Follow the Pioneers

If we are to construct for ourselves some type of clear, viable and performable method of approaching theatre in a global context, we finally have a touchstone in Sun and Fei’s essay. Here are at least theoretical tenets to gauge our efforts by. We can then decide to sharpen, alter, or flat out reject whatever specific acting and stages technique we might be attempting.
“[F]luidity in scenic structure, almost unlimited stage presentation of time and space,” a bare stage without suggestive scenery, set changes manifested by the actors’ bodies and dialogue, and striving to “concentrate on poetic and universal images” and other principles in the essay can serve as a blueprint for how we can proceed with this intercultural and transcultural theatre experiment.
Despite my optimism for and belief in the inevitability of this intercultural necessity, I am still tormented by the question of whether can we truly mix cultures in a theatrical setting without misunderstanding or mis-presenting a symbiotic meaning accidentally. We are all still operating from our own Western-oriented theatrical training. Even those of us with an understanding of Afrocentrism in theatre are still conditioned in such a way that, in order to attempt this endeavor, we need to reach beyond how we have been are being trained into what we know next to nothing about—physically or psychically.
I’m not at all convinced that any one of us can do this without direct personal communion with artists from the other culture(s) we are trying to merge. I refer you all to www.batdorf.org. Erica Batdorf is a Toronto theatre artist. Her recent project, “One Pure Longing: Tahirih’s Search” was composed with the guidance as director and through the collaborative input of the ensemble. The troupe was compromised of Christian, Muslim, atheist, Baha’i and First Nation (indigenous) people. It was a long process but when I spoke with her in December, Ms. Batdorf seemed to think it was well worth the struggles and trepidation of open, honest dialogue between artists.