Convenings
Past Learning Exchange Reports:
Seattle, May 3–5, 2002
Andrea Assaf
2002
Breaking Conventions Discussion Group: Performing Arts
Participants: Sue Wood, Mark Plesent, Diane Johnson-VanParjis, Sarah McCracken, Abel Lopez, Jeff Herrmann, Mike Travis, Bart Mills, David Witmer, Peter DuBois, Tory Peterson, Elizabeth Ross
Sue Wood facilitated.
Discussion of Structures and Approaches
Sue: Questions on talkbacks. Talk about the practical (not philosophical)
Jeff: When we think about the construction/formal elements of dialogue, I feel like a lot of our notions come from television, be it Oprah or Crossfire. I wonder if we’re locked in those modes. In our project, what worked best was when we were not in those modes, but when we had two people talking to each other. These moments were not constructed.
Peter: We learned that smaller numbers were more manageable and led to a more interesting dialogue. The first event I did was a panel, and it didn’t work at all. In the second event, I found that the more I pulled myself out of the room, the more people spoke. The more they forgot I was the director, the more they felt comfortable to speak and confront the issues. An expert in the room would have undermined our dialogue. We separated the performance and the dialogue, which allowed people to digest the material and think about the show.
Sue: Throw out some formats that we’ve used.
Mark: The potluck dinner was a good tool to get people there and make them feel comfortable.
Tory: Working with a group of teachers, we took them to a theater in Minneapolis that’s very stylistic. We watched the show, and the next day, brought them together in groups of 8 to discuss that there is no right or wrong in theater, but strong and weak choices. People talked about their experiences and had a real exchange. They were upset when I told them they had to end the discussion after 25 minutes. They appreciated that I didn’t tell them what to think about the play but let them discuss their interpretation of the work.
Sue: Did you give them a guiding question or anything to consider?
Tory: I gave them reviews of the play to think about, and gave them prompts of the style to notice. These were springboards for discussion.
Sue: Themes in this discussion so far: separation in time and space from the performance, and small groups
Diane: How would the dialogue upstairs (the Town Hall Meeting) have felt if we were all sitting around on the same level, instead of having the scientists on the stage? We’re bringing in clergy in our project who are used to speaking from the pulpit...
Mike T: We’re planning to have small groups of 8-10 with 2 facilitators each. Each group will see a video taped performance. We’re trying to have a safe space for them to come and talk. Each person has an equal voice. 4 steps: people are invited into the conversation; a topic of conversation is presented; they have an in-depth discussion; and a closing. These people will have a series of discussions over a period of 1.5 months. We will aim for cross-representation in each group done by initial screening. The facilitators will do the initial interviews before the groups come together.
Tory: The process I use with kids is describe, interpret, analyze, judge.
Mike T: We’re not asking the groups to judge the artwork. We’re going to develop questions to ask in the dialogue. We’re going to scrub the questions, which means looking at them carefully to make sure there are no assumptions embedded. The first few questions are designed to draw people in.
Peter: What I like about this approach is the repeated contact around the same issue. Here with Gene(sis), there have been 3 lenses through which to digest the art, and that helps you each time you go through a new experience.
Bart: There’s a potential there. The outcome could be development of relationships with the people in these groups, people with different opinions.
Mike T: That is our bottom-line goal, to develop relationships between people who normally wouldn’t talk to each other.
Sarah: Ours is a study circle to plan the dialogue. Out of the study circle, it was decided that the composer would present selections of the work at a dinner dialogue. Children have done their own sound collections and written poems and will present their works at the same dinner. We thought that this was a good way to get the community involved; by involving the children, we will get more adults there. We’ve decided to call this storytelling rather than dialogue, because “dialogue” is too intimidating. The study circle participants will facilitate the dinner dialogues.
David: We have also scheduled two nature sound walks with facilitators.
Sarah: We will also have a pre-concert event between the composer and artistic director to inform the work.
Mike T: Because of the methodology that we’re using (inquiry-based dialogue), we’re trying to get beyond “stuck stories.” The artists have been processing the same methodology with our inquiry facilitator, and they have been transformed in how they will present their artistic pieces and are rethinking how they tell their stories in order to engage the audience and foster dialogue.
Diane: Because the artists are being transformed by this project, some people are concerned that the artists will lose their edge. We have to remind people that this process is a positive thing.
Tory: You’re just forcing them to think about their audience, which they need to do.
Bart: Our play is based on interviews with the community, but we know that the community isn’t going to want to hear on stage what they told us in their interviews.
Mike T: Everyone’s going to have to feel safe. In the dialogue we have had with the artists, we can see that there is thoughtfulness.
Peter: Audiences are becoming more and more a part of the equation. The artists are thinking about the audience as part of the material. How do we create those opportunities for intimate conversation in the structure of the facility, the physical space, and how we program our events? What could keep people around longer to talk?
Bart: A theater bar or food and drinks afterward.
Mark: People do hang around, but I don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s not a structured dialogue. I always ask the actors to stay, and the director and writer, and it becomes a discussion about methodology.
Sue: Should actors, writers, or directors be there? When we started to do issue-based work, people looked at the actors as experts on the issue.
Jeff: Dialogue activity can only become transformative when people get to participate and talk. There’s a group in Anchorage called Bridge Builders that brings just two people from opposing camps together.
Mike T: People have been able to ask personal questions, allowing connections to the artist, which has also been transformative.
Sue: In what ways might art be integrated in the dialogue? Has anyone had experience with someone being “in role” in the dialogue? I saw a show where the director or facilitator invited the audience to ask the actors questions after the show but they were still in character.
Sarah: We are using improvisational music as dialogue with students in our music school, so we’re integrating art with dialogue in that way.
Peter: Because Gene and Jay are leaders on this issue, how do you bring people together without having that agenda?
Mike T/Diane: It’s a partnership between Out North, Alaska Common Ground, and the Interfaith Council of Anchorage. Very carefully crafted and presented.
Mike T: The most difficult people to get into the dialogue, as I see now, are the GLBT community, because of the history of the issue in Alaska. They are afraid of confronting the issue, because of the consequences involved in talking about the issue.
Peter: We’ve had the opposite problem. We’ve worked hard to get conservatives into our theater, and we’re unable to get that section of the community in because they are afraid they’re going to get backed into a corner.
Diane: We are educating the community about the dialogic process.
Mike T: Our facilitators will be people in the center—judges, psychologists, etc. They become the face of the project, which will help to draw people in.
