Toasts for the World Theatre Day
27th March 2021 at 15:00 (UTC+1)
Holistic Theatre and the Butterfly Effect
“One meteorologist remarked that if the theory were correct, one flap of a seagull’s wings would be enough to alter the course of the weather forever. The controversy has not yet been settled, but the most recent evidence seems to favour the seagulls.” (Edward N Lorenz, founder of modern chaos theory in 1963)
Lorenz used the seagull as image for his theory – did he know the seagull’s monologue?
All men and beasts, lions, eagles, and quails, horned stags, geese, spiders, silent fish that inhabit the waves, starfish from the sea, and creatures invisible to the eye—in one word, life—all, all life, completing the dreary round imposed upon it, has died out at last. (…) their spirits have flowed together into one, and that great world-soul am I! In me is the spirit of the great Alexander, the spirit of Napoleon, of Caesar, of Shakespeare, and of the tiniest leech that swims. In me the consciousness of man has joined hands … (Anton Chekhov)
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
The World Theatre Training Institute, research centre of the International Theatre Institute, in cooperation with Istituto Italiano di Pedagogia Teatrale, would like to celebrate the World Theatre Day together with you by combining two ideas: the holistic understanding of theatre that Chekhov already described as the world soul with the optimistic idea that theatre can cause major changes according to the butterfly effect.
We invited friends from the different continents to give short toasts on the “seagull’s flap” to open together with us a topic that we intend to address in different formats in the future.
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Pavlos Kavouras (Europe/Greece) – Professor for Ethnomusicology and Cultural Anthropology Viviane Dias (Americas/Brasil) – actress, director, teacher, researcher Ricardo Abad (Asia/Philippines) – director, teacher, researcher Taiwo Okunola Afolabi (Africa/Nigeria) – applied theatre practitioner and researcher, ITI Network of Emerging Arts Professionals |
It has been exactly one year since our form of artistic expression changed from live encounters with audiences, students and colleagues to digital formats. Besides all the losses, we have also gained something: the global view and the self-evident communication in space, time and between different cultures. Digitality can support butterflies and seagulls. Isn’t it a beautiful idea that small changes can have large consequences?
Isn’t that an incentive for us? But how can we prepare ourselves to grasp and internalise such ideas of theatre? Let us dream of the world soul of theatre. What could that be? Could we perceive the world theatre as a hologram, and ourselves as the all-incorporating particles?
Dear Colleagues, join us in celebrating a day that may unite theatre artists and theatre lovers in the understanding that only peace and respect allows the development of humanity. While we are limited in these times to carry out our profession, we are nonetheless unlimited in the opportunity to meet.
Join us on Saturday 27 March 2021 at 3 pm (UTC+1) with your ideas, and after you have chosen your favourite drink for a shared toast!
Yours
Dr Jurij Alschitz Christine Schmalor
| find all information about the worldwide celebrations and activities at: https://www.world-theatre-day.org |