“There were only two opinions about her. One was that she was miraculous: the other that she was unbearable.”
George Bernard Shaw’s provocative masterpiece features one of Boston’s most celebrated young talents, Andrea Ross, the youngest performer to be honored with an Elliot Norton Award. Joan of Arc, the world’s first feminist teen rebel, bucked against all the conventions of the Middle Ages. She didn’t hesitate to speak her mind, wear men’s clothes, lead a charge of soldiers, or talk with God —and she was burned at the stake before she reached the age of 20. Joan’s extraordinary journey, her unbounded faith, and her passionate determination to enthrone a King; produces what many consider to be Shaw’s greatest play. Expect to be inspired, uncertain, and dismayed; but above all, expect to recognize, in these characters of the year 1429, qualities and conflicts still crucially important in the world of 2008.
Are exceptional people doomed to be destroyed by society?
Under what circumstances is it acceptable to defy authority?
Is capital punishment “just”?Do we consider it possible for women to be leaders of men?
The drama of Saint Joan is the eternal quest for Truth. Will reason outweigh belief? Does faith excoriate logic? Shaw’s Saint Joan is immediate and unfiltered; its intensity and immediacy arouses individual identification, empathy, and discovery. Share the experience of live theatre at Wheelock Family Theatre’s production of Saint Joan.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
SAINT JOAN CAST LIST
Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw
October 31 - November 30, 2008
Friday nights at 7:30, Saturday & Sunday matinees at 3:00
with Andrea Ross as Joan of Arc
Featuring Dosha beard, James Bodge, Shelley Bolman, Chelsea brannon, Dan Dowling, Jr., Kenny Fuentes, De'Lon Grant, Neil Gustafson, Eric Hamel, Marc Harpin, Steven M. Key, Bill Mootos, Luis Negran, Cliff Odle, Jonathan Overby, Dale Place, Brian Quint, Gerard Slattery, Cameron VanderWerf, & Alan White.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Do it well, but do it differently!
A Letter for the World Day of Theatre for Children and Young People (March 20, 2008)
Do it well, but do it differently!
That sounds interesting, I wonder… According to Theatre for Children and Young People, it's possible to tackle things in a different way. And now, I ask myself, what could possibly be different?
Theatre for young spectators is per se different. It defines itself by its target group, an audience that demands to be taken account of in the artistic process, in the production, distribution and reception.The themes it tackles don't have to be different from the usual ones seen in theatre for adults. You also don't need to create new theatre forms. And in no way should you be childish or infantile: or even try to do justice to what you think children might like. In other words, you shouldn't regard challenges as being different simply because you're playing to a special audience.
So tackling things differently must be meant in another way. Perhaps in the sense of the dictionary I always love to consult when I want to express myself precisely, when individual words are meant to say something, when I need an interpretation about what others might have meant or not. The first thing I read is the following definition: "abandoning an earlier individual characteristic and becoming fundamentally different." But that couldn't have been what was meant by changing things, could it? Doing something in another way than was previously planned or introduced, shaping it in another way, is a further variation of the discourse. Such an action would be remarkable, particularly in our case where planning plays a very important role, and is even postulated as being programmatic.
Perhaps it has more to do with the variety of meanings inherent in the concept. We should think in a different way! Not produce theatre from a literary basis, not make theatre dependent on the school curriculum, not reduce theatre to plays with a cast of one! Or maybe we should present our shows in another form of language? Theatre shot through with breathtaking choreography, theatre as a complex system of codes, or even inspirational theatre from abroad! Or should we make “being different” the basis for our work? Theatre based on article 1 of the Declaration of Human Rights: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights" – does this hold true for all people in the first, second and third world?! Theatre about intercultural dialogues, about national core cultures, about the things we have in common, about differences and how we master these challenges in our everyday life – or not?!
Theatre that understands itself as society in dialogue with itself, and therefore talks about finding identities in a period of globalisation. How much different do we have to be? When we are confronted by people who think and believe in different ways, when we meet other people with different characteristics, who are the reverse of what we are, or have completely different opinions. Cultural diversity is the theme being discussed at the moment by UNESCO. The Convention on the "Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions" came into power almost exactly one year ago, on the 18th of March 2007: it must however be lived out, it has to get to people and, for this reason be reflected in the theatre.
Children and young people know exactly what "tackling things in a different way" means. They have set out on their path through life and this will certainly not be straight ahead non-stop. They'll be forced to find their way out of dead ends, clear hurdles and make detours. Time and time again they will have to think and try out alternatives. Doing things another way could become a principle in life. The theatre can show that, the theatre can en-courage its audiences to be open to that, everything can be done differently in the theatre. In this sense, on the occasion of World Children's Theatre Day 2008, I should like to leave you all – artists, children and not least cultural politicians – with the following wish. Do it well, but do it differently!
Professor Dr. Wolfgang Schneider
President of the International Association of Theatre for Children And Young People
Do it well, but do it differently!
That sounds interesting, I wonder… According to Theatre for Children and Young People, it's possible to tackle things in a different way. And now, I ask myself, what could possibly be different?
Theatre for young spectators is per se different. It defines itself by its target group, an audience that demands to be taken account of in the artistic process, in the production, distribution and reception.The themes it tackles don't have to be different from the usual ones seen in theatre for adults. You also don't need to create new theatre forms. And in no way should you be childish or infantile: or even try to do justice to what you think children might like. In other words, you shouldn't regard challenges as being different simply because you're playing to a special audience.
So tackling things differently must be meant in another way. Perhaps in the sense of the dictionary I always love to consult when I want to express myself precisely, when individual words are meant to say something, when I need an interpretation about what others might have meant or not. The first thing I read is the following definition: "abandoning an earlier individual characteristic and becoming fundamentally different." But that couldn't have been what was meant by changing things, could it? Doing something in another way than was previously planned or introduced, shaping it in another way, is a further variation of the discourse. Such an action would be remarkable, particularly in our case where planning plays a very important role, and is even postulated as being programmatic.
Perhaps it has more to do with the variety of meanings inherent in the concept. We should think in a different way! Not produce theatre from a literary basis, not make theatre dependent on the school curriculum, not reduce theatre to plays with a cast of one! Or maybe we should present our shows in another form of language? Theatre shot through with breathtaking choreography, theatre as a complex system of codes, or even inspirational theatre from abroad! Or should we make “being different” the basis for our work? Theatre based on article 1 of the Declaration of Human Rights: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights" – does this hold true for all people in the first, second and third world?! Theatre about intercultural dialogues, about national core cultures, about the things we have in common, about differences and how we master these challenges in our everyday life – or not?!
Theatre that understands itself as society in dialogue with itself, and therefore talks about finding identities in a period of globalisation. How much different do we have to be? When we are confronted by people who think and believe in different ways, when we meet other people with different characteristics, who are the reverse of what we are, or have completely different opinions. Cultural diversity is the theme being discussed at the moment by UNESCO. The Convention on the "Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions" came into power almost exactly one year ago, on the 18th of March 2007: it must however be lived out, it has to get to people and, for this reason be reflected in the theatre.
Children and young people know exactly what "tackling things in a different way" means. They have set out on their path through life and this will certainly not be straight ahead non-stop. They'll be forced to find their way out of dead ends, clear hurdles and make detours. Time and time again they will have to think and try out alternatives. Doing things another way could become a principle in life. The theatre can show that, the theatre can en-courage its audiences to be open to that, everything can be done differently in the theatre. In this sense, on the occasion of World Children's Theatre Day 2008, I should like to leave you all – artists, children and not least cultural politicians – with the following wish. Do it well, but do it differently!
Professor Dr. Wolfgang Schneider
President of the International Association of Theatre for Children And Young People
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)