May 17, 2012 6:00 pmtoMay 20, 2012 12:00 pmMay 17, 2012 6:00 pmtoMay 20, 2012 12:00 pmMay 17, 2012 6:00 pmtoMay 20, 2012 12:00 pmMay 17, 2012 6:00 pmtoMay 20, 2012 12:00 pm
A Workshop facilitated by Hector Aristizábal
All Events
Internship and TO Festival in China June 4th to June 16′ 2012
June 4, 2012toJune 16, 2012
社区戏剧环保教育项目协调者
甘肃绿驼铃环境发展中心的合作伙伴
Environmental Community-Based Theatre Program Coordinator
Green Camel Bell Cooperating Partner
2011-2012 Compton Mentor Fellowship
电话： 18293127464
甘肃绿驼铃环境发展中心的合作伙伴
Environmental Community-Based Theatre Program Coordinator
Green Camel Bell Cooperating Partner
2011-2012 Compton Mentor Fellowship
电话： 18293127464
For the last few years ImaginAction has been developing an internship/mentoring program for people interested in the practice of Augusto Boal-inspired techniques and community-based theater. We have offered this mentoring opportunity in Northern Ireland, Colombia, The Basque Country, among other places. We are processing applications for practitioners interested in coming with us to China and be part of the Lanzhou International Community-Based Theatre Environmental Education Festival.
This festival is being organized by Allegra Fonda-Bonardi who has been introducing community-based theatre techniques to main land China for the last 6 months and whom participated in ImaginAction’s internships in the past. Look at the description below and contact us for more information.
Lanzhou International Community-Based Theatre Environmental Education Festival
（兰州国际社区戏剧环保教育节日）
Time: June 4th–June 16th, 2012
Location: Lanzhou, China
Internship Description:
To be part of a cultural exchange festival between Chinese community-based theatre
practitioners and foreign community-based theater practitioners
focused on environmental education themes.
Festival structure:
Week 1: Masterclasses for local practitioners and guests by Imaginaction International
and Hong Kong-based Center for Community Cultural Development, one of the oldest
community-based theatre groups in Asia, specializing in Playforward theatre (an expansion
on the principles of Playback theatre); creation of an original work in one week.
June 10th-11th: Performances by guest artists groups and local community-based theatre groups (both
pre-arranged works and the piece created in the Masterclasses during Week 1)
Week 2: Local artists + guest artists team up to give workshops in three selected communities
in and around Lanzhou: HuiNing Village Ecological Cooperative; the Lanzhou 4th Minority Secondary School
high school students and educational community; the Lanzhou City Environmental Education Department
(communities subject to change)
冯乐然
Allegra Fonda-Bonardi
Immaginare e trasformare la realtà/Imagining and transforming reality. Milano-Italy, July 11-15
July 11, 2012 4:00 amtoJuly 15, 2012 4:00 amJuly 11, 2012 4:00 amtoJuly 15, 2012 4:00 amJuly 11, 2012 4:00 amtoJuly 15, 2012 4:00 amJuly 11, 2012 4:00 amtoJuly 15, 2012 4:00 am
The workshop led by Hector Aristizabal will be an introduction to the various possibilities of applying the different methods of Theatre of the Oppressed in order to stimulate and awaken our imagination and to create concrete opportunities of transformation regarding the reality that surrounds us.
The workshop is open to everyone - people with or without experience in the field of theatre, active TO-practitioners, educators, teachers, social workers, curious people interested in the approaches of participative theater, arts activists, etc. .
In addition, Hector Aristizabal will bring his performance Nightwind.
The program begins with a 30-minute performance based on Hector Aristizábal’s true story of being arrested and tortured by the US-supported military in Colombia. After his release, he witnessed the killings of many of his friends. In exile in the United States, his taxes fund the war in Iraq including torture at Abu Ghraib and the continued bloodshed in his country. In 1999, when Aristizábal’s brother was abducted and killed by the paramilitary, his own rage and desire for violent revenge was awakened–what he calls “the terrorist within.” Inspired by his own young children, he finds ways to re-channel this terroristic energy into constructive action. Aristizábal’s movement-based performance becomes a springboard for audience members to explore issues of importance in their own lives. The direction of the workshop will change depending on audience member’s interests and desires. Immediately after the performance Hector invites the audience into a brief dynamic meditation as a way to provide catharsis to the different emotions awakened by the theater piece. Afterwards using the techniques of Theatre of the Oppressed (please see description below), Hector invites participants to express their reactions to the images of torture by creating their own images in response. The content of the performance and the scenarios often lead to explorations of other cycles of violence – family violence, gang violence – and the exploration of ideas on how to break them.
The exact program of evening activities will be published shortly.
Location: ARCI La Scighera, via Candiani 133, Milan (Italy), www.lascighera.org
Dates: 11-15 July 2012
Working time: 5 days, total amount of 25hours, exact times still to be decided
Fee: 250€ + ARCI membership card (around 10/12€), possible to request reduction
Information and booking: reservations will be opened soon. To make a pre-reservation, don’t hesitate to write us under this link.
More info:
http://labarbabietolarossa.jimdo.com/workshops-e-formazioni/hector-aristizabal/
Support the Freedom Bus project in occupied Palestine!
April 1, 2012 10:00 amtoAugust 1, 2012 10:00 amApril 1, 2012 10:00 amtoAugust 1, 2012 10:00 amApril 1, 2012 10:00 amtoAugust 1, 2012 10:00 amApril 1, 2012 10:00 amtoAugust 1, 2012 10:00 amApril 1, 2012 10:00 amtoAugust 1, 2012 10:00 am
Oye, amigos!
ImaginAction is pleased to announce it’s endorsement of The Freedom Bus, an upcoming Playback Theatre project in the West Bank of occupied Palestine. For nine days, a convoy of buses filled with Palestinian actors and musicians will tour cultural and political sites throughout the West Bank. At each stop--in olive groves, Beduin encampments, cities and villages–the artists will disembark to give innovative Playback Theatre performances. At each performance, audience members will be invited to share personal stories about a variety of topics particular to life under military occupation (water shortage, house demolitions, the refugee experience). After listening to their stories, the artists will immediately transform them into improvised theatre pieces. For more on this exciting project, click here to visit their website.
But where is ImaginAction in all this?
ImaginAction artist Christine Baniewicz has announced her intention to ride with the Freedom Bus as a continuation of her work in the region earlier this year. In her own words, “a rich, non-violent civil rights movement is emerging in Palestine. Israel shoulders immense responsibility as a result: will they pursue a repressive, violent policy against such resistance? Or will they respond by developing a new kind of peace on the ground?” The Freedom Bus provides a unique opportunity to document this historic juncture, and Christine wants to be there, pen in hand, to archive this movement.
We are fundraising to support her work, and any gift you can extend is deeply appreciated. Click here to make a secure, tax-deductible donation online or through the mail. Share this page with a friend! Post it on your wall! The more who know, the more the work can grow.
Hector Aristizábal will receive the Otto award for Political Theatre on Sunday, May 20 in NYC!!
May 20, 20122:00 pmto5:00 pm2:00 pmto5:00 pm2:00 pmto5:00 pm2:00 pmto5:00 pm2:00 pmto5:00 pm2:00 pmto5:00 pm2:00 pmto5:00 pm
More info about the Otto’s at: http://www.castillo.org/otto-awards/
ImaginAction Newsletter November 2011
November 8, 2011 4:00 amtoNovember 8, 2012 4:00 am
Greetings ImaginActors!
I’m writing from the first floor of 11 Musgrave Park Court in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Tonight is my last night with Uri Noy-Meir, Allegra Fonda-Bonardi and Hector—tomorrow we disperse to a variety of projects around the world.
Belfast was the first stop on the last European tour of the year for Hector. From here, he travels to Vitoria in the Basque country to give master classes in T.O. techniques. Next stop is Bergen, Norway to give a series of workshops and performances with fellow ImaginAction teammate, Yael Harlap. From Bergen he’ll travel to Rome before heading back to the U.S.
Allegra will accompany Hector to Vitoria before returning to her work in China. She will be working with a local NGO there for another 6 months, bringing theatre techniques to students and educators. Uri is off to Leeds, and then Italy, where he plans to give a variety of T.O. workshops and work with hector in Rome.
After a wee interlude in Derry to assist with a conference at the Playhouse Theater, I travel to Palestine. For three months I will volunteer at The Freedom Theatre in Jenin, assisting Playback practitioner Ben Rivers as we work with youth there.
But before we scatter, we have much to celebrate. The past four weeks in Belfast have been a whirlwind as we introduced ImaginAction’s unique blend of theatre arts to youth in a variety of contexts. We brought stories and games to several groups in the Pathways program, an organization for youth who have been excluded or have disengaged from mainstream education. We also spent two nights a week at the 174 Trust, playing soccer and Complete the Image with a group of 8 to 14-year-old boys. From each of these groups, we edited footage of their improvisations and personal stories into a short film. The films are full of laughter, anecdotes and candid genius. “This is our way of saying we love you,” said Hector to the boys at 174 Trust after we watched the film together. Stay tuned for links to these videos as we complete them!
We’ll also celebrate Hector’s recent recognition as an Otto René Castillo Award winner. The Otto Award is named for the Guatemalan poet and revolutionary Otto Rene Castillo, who was murdered by that country’s military junta in 1968. Established in 1998, the Otto Awards have since honored such accomplished, dedicated and diverse artists and theatre companies as: El Teatro Campesino, The Living Theatre, Laurie Anderson, the Steppenwolf Theatre, Bread and Puppet Theatre, and the San Francisco Mime Troupe. We are so proud of Hector for this well deserved recognition!
On the other side of the world, Diane Lefer taught a guest class about torture and those who try to justify its use at California State University at Fullerton in September. She’s also been invited to offer workshops and a Spanish-language performance in Bolivia with the organization Educar es fiesta, working with families in crisis and children without safe homes (including those who live in the street) in Cochabamba.
After all the celebration, however, ImaginAction still has ambitious goals in the works. We are still fundraising to bring Hector to The Freedom Theatre in Jenin, and after learning about the incredible opportunity for growth through theatre in China, we are dreaming of augmenting Allegra’s work there by bringing Hector to join her. Your support in these endeavors—financially or otherwise—is deeply appreciated. Stay tuned for a Kickstarter project, as well. Uri plans to compile footage and interviews to create a video toolkit of ImaginAction’s methodology. This ambitious project presents a fantastic opportunity to multiply the work and share it with other practitioners, and your support in the upcoming months will make it possible.
From the wet-green land of Ulster, I’m wishing you love and good fortune. All the best,
Christine
NIGHTWIND: LA VITA E’… IMMAGIN-AZIONE | Pensieri di cartapesta
December 12, 2011toDecember 12, 2012
Nightwind è una perla rara di teatro di denuncia. Non è solo uno spettacolo che parla di tortura in un modo assolutamente originale e delicatamente toccante: è anche un caso pressoché unico di rappresentazione, in cui il torturato stesso si pone al centro di un palco e condivide con il pubblico, trasmutandola in arte, la propria esperienza di vita e di salvazione.
Colombiano, a ventidue anni Hector Aristizábal viene torturato atrocemente per tre giorni e tre notti da funzionari governativi, sulla base di accuse infondate di terrorismo. E’ il 1982. Salvo per miracolo grazie all’intervento di una delegazione di Amnesty International, Hector si rifugia negli Stai Uniti, a Los Angeles. Nel 1990 una telefonata lo riporta dritto nell’incubo. Il fratello minore è stato anch’egli torturato e infine ucciso dai paramilitari. Grazie al teatro e a una consapevolezza sociale profonda, Hector riesce comunque a non cadere nella spirale dell’odio e nel delirio di vendetta, trovando invece nell’agire con gli altri e per gli altri una ragione di vita.
Temi scottanti come questi potrebbero facilmente condurre a uno spettacolo buio e intrinsecamente violento. Nightwind, invece, ha la qualità variegata e variopinta di un racconto fantastico. La tecnica narrativa è volutamente straniante. I diversi personaggi sono delineati con tratti ironici e caricaturali, come disegnati sul momento da un vignettista esperto, con rapidi tocchi di colore. Perfino il torturatore è visto con occhio quasi benevolo, nella sua patetica astrattezza di maschera cattiva. Pochi e semplici strumenti (un telo nero, due fasce di stoffa, un palloncino, una panca, un frammento di cellophane) si trasformano velocemente, nelle mani sicure di Hector, in una moltitudine di oggetti: un travestimento sempre diverso, una motocicletta, una benda sugli occhi, un fucile, uno strumento di tortura. Sembra di osservare un prestigiatore, mentre crea dal nulla la magia di infinite realtà. I suoni sono semplici vocalizzi oppure rumori ricavati coi materiali di scena.
Il racconto della storia ha il sapore di una confidenza condivisa, coraggiosa, di un dono sincero, aperto e allo stesso tempo prezioso. Grazie a una tecnica narrativa scoppiettante e a tratti surreale, Hector Aristizábal accarezza il pubblico, non lo ferisce, non lo proietta in un incubo cupo, non lo costringe a subire intimamente le stesse atrocità di cui egli stesso è stato vittima. Lo porta invece per mano a commuoversi profondamente, con empatia umana, nei due momenti più tragici della vicenda: la tortura sofferta e il riconoscimento del corpo massacrato del fratello minore. All’interno di chi ascolta e guarda, si leva così un nunca más! appassionato, che non è grido di rabbia, ma desiderio fraterno di proteggere da una violenza insensata chi, da solo, non è in grado di difendersi.
Dopo lo spettacolo, Hector Aristizábal coinvolge il pubblico in una meditazione dinamica, per liberare la follia vitale che nell’uomo alimenta la coscienza più profonda. Poi sollecita i partecipanti a creare con il proprio corpo, a gruppi, immagini delle sensazioni provate nei confronti della tortura: attraverso il corpo si raggiunge, infatti, una comprensione organica delle proprie emozioni e reazioni viscerali agli eventi. Hector invita tutti, quindi, a riflettere su come le immagini statiche siano intrinsecamente polisemiche, interpretabili da ognuno secondo infiniti punti di vista soggettivi. A ciascun gruppo, allora, è chiesto di dare suono e movimento alle figure create: i significati delle rappresentazioni corporee in tal modo si chiariscono, si arricchiscono di vita e di nuovi significati. Come d’incanto, un pubblico di sconosciuti si trasforma in una piccola comunità solidale, commossa e allegra. Con queste tecniche, ispirate al Teatro dell’Oppresso del brasiliano Augusto Boal, Hector Aristizábal conduce in tutto il mondo seminari dedicati alla trasformazione creativa dei conflitti. Creare società, comunicazione, fiducia, attraverso l’arte, è un modo universale di fare politica costruttiva, al di là di ogni schieramento. Per dare un volto umano al mondo, l’importante è agire, seguendo i propri più intimi desideri, con fantasia. Perché la vita è Immagin-Azione.
Per saperne di più su Hector Aristizábal, si può visitare il sito internet http://imaginaction.org.
NIGHTWIND
di e con Hector Aristizábal
con la partecipazione di Amnesty International
25 novembre 2011, presso il Centro Sociale Spartaco di Roma
Hector Aristizabal receives the Otto Award for Political Theater!
December 30, 20124:00 pm
Dear friends of ImaginAction, we are happy to share with you that our Artistic Director, Hector Aristizabal, has received the Otto René Castillo Award for Political Theatre. The Otto Awards were established in 1998 to recognize and support the ongoing development of political theatre internationally. The Awards Committee, made up of past recipients, recommend a slate of honorees each year, and Hector’s work was selected for recognition on May 20, 2012.
Over the years such politically engaged theatre companies and artists as Laurie Anderson, Bread and Puppet Theater, Ed Bullins, Joseph Chaikin, Kathleen Chalfant, the Living Theatre, Charles Mee, Richard Schechner, Split Britches, Ellen Stewart, El Teatro Campesino, and Robert Wilson, among many others, have received Otto Awards in recognition of their cutting-edge and/or community-based work.
The Ottos are produced by the Castillo Theatre, one of the programs of the All Stars Project, a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting human development through the use of performance, on and off stage. In addition to Castillo’s 27-year history of producing cutting-edge, experimental, socially relevant theatre, the All Stars creates outside-of-school educational and performing arts activities for tens of thousands of poor and minority young people.
The awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, May 20, 2012 at the All Stars Project’s performance and education center, located on West 42nd Street in Manhattan.