Some light reading

Here's the first draft of one of our assignments for Company Development. We are "forming a company", and were asked to answer these questions about ourselves. Here's what we came up with:

Company Development
Five Questions
Group: Baerbel, Natali, Agnese, Persefoni, Isabel

What do we do?
We create collaborative theatre that is deeply human and therefore deeply political. It is a theatre about what moves the world, what moves human beings, and what moves us. Our point of departure is twofold, as we take inspiration both from pre-existing canonical texts, and also from current events. Through the revisiting of old works in different countries and through the lens of different cultural contexts, we hope to reveal the underlying humanity and universal truths of the classics. However, we also have an emphasis on original devised work that is inspired by true, seemingly insignificant events: for example, we may devise a piece surrounding a newspaper article about a Siberian village population that has been displaced as a result of railroad development, or about a café owner in Baghdad who continually reopens his shop in the midst of war. Depending on the topic or theme, we look to incorporate and utilise theatrical forms or cultural traditions (including rituals, songs, dances, etc) that may support the theme or reveal a new meaning or deeper human truth. In this way we endeavour to draw from all cultures and styles, to challenge and inspire our audience, and to reflect upon our times and human condition: the joy as well as the sorrow, the beauty as well as the ugliness inherent in life.

Why do we do what we do?
We live in a world that is increasingly globalised, yet increasingly divided. In times such as these, it is more important than ever to seek to illuminate and understand what makes us human, and the ties that bind across cultures, language, and experience. We believe that theatre is a truly human form of communication, which enables a communion between performer and audience that is unmatched in any other medium. We believe in the right of the global community to have its stories told, as well as the right of the global community to hear those stories. We hope to open a door to a greater awareness of the world and the human condition as it is experienced elsewhere. We create theatre for the sake of presenting a new point of view, for the sake of education, for the sake of revealing a deeper humanity that may take us some small step closer to understanding the ties that bind over those conflicts that would tear us apart.

Why do we exist as a group?
As a group of theatre artists, we embody the type of theatre we would like to create: internationally diverse, artistically adventurous, intellectually curious, and socially concerned. With five members, we represent five nationalities and five different mother tongues, yet we speak the same theatrical language (thanks largely to our collective training at the London International School of Performing Arts.) Similarly, as we seek to find a deeper universal language in our work, we can seek within our group to discover that human essence that reaches beyond cultural experience and upbringing. More practically, our widespread geographical roots give us an inestimable advantage in networking, as well as opportunities to create theatre all over the world.

Who do we do it for?
Our theatre is accessible enough that it can be appreciated and enjoyed by people from all walks of life, all cultures and backgrounds. The specific audience will vary from project to project, depending on our location at the time and the community in which we find ourselves. The constant is that we do theatre for the community in which we exist.

Where do we do it?
Our theatre is a theatre in motion. We operate on the principle of a “floating base,” which means that our theatrical home would change every 2-5 years. Within that span of time, however, we would embark on projects of 3-12 months that would take place elsewhere in the world. For example: though we have a space that we return to regularly in (insert location here) (our “base”), we may spend 9 months living and working in a village in India re-envisioning Hamlet within their cultural context and collaborating with that immediate community before returning to our base to share that work with an international audience. Often the sharing of such a production with the audience and public found at our base and through international touring will provide the financial means to continue the work of the company, and to fund subsequent projects.