A few months back I returned to my high school as part of an Alumni contingent to show and offer support and encouragement for the current group of students matriculating there. Among those kids, not a single one will be given a new car if or when they graduate. None will be given substantial capital to go out and make it in life. And none would be returning home that day to upstairs rooms, computers, televisions, phones, ipods, and other teenage luxuries. Times have not changed in the neighborhood.
In the short time we were to be there, our Alumni group was to articulate some possibilities and identify the positives in education and the positives of being part of the community at hand - all part of the pride and practice. We were dispersed to various classrooms to speak to the kids. I heard my friends and colleagues tell personal stories of perseverance, hard work, determination, the value of education, of family, friends and community. Their stories were humorous, moving, and inspirational on many levels. The kids responded to them well I thought. I couldn't for the life of me though resist a more "revolutionary' tone and approach when it was my turn to speak.
I did not offer them stories of my own educational or professional journey but rather asked them questions of about theirs. Who is in charge of your education? Who determines what you learn, how you learn it, when you learn it and where you learn it? Who determines how you are tested and measured on your newly acquired knowledge? Are you a willing and active participant in the process? For some, the questions and ideas were too new, too much, too seemingly abstract. I asked further questions about the learning environment, the physical settings, time of day, etc. Some still didn't get it or care, others though perked up their ears and began to talk.
"Pedagogy of the Oppressed" by Paulo Freire and "Theatre of the Oppressed" by Augusto Boal, these are two of the calling card books at Prescott College. Both men are Brazilian. "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" was first published in 1970. "Theatre of the Oppressed" was first published in 1974. "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" lays out the responsibility of the oppressed to liberate both themselves and their oppressors. "Theatre of the Oppressed" lays out the responsibility of performers to engage both themselves and their spectators in action.
I often ask questions to actors as well. Why do you act? Where do you act? Who do you act for and what do you act? I am not looking or hoping that they answer that they want to perform in the name of workers rights or spiritual prosperity (although its nice to hear when that is the case). Most just say they "like it." Some want to perform on stage. Some want to be filmed. Hardly any know "who" they will act for or exactly "what" they will act, as in the type of roles or the material or subject matter. In those cases they are at the mercy of the producing organizations and facilitators. For that they mostly wait day by day, season by season, year by year for audition announcements and those rare opportunities to show their stuff and do their thing.
All that leads to a question that can or should be considered. What constitutes the activity or daily behavior that makes "an actor?" We all know the typical. Auditions, Rehearsal, Performance, and the occasional Workshop or Class. Very often days, weeks, months and even years go by between these particular activities for individuals. I'm not saying actors are oppressed, but they are not in charge or in control or sharing control of any of those functions - the very functions which just happen to define them.
And what of the actors very "home," the stage, the theatre? Sadly the actors have lost or given it up as well. The stage is ruled in our society by directors and writers hands down. Actors are secondary or third or fourth or even fifth in acknowledgement or need. A typical producer or producing organization's thought and action pattern calls for a quest for a play or a director first. Depending on which of those comes first the other one comes second. Next comes a schedule, when the play is to be performed and where. Then comes designers for lights, costumes, stage properties and a stage manager. Finally, they seek actors who fit what they hope and intend the play to look and sound like. I'm not saying actors are oppressed, but they do not share equally in the common process of production and they are not masters in their own home. They are the jobbed in workers, seasonal, transients. They don't have keys to the building!
The days when it was acceptable that an actor, single or with others, could construct a performance have slipped away. The days of long term collaboration and equal participation have left. Masters are teachers now and actors have lost their own pedagogy. All this is not solely the fault of the writers, the directors, the teachers, the producers. Actors must liberate themselves...and their oppressors as well if we follow Freire's example and hope.
In the short time we were to be there, our Alumni group was to articulate some possibilities and identify the positives in education and the positives of being part of the community at hand - all part of the pride and practice. We were dispersed to various classrooms to speak to the kids. I heard my friends and colleagues tell personal stories of perseverance, hard work, determination, the value of education, of family, friends and community. Their stories were humorous, moving, and inspirational on many levels. The kids responded to them well I thought. I couldn't for the life of me though resist a more "revolutionary' tone and approach when it was my turn to speak.
I did not offer them stories of my own educational or professional journey but rather asked them questions of about theirs. Who is in charge of your education? Who determines what you learn, how you learn it, when you learn it and where you learn it? Who determines how you are tested and measured on your newly acquired knowledge? Are you a willing and active participant in the process? For some, the questions and ideas were too new, too much, too seemingly abstract. I asked further questions about the learning environment, the physical settings, time of day, etc. Some still didn't get it or care, others though perked up their ears and began to talk.
"Pedagogy of the Oppressed" by Paulo Freire and "Theatre of the Oppressed" by Augusto Boal, these are two of the calling card books at Prescott College. Both men are Brazilian. "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" was first published in 1970. "Theatre of the Oppressed" was first published in 1974. "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" lays out the responsibility of the oppressed to liberate both themselves and their oppressors. "Theatre of the Oppressed" lays out the responsibility of performers to engage both themselves and their spectators in action.
I often ask questions to actors as well. Why do you act? Where do you act? Who do you act for and what do you act? I am not looking or hoping that they answer that they want to perform in the name of workers rights or spiritual prosperity (although its nice to hear when that is the case). Most just say they "like it." Some want to perform on stage. Some want to be filmed. Hardly any know "who" they will act for or exactly "what" they will act, as in the type of roles or the material or subject matter. In those cases they are at the mercy of the producing organizations and facilitators. For that they mostly wait day by day, season by season, year by year for audition announcements and those rare opportunities to show their stuff and do their thing.
All that leads to a question that can or should be considered. What constitutes the activity or daily behavior that makes "an actor?" We all know the typical. Auditions, Rehearsal, Performance, and the occasional Workshop or Class. Very often days, weeks, months and even years go by between these particular activities for individuals. I'm not saying actors are oppressed, but they are not in charge or in control or sharing control of any of those functions - the very functions which just happen to define them.
And what of the actors very "home," the stage, the theatre? Sadly the actors have lost or given it up as well. The stage is ruled in our society by directors and writers hands down. Actors are secondary or third or fourth or even fifth in acknowledgement or need. A typical producer or producing organization's thought and action pattern calls for a quest for a play or a director first. Depending on which of those comes first the other one comes second. Next comes a schedule, when the play is to be performed and where. Then comes designers for lights, costumes, stage properties and a stage manager. Finally, they seek actors who fit what they hope and intend the play to look and sound like. I'm not saying actors are oppressed, but they do not share equally in the common process of production and they are not masters in their own home. They are the jobbed in workers, seasonal, transients. They don't have keys to the building!
The days when it was acceptable that an actor, single or with others, could construct a performance have slipped away. The days of long term collaboration and equal participation have left. Masters are teachers now and actors have lost their own pedagogy. All this is not solely the fault of the writers, the directors, the teachers, the producers. Actors must liberate themselves...and their oppressors as well if we follow Freire's example and hope.
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