Acting Together on the World Stage
Acting Together on the World Stage tells the story of artists, cultural workers and peacebuilders in conflict regions, who use theatre and ritual practices to support communities to address injustices and to appreciate the humanity of former adversaries, mourn losses, and imagine a new future.
Description
Acting Together on the World Stage, Performance and the Creative Transformation of Conflict, anthology edited by Cynthia Cohen, Polly Walker, and Roberto Gutierrez Varea
Documentary by Cynthia Cohen and Allison Lund
"If you get people thinking and talking about real stories, suspending argument for a time, and building relationships through sharing narratives, from there I believe you can expand the process to the exploration of real issues and alternatives."
-John O'Neal, Founder, Free Southern Theatre Institute
In the United States and around the world, in regions characterized by inequity and violence, theatre artists and cultural workers are contributing to more just and less violent communities. Through creative processes, they are supporting communities to address injustices and to appreciate the humanity of former adversaries, mourn losses, and imagine a new future.
Acting Together on the World Stage: Performance and the Creative Transformation of Conflict is an examination and celebration of these peacebuilding performances through an anthology, a documentary, and a website. It features the work of 25 theatre artists, cultural workers, and peacebuilding scholars and practitioners working in fifteen conflict regions, who share a commitment to artistic excellence and social change. Their collaboration has yielded rich case studies, theoretical frameworks, and recommendations to policymakers that will legitimate and strengthen this important emerging field of peacebuilding performance.
The upcoming anthology presents case studies that place peacebuilding performances in their historical, social, and political contexts. It shows the creative process leading to finished productions, and assesses impacts and contributions to establishing sustainable peace.
The feature-length documentary, a companion to the publication, shows dynamic footage of rehearsals, performances, and interviews with artists and peacebuilders. It will be accompanied by a toolkit that explores more deeply the issues uncovered through the inquiry, such as ethical questions, the compatibility of aesthetic and political aims, upholding the principle of “do no harm,” and the challenges of evaluation. Preview the documentary.
The website supports the emerging community of inquiry by showcasing summaries of the case studies with related multi-media materials, and by providing a forum for dialogue and development. View the website.
The anthology, documentary, and website will be valuable resources for artists, cultural workers and peacebuilders working in conflict regions, as well as for scholars and students of performance studies, conflict transformation, and related fields.
Publishing Organization: Brandeis University
Language: | English |
Countries & Regions: | Australia |Israel |Netherlands |Palestine |Serbia |Sri Lanka |
Type: | Documentaries | Interactive Websites | Theater | Other |
Subject: | Arts | Children/Youth | Conflict Prevention | Ethnic and Religious Conflict | Gender | Genocide | Human Rights | Mediation, Negotiation and Diplomacy | Peacebuilding | Peacekeeping | Post Conflict Activities | Refugees/IDPs | Terrorism and Political Violence | Trauma Healing | Truth and Reconciliation |
