Roger Foster Archives - �� News

Inside Out playback theater group awarded Catalyst Initiative, Justpax grants

Lauren Jefferson — Sat, 23 Dec 2017 20:00:42 +0000

��’s playback theater group is the recent recipient of two grants to expand their work with racial healing and marginalized populations. [Editor’s note 4/3/2018: Inside Out was awarded a spring 2018 Advancing the Arts grant by Arts Council of the Valley for “Story-gathering with our neighbors, stories in three mediums.”]

The six-year-old troupe, co-founded by theater professor and applied social sciences adjunct professor , includes current undergraduate and graduate students and alumni. It specializes in improvisational theater that includes the audience and actors in storytelling sessions, “played back” through action, dialogue and music, that encourage connections and conversation about difficult social issues and challenges. Inside Out has engaged with students returning from study abroad experiences, international peacebuilders, descendants of slaves and slaveholders, sexual abuse survivors, ex-offenders and migrant workers, among others.

Heidi Winters Vogel (back row, left) with Father Daniel Robayo (standing, second from left) and other Catalyst Initiative grant project leaders at a December planning session in Phoenix, Arizona. (Courtesy photo)

The grant, funded by the Phoenix, Arizona-based (CPCP), provides mentorship and guidance as Inside Out develops a partnership with the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia to confront issues of race, immigration and reconciliation in communities around the state.

A grant from the donor-advised will fund engagement with the Shenandoah Valley’s Hispanic and Haitian migrant workers, building on previous work on the Eastern Shore with similar populations. The grant also provides funds to develop and disseminate a “toolkit” for participatory arts organizations around the country to engage in similar partnerships.

Both grants will enable Inside Out members with unique opportunities to interact with well-known and inspiring mentors in the field: Hannah Fox, program director of the , and Michael Rohd, founding executive director of the Center for Performance and Civic Practice.

“These two grants build upon our previous work, strengthen our capacities and challenge us to work intentionally with partner organizations,” said Vogel. “�� students are able to practice their art in direct connection with social justice action networks. This is a game-changer in our ability to practice arts for change.”

The Catalyst Initiative: racial healing in church communities

Inside Out is one of six grantees around the United States to receive the recent round of Catalyst Initiative grants. The $6,000 grant “supports place-based project teams comprised of an individual artist and a civic partner to conceive and execute a small-scale local arts-based project created in response to an expressed need by the partner,” according to the organization’s website.

Lebanese native Myriam Aziz, an alumna of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and current Teaching Fellow at ��, helps to tell a story.

Inside Out is partnering Father Daniel Robayo, rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Harrisonburg and a new member of the.

Vogel and Robayo recently returned from a two-day workshop in Phoenix with CPCP staff to begin developing their project focused on building awareness and insight into white supremacy and privilege.

“I don’t think anyone would deny that these kind of conversations need to happen, but it’s often difficult to find a welcoming space,” Vogel says. “Father Robayo and the diocese have offered this space to promote cooperation between congregations, denominations and ethnicities. Our project will most likely consist of storytelling sessions at churches around the state bringing together diverse groups.”

The project will be implemented from January to October 2018. CPCP staff will make site visits to monitor the project and give guidance and critiques.

JustPax Foundation: Building Just Communities

In 2017, collaborating with Charlottesville-based and funded by the the nonprofit (USDAC), Inside Out hosted storytelling sessions with migrant workers on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. They also produced a “toolkit” for participatory arts organizations around the country to engage in similar partnerships.

The JustPax Fund grant provides more funds for Inside Out to work with regional migrant workers, and to continue developing and disseminating the toolkit.

Part of the grant will be used to host a Jan. 5-8 training workshop with Hannah Fox, program director at The Centre for Playback Theatre. The organization was founded by her father, Jonathan Fox, and Jo Salas, two co-founders of the playback theater concept.

“All of our members have been trained but some have not had the benefit of the formal training that is the gold standard for playback theater,” Vogel said. “With actors coming from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Richmond and Washington D.C., this should be a phenomenal opportunity to learn and practice new skills with truly gifted actors.”

This is not the first time �� has hosted playback theater trainings with celebrated practitioners; movement co-founder Jo Salas and playback director Ben Rivers, who works in Israel/Palestine, have led trainings and special Summer Peacebuilding Institute classes.

Twenty spaces are available for the course. Email insideout@emu.edu for more information.

Course offered at 2018 Summer Peacebuilding Institute

Vogel and Foster will co-facilitate a course on participatory theater June 11-15 at the 2018 Summer Peacebuilding Institute at ��. For more information, see the course description . To learn more about SPI, click

‘Conversations on Sexual Violence’ symposium aims to nurture community-building and resilience

Walt Wiltschek and Lauren Jefferson — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 14:10:06 +0000

A multi-year research project on domestic violence, under the direction of professor , will be highlighted in a community education symposium at �� (��) this spring. The March 19 symposium, “Conversations on Sexual Violence: Cultivating Community Resilience,” focuses on both preventative education and “post-traumatic growth,” according to Stauffer, with the aim of “creating deeper awareness of resilience strategies for both individuals and communities in response to intimate partner violence.”

The event — which includes speakers and interactive arts-based opportunities for reflection, learning and healing — is Saturday, March 19, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in ��ѱ�’s Suter Science Center. It is free and open to the public as well as the campus community.

“Sexual violence doesn’t just impact individuals,” Stauffer says. “It is a breach of relationship. How can we rebuild community in the face of violence? If we can build toward a healthier definition of community, I think we’ll all feel safer and provide an environment for profound healing.”

Stauffer’s project, titled “,” began in 2012 with research among domestic abuse survivors from within communities of homeless women, undocumented Latinas and Mennonite women from Old Order or conservative church communities. Stauffer employed a strengths-based approach, with particular focus on the resilient ways in which women survive in spite of gaps in societal support networks. Her project employed strategies that empowered study participants, integrating storytelling interviews with circle processes and healing arts workshops.

Last spring, MA in biomedicine students were integrated into the project with a about adverse childhood experience. Most of the students are future health care providers, and the experience asked them to reflect on the symptomatic and diagnostic implications of personal narratives as they participated in storytelling, communication activities and playback theater events with co-facilitators, some of whom were domestic abuse survivors.

Stauffer and the planning committee have included some of these same components in the symposium, she says. “This is an interdisciplinary event with planning, support and participation coming from various groups and departments across campus,” she added, the representation of which is important to the idea of both community response and support.

Plenary presenters include , assistant professor of restorative justice and peacebuilding at ��ѱ�’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, and University of Notre Dame doctoral researcher Sheila McCarthy. Turner will speak on “Healing in Community” and McCarthy on “Sexual Violence through the Lens of Moral Injury.” , an �� graduate whose published writing has explored her identity as a survivor of sexual abuse, will share her poetry. Inside Out, a campus theater group which has also participated in other parts of Stauffer’s multidisciplinary project, will host a session on the innovative and healing art of playback theater.

“To me, this type of witness moves our peace stance from the rubric of a privatized individual journey to a much more collective awareness of the church’s role in embodying the challenge to ‘speak truth’ to abuses of power,” Stauffer says. “It invites us as a community of faith to higher levels of transparency, truth and grace for all parties involved.”

Afternoon breakout sessions in two 90-minute blocks options provide attendees with a variety of options, including:

“How to Appropriately Respond to Disclosures,” by Mike and Lavonne Yoder of in Milton, Pa.;
“Body Work and Response Mechanisms of Memory Storage and Release,” by , director of ��ѱ�’s (STAR) program;
“Arts Approaches to Trauma Recovery,” with Janine Aberg;
“International Perspectives on Sexual Violence,” by Diana Tovar Rojas and Myriam Aziz of ��ѱ�’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding;
”Unpacking Consent, Unhealthy Relationships and Sexual Assault,” by Chris Ehrhardt and Laurel Winsor of James Madison University’s (CARE) program;
“Safe Church Protocols of Prevention,” by Ross Erb and Jackie Hieber of , which provides sexual assault crisis services and other programs in Harrisonburg;
“Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA),” by Sarah King and Daniel Foxvog;
“Restorative Justice Dialogues in Crimes of Severe Violence,” by , restorative justice coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee;
“LGBTQ Perspectives on Sexual Violence,” by , assistant professor of education at ��;
“I Am Your Broken Place: The Grief of Sexual Violence,” by , director of at ��.

Stauffer says the project has involved “many hands coming together.” Members of the faculty and staff planning committee include Mansfield, the STAR director; Comer, director of counseling services; Roger Foster, co-founder of playback theater troupe; , history professor and department chair; Teresa Haase, director of the graduate program in counseling; and , professor of social work. The student-led has also helped to advise and support the symposium, and students are being encouraged to attend.

“Having students as an integral part of what we’re doing is key,” Stauffer says. “The investment and energy that students bring adds huge value to the whole process.”

A final educative component, designed for �� faculty and staff and focusing on institutional dynamics, is being planned for this coming fall.

The “Silent Violence” project has been funded by a JustPax Fund grant since 2014. focuses on individuals and organizations working for effective change through innovative approaches to societal challenges relating to gender, environmental and/or economic justice. The fund is administered by through the Everence affiliate, Mennonite Foundation. Due to that support, the event is free and open to the public. No pre-registration is required.

Contingent of �� educators to present at annual Peace and Justice Studies Conference in Harrisonburg

Lauren Jefferson — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 12:25:27 +0000

As peace and justice studies educators from around the country converge on James Madison University for the Oct. 15-17 , a large contingent of faculty and alumni of �� (��) are in final preparations. Professor offers a keynote address and more than 20 �� other faculty and alumni are also slated to present or speak on panels.

The conference is hosted by the (PJSA), dedicated to bringing together academics, K-12 teachers, and grassroots activists to explore alternatives to violence and share visions and strategies for peacebuilding, social justice and social change.

“PJSA is an important bi-national alliance for peacebuilding research, scholarship, training and activism,” says , executive director of ��ѱ�’s . “It is a great honor that so many CJP and �� faculty, staff and graduates will be featured in prominent conference roles this year, and allows a rare opportunity to highlight our distinctive contributions to the peacebuilding field.”

Those “distinctive contributions” include both conceptual and practical dimensions to the fields of , , , peace and justice studies pedagogy and the pedagogy of practice within the field, experiential education, reflective pedagogy and the arts and peacebuilding.

Catherine Barnes offers keynote address

Dr. Catherine Barnes, affiliate professor at CJP, will share from more than 30 years of experience working with deliberative dialogue processes in places as varied as the UN General Assembly Hall to village gathering places. Her address is titled “Engaging together: exploring deliberative dialogue as a path towards systemic transformation.”

“Deliberative dialogue” is a process that can empower participants to foster collaborative relationships and perceive the underlying mental models that maintain the status quo with the goal of fostering new approaches to complex challenges.

For the past seven years, Barnes has been working in support of transitional processes in Burma/Myanmar. She has worked and lived in more than 30 countries as a teacher, trainer, researcher, policy advocate and consultant with the focus of helping civil society activists, diplomats and politicians, and armed groups to build their capacities for preventing violence and using conflict as an opportunity for addressing the underlying causes giving rise to grievance. Barnes has worked with numerous peacebuilding and human rights organizations, including Conciliation Resources and Minority Rights Group International.

Focusing on education

Professor Gloria Rhodes interacts with graduate students at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. (Photo by Michael Sheeler)

��ѱ�’s on peace and justice guides its educators, many of whom are sharing their pedagogical practices and discussing ways to educate future peacebuilders in the “educator’s strand,” designed for personal and professional development of K-12 teachers, undergraduate and community educators. Themes include pedagogy, curriculum development, building a culture of peace in your classroom or school, alternative education programs, and restorative practices.

On the undergraduate level, professor , who leads the in the department of applied social sciences, leads a roundtable discussion for faculty and administrators of peace and justice studies programs.

, the with CJP’s , joins professor and graduate students in a session on mentoring student peacebuilders and the importance of those mentors being experienced practitioners themselves.

Restorative practices are highlighted by professors and in a “relational justice” workshop on how mindful teachers can prepare and prime “their best selves” in preparation for inviting students into models of restorative justice. Mullet also joins , professor of education at Bridgewater College, for a workshop on relational literacy in multicultural K-12 classrooms.

Cheree Hammond, professor of counseling, leads educators in a workshop on contemplative pedagogies and the cultivation of a just and peaceful self.

Restorative justice, trauma healing, playback theater featured

Lieutenant Kurt Boshart, of the Harrisonburg Police Department, will participate in a panel about the community’s restorative justice movement. (Photo by Jon Styer)

The conference offers an opportunity to highlight ��ѱ�’s unique peacebuilding initiatives. The brings together practitioners from �� and JMU, as well as local law enforcement. Collaborators in the initiative will speak: , co-director of the; education professor ; Harrisonburg Police Department lieutenant Kurt Boshart; , restorative justice coordinator at the ; and , director of JMU’s Office of Student Accountability and Restorative Practices.

Another definitive CJP program, (Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience), will be introduced in a workshop by professor and program director .

troupe co-founders and lead a workshop on playback theater as qualitative research. Vogel is a professor of theater; Foster instructs in the applied social sciences department and with CJP. The applied theater method invites dialogue and healing through community-building, as audience members share stories and watch as they are “played back” on the stage. Among other settings, Inside Out has performed on campus with college students returning from cross-culturals, among international peacebuilders and in workshops for and research about trauma and sexual abuse survivors.

, professor of applied social sciences, speaks about social capital networks as forms of resistance among battered undocumented Latinas, sharing just one strand of a .

, assistant professor of restorative justice and peacebuilding, leads a discussion on the film “Vision is Our Power,” a film about black youth ending violence in all its forms. The documentary was created by four young filmmakers participating in a multi-year arts and leadership Vision to Peace Project led by Turner; the film debuted in 2008 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

And more…

, professor of English, presents on life narratives and identity issues in the Balkans with his wife Daria, a CJP graduate who teaches in the counseling department at JMU. The two lived and taught in the Balkans.

, professor of philosophy and theology, explores the recent work in philosophy and science on theory of emotion.

, a new faculty member coming to �� next semester after concluding his PhD research at American University, participates several panels, with a diversity of topics including transnational solidarity and police brutality and racism in the contested areas of Palestine and Ferguson, Missouri. Seidel is a board member of PJSA.

Among the alumni presenting: Vesna Hart, Sue Praill and Tom Brenneman join a panel discussion on justice and the nature of human nature. Ted Swartz presents the satire with Tim Ruebke and JMU professor of theater Ingrid DeSanctis.

View the . Registration fees will be covered for attendees from the Shenandoah Valley who are affiliated with or sponsored by Bridgewater College, James Madison University, ��, or Mary Baldwin College. For more information, click .

Inside Out playback theater troupe makes debut appearance at the Wild Goose Festival in North Carolina

Lauren Jefferson — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 15:18:37 +0000

For a few weeks, envisioned their next storytelling event at the as revolving around the festival’s theme: Blessed are the peacemakers.

Fitting, especially, for , which hails from an institutional home with Anabaptist peace-oriented values.

Then, a quick connection with the act to follow – pastor , author of “Flipped” – resulted in a thematic “flip” of their own for this weekend’s performance in Hot Springs, North Carolina. No matter for this experienced group of actors, who rely on their quick thinking, improvisational and artistic skills, and a deep intuitive confidence in each other to spontaneously re-enact stories offered by volunteers in the audience.

Wild Goose, here we come!

A conversation in common

Always seeking new spaces and places to build community through storytelling and theater, Inside Out heads south to camp out and join the fun at the Wild Goose Festival beginning Thursday, July 9. That leaves plenty of time to catch, and enjoy, the vibe for this well-rounded group of �� faculty, alumni, and graduate and undergraduate students.

The festival “is a place where artists, activists, thought leaders and seekers gather in both joyous and serious conversations about living into social justice,” says Inside Out co-founder . “We are so excited to be part of that conversation.”

Billed as a celebration of justice, spirituality, music and the arts, Wild Goose’s myriad of speakers, poets, musicians and performance artists “invite respectful – but fearless – conversation and action for the common good,” according the website.

“Wild Goose seems the perfect place to find folks who share our pursuit of community and justice,” adds co-founder . “These are �� values too!”

Connecting communities in story

Inside Out takes the stage on the last night, at 5 p.m., Saturday, July 11, in the Performance Café. The hour-long “performance” begins with fun, simple audience interactions, followed by an invitation to audience members to share a real story from their lives. The actors then provide an unscripted improvisation of the story.

“The playing back provides the storyteller a chance to witness their own story from the outside, discover new meanings and be affirmed by the community response,” says Vogel. “We are all connected, teller, performers and audience. We all witness the transformation together.”

Stories and their tellers are honored in a safe space “formed with respect and dignity,” Foster says.

Doug Pagitt is a pastor and author of “Flipped.” (Photo by Courtney Perry)

In a happy coincidence, Inside Out provides what Vogel calls the “warm-up act” for Pagitt. She and her husband, David, worked with Pagitt when he was the youth pastor at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The couple produced dramas for Wooddale’s popular weekly youth events, and also produced and directed a nationwide tour of “Living on the Edge,” a youth-oriented and youth-performed musical.

After Inside Out’s storytelling event, Pagitt takes the stage to talk about concepts from his new book, “Flipped.”

“His book challenges assumptions and knowledge of God, looking to Jesus’ teachings for what we may have missed,” Vogel said. “Before he speaks, we’ll ask the audience to share moments when we were upended, when our lives changed forever. What we share and learn together in ‘playing back’ those experiences will help us be ready to explore Doug’s message.”

Since its founding in 2011, Inside Out has worked on and off campus to promote storytelling and playback theatre as a movement toward social change and personal transformation. Actors have a range of backgrounds, from theatre arts and music to conflict transformation, and many have also been through ��ѱ�’s (STAR) program.

Transdisciplinary seminar on adverse childhood experiences teaches future health professionals unique diagnostic tools

Lauren Jefferson — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 18:09:03 +0000

What if a traumatic childhood event could be contributing to health problems? Wouldn’t listening and learning from a patient about that experience be as valuable for diagnostic purposes to a health care professional as evaluating a high temperature, sore glands or a skin condition?

A two-day transdisciplinary seminar melding theater and narrative arts and the health sciences in April at �� (��) drew students into interactions that explored these questions, using strategies of responsive listening and collaborative teaching. The event was part of the , led by professor and supported by a grant, which focuses on abuse and strategies of resilience.

Matt Carlson, Bridget Mullins (middle) and Heidi Winters Vogel lead other members of Inside Out, ��’s playback theater troupe, in the room for their first storytelling event of the seminar.

The community of approximately 60 learners included graduate students in the , undergraduate students in various health science courses, trained facilitators from the Pennsylvania-based non-profit , and a group of actors from , ��ѱ�’s playback theater group.

The focus of the workshop, said Stauffer, was the mind-body connection from a health sciences perspective. “All life experiences are filtered through our neurological and biological systems. If we are not intentional about addressing unresolved issues, they play out in very negative ways on our health. Our goal in this seminar was to help students make that connection. When we surface and share our stories, we can build community and work towards resolution and resilience in ways that then offload the negative impacts from our bodies.”

The transdisciplinary emphasis brought together Stauffer, who teaches in the MA in biomedicine program, and playback theater troupe co-founders and , also a professor of theater.

“The collaboration between people who would identify as scientists and people who identify as artists is very exciting,” Foster said, pointing out that the workshop created a space where both are valued equally.

Listening as a ‘diagnostic tool’

After the event, students talked about connecting with their fellow students in ways they’d never experienced, and how sharing their own stories helped them move toward healing in their own lives.

The ability to listen and show empathy is a unique diagnostic tool with a different sensitivity than a blood pressure cuff or an EKG machine, said one student.

“By listening to stories of others, I have been able to see the impact of ACEs on the individuals they are today,” said Wally Al-Kakhan, MA ’15 (biomedicine), adding that the experience helped him understand both himself and his fellow classmates better.

The workshop helped biology major Grayson Mast understand the benefits of a holistic approach to healthcare , as well as contributing to a foundational understanding of psychosocial trauma. “We all have moments in our past that have torn us down and made life more difficult. Learning how to affirm someone’s ability to discuss a traumatic event in their life is really important,” said Mast, who hopes to go to medical school.

When contacted for an interview several weeks after the seminar, Mast said that the workshop was “one of the most important educational events of my first year at ��.”

Sharing ‘deep’ stories

Students learned to apply what they’d learned in the classroom about adverse childhood experiences to the experience of sharing and learning from fellow seminar participants.

The seminar began with a playback storytelling event that surfaced stories of adverse childhood experiences (known as ACE’s). Playback theater is a kind of collaborative art in which members of the audience volunteer to tell a story and then watch as the actors “play back” an interpretation of the event. But before that happened, the group led a series of informal interactions that helped to build community, and to voice and normalize natural tensions and unease about the topic and the format.

“We heard everything from ‘I don’t understand’ to ‘It’s really difficult to talk about this’ to ‘This makes me nervous’ and even ‘I’m irritated that I have to give up my weekend for this,’” Foster said.

Although specific stories cannot be shared because of confidentiality, Foster says one general story about a father spending time with his children provides an example of what the audience heard. “This seemingly positive story of a really good day was actually very painful, because that parent had been very neglectful, and that one wonderful day was a marker of what this person had been without,” Foster said. “The story really opened the audience to the possibilities and the idea that all stories have meaning.”

The next day was dedicated to work in small groups — telling, listening, and responding to stories. Mike Yoder, co-founder of Guidespring and a facilitator of similar events for 14 years, says he was moved by the depth of responses from the students.

“To watch them share with their friends and embrace them with really powerful responses was a very moving experience,” Yoder said. “I heard them say things like ‘I didn’t know that happened’ or ‘That breaks my heart’ or ‘I’m amazed that you lived through that but it hasn’t defined you.’ Watching them make those connections, to show sadness for what they’d experienced but then also identifying with their strength—they were truly thrilled by the experience of building those relationships of trust.”

Professor Carolyn Stauffer, co-leader of the seminar, is currently involved in a JustPax-funded interdisciplinary research project about strategies of resilience among populations of abused women.

At the end of the seminar, the group participated in a second theater event that focused on audience members’ stories of change and resilience.

“We wanted them to think about strategies to move forward, and the networks of people they rely on to help them move forward,” Stauffer said, linking the students’ experiences to what she’s learned from her research of resilience strategies among domestic violence survivors in communities of homeless women, undocumented Latinas and Mennonite women from Old Order or conservative church communities.

Volunteers discover power of playback theater to shift painful stories toward path of healing

Lauren Jefferson — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 18:34:25 +0000

When volunteers were solicited, nobody immediately stepped forward. It was a tough request: tell a painful personal story before an audience of maybe 40, many of them strangers to each other, and watch seven people trained in playback theater re-tell it through an impromptu performance.

Yet Muhammad Afdillah—a visiting scholar with ��’s —chose this moment, just a week before he returned to his home in Indonesia, to begin to heal himself. He recounted a story involving physical and psychological injury.

Then he watched as Inside Out, ��ѱ�’s resident troupe, improvised a tense narrative of violence, friendship, loss, physical and emotional scarring, and finally, hope of reconciliation. Afdillah wasn’t the only watcher who had wet eyes by the end.

Empathy from the audience

It may have helped that other storytellers had shared before—some with halting speech and others interspersing laughter with words—of surviving cancer, of stitching a wedding dress for a beloved stepdaughter, of making friends and enduring goodbyes.

It may have helped that he knew some of the actors— all �� students, faculty or graduates—and even some of the audience, most of whom were participating in the or the training.

“That might have helped,” Afdillah said later. “But it was for me. It was the right time. I was trembling, but my heart was telling me this.”

Though Inside Out has “played back” stories from a variety of audiences, including sexual abuse survivors and college students recently returned from cross-cultural experiences, the May 21 event was the first time the troupe hosted a storytelling session for this particular group.

Playback theater helps its participants understand and reflect upon their experiences, says �� professor , who co-founded Inside Out in 2011. “That simple act of sharing stories and seeing them played back, seeing it out there, allows processing. It is harder to work for healing when it’s all in your head. In addition, there’s a tremendous connection between people in the audience who see that story and have a similar experience to share.”

A “conductor” facilitates the process

Making those connections is the role of an actor called the conductor, who facilitates the storytelling of a volunteer audience member, gathers more information through questions, and then helps to “shape” the story before turning it over to the actors with the invitation, “Let’s watch.”

At this event, Bridget Mullins was the conductor, and the actors included fellow CJP students Fabrice Guerrier and Matt Carlson; �� alumni Liz Gannaway, Brandon Waggy, and Tonya Osinkosky; and troupe co-founder . Vogel, who also participated, said most of the actors had participated in STAR training or were familiar with concepts related to trauma awareness, resilience, and peacebuilding.

“This is applied theater,” Vogel said, “not theater for entertainment. It’s theater for social justice and understanding. A lot of people don’t understand playback theater until they attend a storytelling session, and when they see it, they realize the big possibilities.”

Afdillah had no idea of its life-changing potential when he was invited by a fellow SPI participant to attend the performance. “I don’t really like theater,” he said with a laugh later.

A faculty member at in Indonesia, Afdillah researches and lectures on socio-religious conflict and politics. He collects data, supervises graduate students, collaborates with other peacebuilders and policy-makers, and admits that, like many others in his field, he rarely takes the time for himself.

For the last six months on campus, during spring semester classes and courses at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute, Afdillah began to “meditate and think about my life,” he said. “In my work, I tell people to deal with their trauma, to let it go. But I have my own trauma, my own problems. At the end, watching the story was almost the same as what I experienced, the tragedy. I feel the pain. I don’t know how this story ends, but this is starting to be ready for an ending.”

Seven-day course offered through SPI

The potential for healing dialogue through playback theater will be highlighted in a seven-day SPI course, “,” from June 5-13. The course will be taught by two pioneers of playback theater, Jo Salas and Ben Rivers.

This is not the first time applied theater for this purpose has been taught at SPI: Rivers attended in 2011 to take courses and facilitate informal workshops and in 2012, Armand Volkas, a playback theater and dramatherapy practitioner from California, led a course.

“Many people, including Ben Rivers, have used playback theater in communities that have experienced violence and trauma,” said , Center for Justice and Peacebuilding program director. “SPI provides a space for people to learn these techniques for working with communities and a place for practitioners to reflect on what works and what does not work when using applied theater tools in conflict situations.”

Farshid Hakimyar, a CJP graduate, is enrolled in the upcoming course. He plans to explore the potential of playback theater for his work in his native Afghanistan. Telling a story to the Inside Out troupe was his first personal experience with the technique.

“I told a story of hearing a traumatic story about domestic violence, and in hearing it, I experienced secondary trauma,” Hakimyar said. “I could not breathe, I could not think, I went from sharing with my friends about music and light and the good of humanity, to hearing this story of this father losing his child in this horrible way.”

On stage that night, three actors portrayed the trajectory of Hakimyar’s emotions as he struggled to understand “the lightness and darkness inside each of us.”

“To feel such relief”

“It was a really powerful experience to watch this and to feel such relief,” Hakimyar said. “Playback theater and generally arts play a key role in any efforts. I think it can engage more people in how they can express their feelings in peaceful and non-violent ways about corruption, lack of transparency, and their government, and how they dream for the future.”

Docherty says SPI is committed to the continued exploration of applied theater tools like playback theater to situations of conflict, violence and trauma.

“We see this as a growing focus of our program,” she said, adding that at least one course in theater and one in media is planned at SPI in 2015.

CJP, Theater and VaCA Provide Collaborative Events

Mike Zucconi — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 13:42:18 +0000

Two events at �� this week showcase the intersection between the arts and creating a more peaceful world.

“The Feminine Divine: Embrace and Release” is a participatory dance workshop facilitated by Akiko Ishihara and framed by graphic posters designed by Chelsea Kight. It will be held Wednesday, April 11, 7-9 p.m., in the .

Ishihara is a graduate student in and Kight is an undergraduate in the .

A staged reading centering on the body and souls of people in a country torn by a dictator will be held at ��’s on Friday, April 13, and Saturday, April 14, at 7 p.m.

“Death and The Maiden” by Ariel Dorfman will be directed by the theater department’s artist-in-residence and CJP graduate, Roger Foster.

“The three-person cast of , Nathaniel Daniel and , will put a very human face on issues of national trauma, reconciliation and transitional justice,” said Foster.

, chair of , added, “This play uses language and situations that are shocking and painful. This is appropriate for the story but may not be suitable for all audiences.”

, art galleries director and professor of the and said, “Traditional art programs are becoming more focused on working in community, and the world increasingly sees the arts as unique tools for healing and community building.”

“The Feminine Divine” is a new chapter in ��ѱ�’s peacebuilding artist-in-residence experiment, which consists of a year-long progression of gallery exhibits across disciplines and among artists, according to Moore.

“The arts offer peacebuilders unique tools for transforming intractable interpersonal, intercommunal, national and global conflicts – tools that are not currently prevalent or available within the peacebuilding field,” said , PhD, research professor and founding director of .

“The task for peacebuilding practitioners is to find strategic ways of incorporating the arts into the work of peacebuilding and to create a space where people in conflict can express themselves, heal themselves and reconcile themselves through the arts.”

For more information on the dance workshop or the �� art galleries contact Paulette Moore at paulette.moore@emu.edu or 703-597-7766.

For more information on the staged reading, contact the theater department at 540-432-4360 or email theater@emu.edu.