The Possibilities of Intercultural Theatre

In an age of rapid technological advancement and personal disconnectedness, a captivating form of physical, interactive performance has startled the global audience. Performance ethnography's unique ability to engage allows for greater participation, learning, and dialogue between cultures. How can performance ethnographers go about their craft in a manner that promotes participation and instruction from the culture being emulated? This is most powerfully seen in Joni Jones' installation Searching for Osun, in which the roles of Yoruba women were portrayed by performers acting out the different tasks and activities of daily Yoruba life. Both wonderful opportunity and great risk are present as ethnographic performance moves forward, for just as it looks to connect cultures, an attempt to imitate can often bring about an interpretation of disrespect. In Performance Ethnography: The Role of Embodiment in Cultural Authenticity, Jones acknowledges that "the power inequities between ethnographer and the community being shared can compromise the integrity of the work," but she indicates through the words of Dwight Conquergood that "the work can move toward commitment rather than detachment, respect rather than selfishness, dialogue rather than exhibitionism, mutuality rather than infatuation." If theatre is to become a tool for globalization, or a means by which cultures can interact and communicate more peacefully and effectively, the form of performance ethnography is laying a foundation rich in active participation and learning that will could one day be part of a greater worldwide understanding -- we're ultimately headed for a single culture, comprised of an amalgamated identity created through centuries of interaction and conflict. Embracing a changing identity does not erase the sense of self.