July 16, 2018
Theatre Friends, Old and New
Political, socially-engaged, and educational theatre are an important source of the emerging performance activism-and a powerful presence at Performing the World (PTW) from its beginning in 2001 through this coming September. Here are some of the theatre activists presenting at PTW 2018.
Returning to PTW are two pioneers of activist theatre, Sanjay Kumar, the founding president of the Pandies’ Theatre, based in New Delhi, India, and Peter Harris, chair of the Theatre Studies Department at Western Galilee Academic College in Israel. Both Sanjay and Peter will be reporting on their latest projects where theatre and performance build bridges between antagonistic communities. Pandies’, one of India’s premier activist theatres, has been creating performances with and for marginalized populations for over 20 years. Attending his fifth PTW, Sanjay will report on Pandies’ ongoing work in Kashmir doing workshop theatre with Hindus and Muslims in the 
context of the seventy-year struggle between the Indian government and Muslims who want to Kashmir to be a part of Pakistan. Much of Peter’s work involves devising theatre with Jews and Arabs. This year, his fourth PTW, he will report on the workshops he leads with prisoners serving life sentences and theatre arts students.
Another veteran of PTW returning to PTW 2018 is Eva Brenner, from Vienna, Austria, founder and artistic director of the Experimental Theatre Collective Fleischerei. This year she will lead a workshop inspired by her theatre’s production of Marija, a play adapted from a story by Isaac Babel, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Using play, performance and conversation, the workshop will be a collective inquiry into the question, “What would a successful revolution look like today?”
Among the many activist theatre workers attending PTW for the first time is Francesco Argenio Benaroio. An Italian who is currently based in Budapest, 
Hungary, Francesco has worked with the United Nations, the International Labour Organization, the European Union and various NGOs. He was also a major organizer of “Play, Perform, Learn, Grow,” a conference inspired by PTW, which took place in Thessaloniki, Greece this past spring. Francesco will be sharing his experiments in bringing two influential strains of activist theatre-Theatre of the Oppressed and Playback Theatre-into a fruitful cross-fertilization.
Also new to PTW is Diana Feldman, whose organization ENACT works with New York City middle and high school students. She will be sharing “Show Up,” ENACT’s year-long drop-out prevention performance series that brings together students with professional actors, drama therapists, playwrights and directors to create a performance that reflects the concerns and aspirations of the students.
The next PTW newsletter will feature some of the many dance activists bring workshops and performances to PTW.