"The theatre moves, illuminates, disquiets, disturbs, lifts the spirit, reveals, provokes and violates conventions. It is a conversation shared with society. Theatre is the first art to confront emptiness, shadows and silence to make words, movement, lights and life surge forth."

(World Theatre Day International Message 2006 Víctor Hugo Rascón-Banda Playwright)

- See: Theater

:: note :: ... each year the rhetoric seems more & more forced ...

- See: Image

:: note :: ... at the Kenderdine Gallery (U of S) ... filling&floating all things blown ... a slow release emptying&bursting into nothingness ... rise&fall from form into formless invisibility ... shapeless shapes ... wonderful paradox ...

Saskatchewan Uncommon Views Photographer John Conway

- See: Artists

:: note :: ... seeing place with freshness and clarity ...

"Stage director whose passion launched a worldwide movement for educational theatre in schools" ...
(Guardian Unlimited. Brian Way)

- See: Memorium

:: note :: ... the grandfather of drama as education ... had the pleasure of working with Brian ever so briefly during his stay in Regina, SK Canada ... a wise elder, at the time, youthful in presence & energy ... an infectious passion ... share his writings with my students of today ... thank you for your gifts & peace be with you ...

"For Love makes his assaults so suddenly
Most vital spirits desert and, as they do
Only one spirit remains alive in me,
One spirit left because it speaks of you."
(Dante Alighieri. New Life. translation J.G. Nichols)

- See: Quotes

:: note :: ... oh the divine comedy ...

My EFL students are repeat victims of institutional violence. When given the opportunity to take control of their learning, they get nervous, confused, and irritable; and like sailors on a sinking ship, they look desperately for rescue . . .
(APCAMPBELL | Violence in the Classroom)

- See: Education

:: note :: ... loaded words ... this post has been bookmarked for months waiting for release ... deleting a bookmark might free a certain emotional frustration ... doubt it though ... thoughtful & deliberate consideration may follow emotional pollution ... communication may follow provocation ... hope follows cynicism ... to truly liberate a bookmark, an emotion, a concept, a ... vigil ... attention ...

. . . the basic components of Freire's literacy method:

- participant observation of educators "tuning in" to the vocabular universe of the people;

- their arduous search for generative words at two levels: syllable richness and a high charge of experiential involvement;

- a first codification of these words into visual images which stimulate people "submerged" in the culture of silence to "emerge' as conscious makers of their own "culture";

- the decodification by a "culture circle" under the self-effacing stimulus of a coordinator who is no "teacher" in the conventional sense, but who has become an educator-educatee - in dialogue with educatee-educators too often treated by formal educators as passive recipients of knowledge;

-a creative new codification, this one explicitly critical and aimed at action, wherein those who were formerly illiterate now egin to freject their role as mere "objects" in nature and social history and undertake to become "subjects" of their own destiny;

(Paulo Freire. Education for Critical Consciousness. Introducation by Denis Goulet. viii)- See: Education

:: note :: ... was lead to this ... the role of positionality and how it impacts the adult learner ...

oh this wandering this gathering of tools to prepare oneself & recognize

to leave what is known and walk vulnerable into the void climbing, listening, observing, being still

humbly

- See: Writing

. . . the power of youth in performance . . . a vitality to enter with a fullness & abandon . . . paradise regained . . . a carefully studied & deeply trained actor working his craft on the words of Shakespeare . . . a rough uncut diamond testing her limits moving beyond imitation through interpretation . . . dancers enraptured with the tradition of pure exuberent movement by sharing self . . . share lent - share the arts . . . the experience of participation . . . education as the practice of freedom . . . knowing oneself & the dialogue . . . to all the students a huge hug and to the educators who create this critical consciousness an even greater heartfelt thanks . . .

- See: Education

- See: Politics

. . . the open lesson . . . acting students open their 'work' to an interested public . . . the question "what is the lesson?" hung in the air as the students bravely, though for the most part, presented ill-prepared material around the theme Hospitals . . . what is the actor's research? . . . the actor's processes? . . . what is theater? . . . questions which circulated as the action began . . . two hours later very little remained but shallow wallowing in pools of dissipated energy . . .

. . . most of the material hinted at the compellingly humane which unfortunately resolved into the hopelessly mundane . . . there was movement but no developed study of the movement . . . no attempt to test limits or boundaries of space & time whether physical, imaginary or theatrically . . .

. . . the students exercised a presentational stance - posturing and playing for an audience who might catch much of their 'in-joke' humour and pathos . . . the overlong improvisation could be excused if at the core was an act of self-penetration . . . too often the humour was cheap, gag-like and self serving . . . at the expense of rather than serving the material . . . lines were lost and sloppily delivered . . . bold actions dissolved . . . the collective voices were weak and unsupported . . .

. . . occasionally a deep and rich moment would surface in both the traditional and more experimental . . . two moving monologues from classic world theatre touched the power of the word incarnate . . . a powerful étude between a man and a woman mesmerized with a precise and engaging, meditative, ritualized rhythm of understated life-or-death urgency in a landscape that was beautiful but chill and depersonalized - the actors had skin, bone and a sinew of their own, a subtle spin . . .

. . . the lesson learnt seemed that without careful, sustained, and vigilant work students will lapse into bad habitual practices, will lose the point of concentration, may miss the focus on the eternal act of creation, betray their craft and stray from the way of the actor

. . . the lesson learnt was that the educated imagination demands a rigorous self-sacrifice and deep study . . . again & again . .

- See: Theater Work

:: note :: ... a repost from 16/12/02 ... very first blog experiment writings in http://schoolblogs.com are now lost ... never did a backup but Wayward Machine does archive some of the past ...

snowflower solitude
in a heartbreakbeat
love at last sight

- See: Poetry

:: note :: ... the question does time heal ...

Short Talk On His Draughtmanship

He would encourage me to move about the studio. Would not give me a pose. Drew without looking at the paper. Drew on the floor. Follow the lines, he would say, watch the surroundings. A thin arm makes a face sadder. Describing shadows he grew small, rascally.

(Anne Carson. Short Talks. Short Talk On His Draughtmanship. 18)

- See: Artists

Short Talk on His Theatricality

Strong, bold movements in space create the will. Quality would instill desire. Just do, the silent voice encouraged. Follow the impulses, the associations and always look outside yourself. A slow breath creates tension. Sinking back into the wall he dissolved into a laugh.

(Raymon Montalbetti. Short Talks. Short Talk Theatricality.)

:: note :: ... for Zygmunt ...

Short Talk on Gertrude Stein about 9.30

How curious. I had no idea! Today has ended.

(Anne Carson. Short Talks. Short Talk on Gertrude Stein. 17)

- See: Artists

Short Talk on Jerzy Grotowski about 1.30

Revelation. See it! Everyday is a holiday.

(Raymon Montalbetti. Short Talks. Short Talk on Jerzy Grotowski.)

:: note :: ... why 1.30? ... my knowledge on the work of theater master Jerzy Grotowski, after a lifetime of study, is only in the early afternoon ...

Short Talk on Geisha

The question of geisha and sex has always been complex. Some do, some don't. In fact, as you know, the first geisha were men (jesters and drummers). There risky patter made the guests laugh. But by 1780 'geisha' meant woman and the glamorous business of the tea houses had been brought under government contol. Some geisha were artists and called themselves 'white'. Others with nicknames like 'cat' or 'tumbler' set up shacks every night on the wide riverbed, to vanish by dawn. The important thing was, someone to yearn for. Whether the quilt was long, or the night was too long, or you were given this place to sleep or that place to sleep, someone to wait for until she is coming along and the grass is stirring, a tomato in her palm.

(Anne Carson. Short Talks. Short Talk on Geisha. 16)

- See: Artists

Short Talk on Transvestite

The question of transvestite and gender has always been complex. Who does and doesn't. Even though it is believed the term was coined around 1915 in Berlin before any hint of the third gender or the queer community Shakespeare, as you know, bent gender to play with the battle of the sexes. In the streets of Rome, dressed as a woman, I played out the battle of the passive or the active. The response to oppression was either terrorism (The Red Brigade) or heroin ( the junkie). Both set up secret enclaves vanishing in acts of self destruction. The important thing was to burn feverishly for a night. Whether remembered or forgotten life was too long and there was no chance to make it right or to seek salvation or to care for the other the eternal sleep relieved, a stone in her heart.

(Raymon Montalbetti. Short Talks. Short Talk on Transvestite.)

:: note :: ... the title of street theatre piece referenced was Red Trees ... for Ily ...