in June of 2014 I was standing on a
beach in Tijuana Mexico watching a
theatre performance this was part of a
global theater conference that I was
attending and the Mexican theatre
company had wanted to do their
performance on that beach because it’s
at the tail end of Friendship Park
Friendship Park is where the long border
fence that separates the US and Mexico
is people come to this park to see their
loved ones and family members through
the slats in the fence so I’m there I’m
watching this theater piece and this
incredibly beautiful actress has climbed
up onto the fence and she’s hanging
there and she’s turning around and just
fiercely performing Antigone they had
taken the Greek tragedy and placed it in
Mexico investigating borders and torn
families and I’m watching this
performance and I’m looking around at my
theater colleagues and I thought to
myself wouldn’t it be incredible if this
audience was instead made up of I don’t
know members of an anti-immigration
group or people who work border control
I mean what hearing this story would
seeing the passion of these performers
would it make them approach their views
and their work in a more compassionate
and empathetic way how do we learn
compassion and empathy as humans we’re
constantly searching for the tools that
we need to interpret the things that we
experience every day right watching
theater from another country or culture
is the tool to help us understand the
world around us theatre humanizes world
events and politics
if three-dimensional eise’s the nameless
and the faceless it gives voice to the
voiceless theater connects us I’m the
artistic director of trick lock company
we are a 24 year old theater ensemble
based here in Albuquerque New Mexico
part of our mission is opening doors to
global cultural exchange by connecting
people through the Performing Arts we do
this in a variety of different ways we
too were internationally where we
perform and we teach workshops engage
with the community we facilitate
international collaborations and we
produce the revolutions international
theatre festival where for three weeks
every year we bring companies from all
over the world to New Mexico for
performances and workshops and gathering
symposium lectures parties a lot of
parties because we’re theatre people we
like to party and we do this because we
know that exposure to global theater its
increases mutual understanding it
inspires change it empowers people to
improve the overall quality of life for
all people because theater is the story
of us it’s the story of people of
culture of politics of myths of dreams
of history in December of 2016 I had the
great fortune of being able to see a
little bit of a new work that was in
progress by a Polish theater company T
at figure Krakow so this one particular
part that I got to see was a piece that
they were working on in collaboration
with the Oskar Shindler enamel Factory
the piece was inspired by photographs
and memoirs of people who lived in the
Jewish ghetto in Krakow it tells the
story of life in the ghetto
the ways that people maintain tradition
their resistance against the Nazis how
they would smuggle in kosher food and
other things into the ghetto and their
heroic attempts at preserving dignity
and creating community and may tell this
story this Polish theatre company with
shadow puppets so I’m watching this
piece and they have these huge suitcases
that they open up and they become these
big screens and you can see the actors
they’re onstage on either side dress all
in black the puppeteers manipulating
everything from behind and the light
comes up and this incredible scene comes
alive there’s buildings and roads and
you know small stores they had recreated
the ghetto and then your eye goes up to
the top flat of this building where
there’s this little Mouse and she’s you
know eating dinner with her family and
then you see her come down the stairs
and she’s playing in the street with her
friends and she’s going to the store and
you know there’s music coming out of the
speakers in the theater and then off in
the distance you start to hear the sound
of marching and it gets louder and
louder and this little mouse starts to
shake and it gets louder and louder and
this ferocious flock of birds comes into
the screen and they’re just circling
around looking and looking in this
little mouse is trying to hide she’s
going into the buildings and she’s
running up and down the street just
looking for anywhere and these ferocious
birds circling hunting finally she finds
this one little spot where she’s able to
sort of shove herself down and drop and
hide in the sewer and I just started to
cry it was so terrifying I mean it’s
just theater right
it’s puppets
I have been to the Oskar Shindler enamel
Factory it’s a museum now an amazing
museum I have been to wear a piece of
the ghetto wall still stands in Krakow
Poland in both of these places were
powerful impactful places but that
theater piece that little mouse I will
never forget the way that made me feel
theater connects us we have so much
information coming at us all the time
right we’re always on our phones and
there’s all these articles about world
affairs and then there’s these really
intense comment threads that we can’t
help but read it’s just all the time all
the time how do we not just shut off in
here how can we stay open compassionate
empathetic with so much coming at us we
can go to the theater and we can watch
real people tell us their stories right
these are our stories I was exposed to
international theater in my early 20s
and it completely changed my life I felt
like I learned more about people about
culture about country I felt connected
to them there were people from all over
the world sharing their stories with me
and their stories were radically
different in exactly the same as my
story this past March in 2017
during our 17th annual festival one of
the companies that we brought was in
dead a troupe and Eddie is a company
from Uganda they’re a dance company they
perform indigenous dance from East
Africa mainly from Uganda but also
Rwanda and Burundi and their show
incorporates song and music and they
tell stories it’s an amazing beautiful
lovely show
and while they were here we also
organized a regional tour around New
Mexico and we facilitated an exchange
between
ended’ a from Uganda and Adonai charter
school in Navajo New Mexico this was
Friday before spring break so you know
the kids are like like like you know
like I don’t want to listen to a lecture
about Africa it’s terrible but then they
started to hear the drums from outside
and then the dancers just burst in and
they’re playing these huge ado goose
which are these large wooden trumpets
and they’re in their traditional attire
and they’re dancing and the kids just
lit up and there’s song and dancing and
story and afterwards the kids saying
Adonai song for the Ugandan dancers and
after the performance there was a
question-and-answer session and the
questions got really real and honest I
remember one of the questions
specifically was Danai people used to
eat a plant-based diet but after
colonization we switched to a more
unhealthy American diet did the same
thing happen to you in Uganda and they
had this really honest conversation
about colonisation one student told me
he said that he felt so connected to the
dancers even though they were an ocean
away in this whole exchange it began
with performance so I encourage you
please go see international performances
I promise it will change you if you’re
traveling abroad go to the theatre check
out what’s happening in your town don’t
worry if it is not in a language that
you if it’s in a language that you don’t
understand don’t worry if it looks
totally weird and like wackadoo just go
because theater is about stories it’s
about connection and we need to be
sharing stories
on a global level we should be connected
how can we share space with someone
listen to their story connect with them
and then turn around and treat them as
subhuman we can’t theatre humanizes all
of us
[Applause]
beach in Tijuana Mexico watching a
theatre performance this was part of a
global theater conference that I was
attending and the Mexican theatre
company had wanted to do their
performance on that beach because it’s
at the tail end of Friendship Park
Friendship Park is where the long border
fence that separates the US and Mexico
is people come to this park to see their
loved ones and family members through
the slats in the fence so I’m there I’m
watching this theater piece and this
incredibly beautiful actress has climbed
up onto the fence and she’s hanging
there and she’s turning around and just
fiercely performing Antigone they had
taken the Greek tragedy and placed it in
Mexico investigating borders and torn
families and I’m watching this
performance and I’m looking around at my
theater colleagues and I thought to
myself wouldn’t it be incredible if this
audience was instead made up of I don’t
know members of an anti-immigration
group or people who work border control
I mean what hearing this story would
seeing the passion of these performers
would it make them approach their views
and their work in a more compassionate
and empathetic way how do we learn
compassion and empathy as humans we’re
constantly searching for the tools that
we need to interpret the things that we
experience every day right watching
theater from another country or culture
is the tool to help us understand the
world around us theatre humanizes world
events and politics
if three-dimensional eise’s the nameless
and the faceless it gives voice to the
voiceless theater connects us I’m the
artistic director of trick lock company
we are a 24 year old theater ensemble
based here in Albuquerque New Mexico
part of our mission is opening doors to
global cultural exchange by connecting
people through the Performing Arts we do
this in a variety of different ways we
too were internationally where we
perform and we teach workshops engage
with the community we facilitate
international collaborations and we
produce the revolutions international
theatre festival where for three weeks
every year we bring companies from all
over the world to New Mexico for
performances and workshops and gathering
symposium lectures parties a lot of
parties because we’re theatre people we
like to party and we do this because we
know that exposure to global theater its
increases mutual understanding it
inspires change it empowers people to
improve the overall quality of life for
all people because theater is the story
of us it’s the story of people of
culture of politics of myths of dreams
of history in December of 2016 I had the
great fortune of being able to see a
little bit of a new work that was in
progress by a Polish theater company T
at figure Krakow so this one particular
part that I got to see was a piece that
they were working on in collaboration
with the Oskar Shindler enamel Factory
the piece was inspired by photographs
and memoirs of people who lived in the
Jewish ghetto in Krakow it tells the
story of life in the ghetto
the ways that people maintain tradition
their resistance against the Nazis how
they would smuggle in kosher food and
other things into the ghetto and their
heroic attempts at preserving dignity
and creating community and may tell this
story this Polish theatre company with
shadow puppets so I’m watching this
piece and they have these huge suitcases
that they open up and they become these
big screens and you can see the actors
they’re onstage on either side dress all
in black the puppeteers manipulating
everything from behind and the light
comes up and this incredible scene comes
alive there’s buildings and roads and
you know small stores they had recreated
the ghetto and then your eye goes up to
the top flat of this building where
there’s this little Mouse and she’s you
know eating dinner with her family and
then you see her come down the stairs
and she’s playing in the street with her
friends and she’s going to the store and
you know there’s music coming out of the
speakers in the theater and then off in
the distance you start to hear the sound
of marching and it gets louder and
louder and this little mouse starts to
shake and it gets louder and louder and
this ferocious flock of birds comes into
the screen and they’re just circling
around looking and looking in this
little mouse is trying to hide she’s
going into the buildings and she’s
running up and down the street just
looking for anywhere and these ferocious
birds circling hunting finally she finds
this one little spot where she’s able to
sort of shove herself down and drop and
hide in the sewer and I just started to
cry it was so terrifying I mean it’s
just theater right
it’s puppets
I have been to the Oskar Shindler enamel
Factory it’s a museum now an amazing
museum I have been to wear a piece of
the ghetto wall still stands in Krakow
Poland in both of these places were
powerful impactful places but that
theater piece that little mouse I will
never forget the way that made me feel
theater connects us we have so much
information coming at us all the time
right we’re always on our phones and
there’s all these articles about world
affairs and then there’s these really
intense comment threads that we can’t
help but read it’s just all the time all
the time how do we not just shut off in
here how can we stay open compassionate
empathetic with so much coming at us we
can go to the theater and we can watch
real people tell us their stories right
these are our stories I was exposed to
international theater in my early 20s
and it completely changed my life I felt
like I learned more about people about
culture about country I felt connected
to them there were people from all over
the world sharing their stories with me
and their stories were radically
different in exactly the same as my
story this past March in 2017
during our 17th annual festival one of
the companies that we brought was in
dead a troupe and Eddie is a company
from Uganda they’re a dance company they
perform indigenous dance from East
Africa mainly from Uganda but also
Rwanda and Burundi and their show
incorporates song and music and they
tell stories it’s an amazing beautiful
lovely show
and while they were here we also
organized a regional tour around New
Mexico and we facilitated an exchange
between
ended’ a from Uganda and Adonai charter
school in Navajo New Mexico this was
Friday before spring break so you know
the kids are like like like you know
like I don’t want to listen to a lecture
about Africa it’s terrible but then they
started to hear the drums from outside
and then the dancers just burst in and
they’re playing these huge ado goose
which are these large wooden trumpets
and they’re in their traditional attire
and they’re dancing and the kids just
lit up and there’s song and dancing and
story and afterwards the kids saying
Adonai song for the Ugandan dancers and
after the performance there was a
question-and-answer session and the
questions got really real and honest I
remember one of the questions
specifically was Danai people used to
eat a plant-based diet but after
colonization we switched to a more
unhealthy American diet did the same
thing happen to you in Uganda and they
had this really honest conversation
about colonisation one student told me
he said that he felt so connected to the
dancers even though they were an ocean
away in this whole exchange it began
with performance so I encourage you
please go see international performances
I promise it will change you if you’re
traveling abroad go to the theatre check
out what’s happening in your town don’t
worry if it is not in a language that
you if it’s in a language that you don’t
understand don’t worry if it looks
totally weird and like wackadoo just go
because theater is about stories it’s
about connection and we need to be
sharing stories
on a global level we should be connected
how can we share space with someone
listen to their story connect with them
and then turn around and treat them as
subhuman we can’t theatre humanizes all
of us
[Applause]
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