day, most of the rifts seemed healed, or at least suspended until the next gathering.
Various educational and artistic workshops gave delegates welcome insight into the work of theatre artists from around the world. Among the most compelling demonstrations were examples of “Theatre in Conflict Zones.” The charismatic Ali Mahdi impressed many with his work in Darfur, Sudan, involving the recruitment of members of warring tribes to perform in plays together. ITI-Germany organizes workshops with Palestinian and Israeli actors, and ITI-Italy explores making theatre with war victims.
“I didn’t expect to be so deeply moved by the artists I met,” confessed Rick Dildine, executive director of Shakespeare Festival St. Louis. “I can’t stop thinking about the African artists who are working every day to make change for the better—the playwrights across the continent who are so passionate about their home and the stories there. I believe theatre can contribute to world peace—especially when we are working as ensembles and always, always listening to each other.”
Of special note was an informed conversation about the protection of artists in response to the recent rise in violations of human rights and artistic expression. An action committee for artists’ rights was created to monitor these situations (see “On Global Citizenship.”)
At a symposium titled “Empowering the Performing Arts: How can it contribute to a culturally diverse future?”, Jorge Z. Ortoll, executive director of Ma-Yi Theatre Company of New York City, talked about how Asian-American theatre fits into the larger topic of “Theatre of Migration.” Zeca Ligiéro of Brazil’s Center for Afro-Amerindian Performance Studies offered a paper contending that local theatre has a vital role to play in resisting the power of global culture, emblematized, in his view, by Hollywood. Kevin Bitterman of Theatre Communications Group co-facilitated a session of “Global Speed Dating,” which introduced a host of projects from around the world, each one strictly limited to a few minutes.
Perhaps the funniest presentation was a proposal by David Yee of fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company from Toronto, Canada. His idea for a “Sex Tape Project” involves audience members wearing headphones while spying on a mixed-race couple, visible through the windows of a distant building. The trick is that there would be different versions of the story playing on various headphones, so audience members would hear different dialogue and thus come to different conclusions about the identical physical track being played out by the actors.
Jeffrey Sichel, a permanent delegate and member of the executive advisory board to the UNESCO chair, helped organize “The Confucius Project.” “This involved three educational institutions from Bulgaria, China and the U.S., presenting a four-part play about Confucius’s disciples in Beijing Opera style, as understood and interpreted by the representative nations,” Sichel explained. The Bulgarian and U.S. segments of the performance were shockingly different, as one might expect, but each was a legitimate outgrowth of international exchange, collaboration and training, resulting in a fascinating hybrid form.
“China for me was life-altering,” testified Los Angeles-based actor, playwright and Fox Foundation fellow J. Nicole Brooks. She joined artists from 13 different nations to devise a multidisciplinary work combining contemporary and traditional theatre, movement and music, as well as new media. “The experiences I had with my fellow artists in the New Project Group have raised my awareness of conflicts, civil unrest—even just other ways of working.”
While there seemed to be general agreement that theatre has the potential to contribute to world peace (which is one of ITI’s stated goals), the consensus was less clear when that question was asked about theatre as practiced in the U.S. Derek Goldman—who, as artistic director of the Davis Performing Arts Center at D.C.’s Georgetown University, is working to develop an Institute for Global Performance—had this to say on the subject: “The power of being in relatively intimate spaces with people from all over the world with whom your bond is a shared commitment to theatre cannot be overstated. ITI is a unique forum—it feels like a true United Nations of theatre. It is so refreshing not to feel people checking out each other’s name tags to see if someone is important enough to be worth talking to—rather, meeting people in this context is an adventure in which everyone is on equal footing. What is clear is that each has made a commitment to be being there, each cares about theatre and international exchange, and there is the power of sharing deeply and openly with those whose worlds—culturally, politically, economically, aesthetically—are so different.”
On the last day, TCG executive director Teresa Eyring informed the full assembly that Martha Coigney had received a visionary leadership award from TCG that year for her work advancing the theatre field through ITI. Coigney was director of the ITI-U.S. for 37 years, and also served as ITI’s worldwide president for eight years.
Goldman concludes that the attendance of the U.S. delegation matters powerfully “in terms of how the world sees us. These U.S. delegates/ambassadors subvert the image of the presumptuous, entitled, self-satisfied, isolationist American. It can be humbling to recognize how little the world knows of our practice, and how little we know of theirs. I felt so palpably the power of the contact zone, the newness of relationships that can and will be lasting and will lead to collaborations, partnerships, new cultural understandings—the sense that something important is beginning.”
The next ITI World Congress is scheduled for Havana, Cuba, in 2013.
Jeff Liu is a freelance director and the literary manager for East West Players in Los Angeles.
