To bring about a better world–first, imagine!

ImaginAction believes that creativity is everyone’s birthright and that tapping into the wisdom we all carry can lead us to transformative action. Actors, directors, musicians, writers, puppeteers, clowns, storytellers and more–the associated artists of ImaginAction come from diverse cultures, speak many languages, and specialize in a wide range of skills. What we share is experience in joyful teaching and a deep personal commitment to using our talents for community healing and social justice.

ImaginAction is an improvisational laboratory in which we explore life’s challenges. In traditional societies, ritual weaves the wounded individual back into the group. In ImaginAction workshops, we use theatre to create rituals that allow individuals to recreate themselves while bringing healing to the community. Our work has been influenced by Theatre of the Oppressed, psychodrama, traditional storytelling, mask-making, drumming, improvisational drama and creative ritual.

In Southern California, we partner with community-based organizations for ongoing projects focused on youth and families impacted by the in/justice system. (For more info, please click here.)

ImaginAction has taken its unique blend of theater arts all over the United States and Canada and around the world, including Afghanistan, Colombia, India, and Palestine. January-February 2011 found us in Northern Ireland.

For more about our creative director’s life experiences and the philosophies that guide us, The Blessing Next to the Wound: A Story of Art, Activism, and Transformation, is now available in either paperback or e-book edition. The book is co-authored by Hector Aristizabal and Diane Lefer and published by Lantern Books. (We were moved to hear from a reader in Illinois:  “The book is helping me to heal old wounds of my own, wounds I thought were healed. It’s an important, beautiful book….We need Hector’s approach in every high school in the country.”)

ImaginAction artists are ready to come to your community organization, educational facility, place of worship or workplace to facilitate transformative, innovative workshops to help us bring about a better world-Imagine!