About a Playback Group

“Bringing” theatre to people usually means performing for people.  But we felt that the performance was only half of the theatrical experience, so we started an “Open Practice” to let audience member go through what we do.

Back in the early 00’s, a couple of friends and I were invited to start a Playback Theatre group in a youth organization in Toronto.  What is Playback Theatre ?  It was a great opportunity for us to really dig-in to the art form and build a team of people.

Established for around 40 years, Playback Theatre has expanded rapidly especially in the past decade, where it is widely used as a platform for community building, social awareness and personal growth.  Playback Theatre is such a form that values and balances input.  Each Playback group has their own goal and character, guided and negotiated among its founders and acting members (literally the actors).

As we were amateurs ourselves, we took sometime ourselves to experience what Playback was about.  From within our community, we invited a stable group of youths who would form the majority for over the next 3 to 4 years during my time there.  We usually practiced 3 times a month, and performed 6 to 8 times a year for a small audience.

Only 1 year into our founding, we accepted a difficult task: to prepare a programme for a youth creativity camp that would let participants experience how Playback Theatre could help them grow as individuals.  As part of a youth organization, we valued youth participation and were determined to plan and execute the programme together.  

Having all gone through about a year for Playback training that brought about much self-exploration, we were unanimous in that the programme would focus on the training experience rather than to provide a performance.  But it was not easy to decide which game and exercise to include from the dozens that we have used over the year.

After some unconstructive discussion on activity suggestions, we had no choice but to go back to the very basic and asked ourselves: In what ways have our training affected us?  What did our style of Playback emphasize?  How has our favourite games/exercises shaped and affected us as a person, an actor and a group?  Even though our eyelids were the weight of lead, our ideas finally took shape and slowly turned into a practical flow of activities that would become our programme for the youth creativity camp.

This camp eventually inspired us to insert an education component into seasonal performances called the “Open Practice”, where a small number of audience members can join a day of Playback practise, and then stay for the evening performance.

The process before every theatre performance is long and arduous.  The concept of “Open Practice” idea is similar to a backstage pre-performance tour for the audience to see the its hidden effort.  The nature of Playback Theatre allows for a very in-depth backstage experience where the audience can experience the physical and mental preparation of an actor, and the satisfaction of the process.

2012 Feb India Trip 2

Transformation is a very exciting thought, and is probably a common way to describe what an Artist wants to do in a community.  I wouldn’t say we transformed much in those 3 days, but we definitely started some stories.

This community was relocated from a downtown slum.  The slum was convenient, crowded, lively, full of character, familiar and unhygienic.  This new housing collective is remote, clean, removed and impersonal.

Looking at photographs of bare walls and hallways, I immediately thought of transforming the housing block with mural painting.  But to facilitate a community mural painting project not only requires time and resource, but most importantly sufficient planning and negotiation.  So it was eventually limited to the wall of 1 classroom.

During our 3 days there, there were other visiting groups who photographed and handed out candies, and they attracted much attention from the residents.  Not to debate others’ actions, we took advantage of this outsider status to achieve our goals.

Day 1

Day 1 was our training for kindergarten teachers and Helpers.  Looking at the poorly lit and ventilated kindergarten room, I quickly asked if we could hold the training in the hallway; not a lot of trouble for the organizer, but just out of the ordinary and warnings of probable interruptions from passers-by.  And sure enough, before the morning was over, the number of children surrounding us was so plentiful that we decided to hold an “on-the-job” training for the afternoon.

In the afternoon, unsatisfied with drawing on large pieces of paper, we requested to draw with chalk on the large outdoor walls.  After some string-pulling, it was again granted, and from that point on, the children programme became mostly outdoor, and our songs, games and parades began to focus the usually uncoordinated daily lives of the community.  The potential of this open area as a gathering point also became apparent.

Day 2

The children enjoyed Day 2 much like the first, but an opportunity aroused on Day 2 that involved the their mothers and sisters as well.  During their lunch break between morning and after embroidery activities, most ladies set on stairways and aisles as usual, idling, chatting and watching their children play.  Having seen the children danced and paraded in the open area, Evelyna (team leader) took this chance to get the ladies to dance there as well.  Drumming introduction began, followed by Evelyna’s dance, then her invitation for us and some young local Helpers to join, while she slowly used her dance to pose friendly challenges and taunts to surrounding ladies, who by this time were inching closer to the circle.

Thinking back, I remember amusement in the locals’ eyes, that our dance and music was un-traditional and strange; but there was also a hint of aspiration to be able to let go and have unburden fun.  Finally, senior looking lady responded to Evelyna’s challenge, and as if that was a cue of trust, other married ladies soon joined.  Apparently social codes regarding dancing and photography by unmarried women in the presence of male are still common in many Indian communities; nevertheless, it was great to see the mothers having a good time dancing together.

Reflection and Analysis

The remoteness of this new housing block has posed new challenges and opportunities for this community.  Working men (some women) and children have to walk nearly 30 minutes of dirt road before they can navigate the local transit system to work and school, which is congested throughout the day.  Home-bounded women and children are stranded with no nearby market, relatives or park.  After and before their daily house chore and meals, there is very little to do at home but to see if the next incoming truck might bring food, water or sight-seeing visitors.

Organizing the children’s free time into learning and group activities to nurture friendship, joy and a healthy upbringing was our local partner’s first step.  While embroidery group would be a nature attraction for the ladies, which builds support networks with the possible outcome of long-term income generation.  However, it was equally important to provide dancing activities that exercise the women’s body in energetic gracefulness, in an activity that is not calculated to be productive, but strictly for fun.

Physical presence and use are ways of defining physical ownership.    The kindergarten in operation already uses this open area for daily anthems and school events, and the children also claim the open area as their playground.  The ladies, in charge of household during most of day light hours, should extend this ownership onto the entire housing block as their community, the open space is not just as a driveway or their children’s playground, but also their open area.  

This was a recently relocated community struggling to survive in a new environment.  For those 3 days, we as visiting artists facilitated programmes that welcomed participation, and showed the people that they are the owner this new housing block.  Perhaps such communal ownership would never enter into any written contract, but it has actualized the moment that senior lady took the lead into the dance circle.

2012 Feb India Trip 1

In preparation for any community art workshops, training for a helper is not just providing the skill to help or lead the activity, it is for the helper to experience the process themselves.  Otherwise the helper’s own emotion may surface during the workshop and hamper their ability to help.

During our trip to India in the spring of 2012, we held a drawing programme for the children on the second of three days.  After being swamped by dozens of children that appeared out of hallways and buildings on the day 1, we redesigned day 2’s programme to handle more children.

The Artwork

So, our plan was to work on 2 participatory piece: A) A Mural and B) A collection of postcard size sketches/drawings by children of all ages and skills, tiled together to form a Mini-Picture Mosaic, under the theme “My Home”

The Plan

We had 2 artists in Room A in charge of the Mural, while 1 artist (me) and 3 helpers will look after Room B.  All children will first enter Room B to draw a postcard size drawing to help form the Mini-Picture Mosaic, while Helpers and Artists will pick out children who really enjoy drawing to paint the Mural in Room A.  Those who “graduated to Room A were mostly primary 3 and above, while those age 2-6 generally stayed in Room B to draw or went off playing other games. 

So how did it work out?

Room B was the entry point for all children.  Turn-out was slow during the first half hour, so I told the helpers to draw a couple of mini-painting themselves to get things started.  Then, perhaps rested from their afternoon nap, children began to pour in at a steady rate.  After 10 to 15 minutes, I began to see some younger children sitting with bored and confused faces, not knowing what else to draw after some simple stick trees or people.  So, I reminded and demonstrated to my helpers of various ways of encouraging children to fill in more details or colours or even go off into other topics, as long as the children can have fun drawing.  Assured by the helpers’ enthusiasm, I returned to my task of shaping the Mini-Painting Mosaic with finished drawings.

After around 10 minutes, I went back into Room B to encounter again the lost little eyes and faces waiting for something to do, while some helpers were nowhere in sight.  I found Helper X sitting at the art supply table, drawing her fourth or fifth mini-drawing in ever greater detail.  Then, I found Helper Y at the Mini-Painting Mosaic, asking his friend, a Helper whom he dragged over from Room A, “Guess which ones I drew?”

Reflection and Analysis

As you can see from the photographs [which I might post someday], the Mural worked out very nicely, while the Mini-Picture Mosaic sufficiently served its service in getting children to draw whatever they want, and gathering these small drawings together to form something substantial.  The Helpers took some reminding, but overall they were helpful in caring for the children.  However, their attitude deserves more consideration.

Both Helper X and Y have been very helpful on Day 1 and Day 2 morning, and were experienced in leading children rhymes and games.   But looking back, the nature of their activities was fundamentally different.  For example, children rhymes are carried out in a call and response method, where the children repeated in English funny rhymes reciting by Helper Y.  The Helpers also led a drawing activity and origami activity where the instruction was to “mimic” what the teacher created.

Therefore, my instruction to let the children draw whatever they want, and that the Mini-Painting Mosaic is inclusive of all skill level, was liberating to both the children and the Helpers.  Thus, I found Helper X, the aspiring kindergarten teacher, drawing painting after painting in her own corner; and Helper Y, half-forgotten his role, showing off his drawing to a friend with enthusiastic light shining from his eyes. 

To use some descriptions from studies of art and human, the Helpers lost themselves in the experience of exercising a rarely used faculty and a rare sense of freedom.  I am very glad for these two Helpers.  If time allowed, a training session should have been arranged so that they could have had the experienced prior to the activity, and not when we needed them most.

Introduction

This is a place to start writing again. A practical motivation is that I am preparing myself to apply to a Ph.D. The more important thing is that I have enjoyed writing, and therefore I should write more despite a busy schedule. One more thing, in order to make writing easier, I am going to stick with English, and not attempt to express myself writing Chinese.