Events, Updates, News and More
Being raised in a South/West Asian home, in NYC, I have the privilege to be able to see things from different cultural perspectives and to carry with me the knowledges of many people. (I use the plural to reflect that there is no one “knowledge”.) I am blessed to have an extended family of second mothers, sisters and brothers who have shared with me some of Puerto Rican culture, African American culture, LGBTQ culture, Jewish culture and so on. I am grateful to have that information and perspective as a part of my being.
The last four days at the Kabul Theater Festival has been heady, thrilling, hopeful, and heartful. I was overjoyed to meet most of the theater artists that I worked with last year. They were presenting their work at the festival (one of them won best scenery and costumes!) and they all looked radiant and full of life. Moreover, I met so many new, creative people working in MANY different provinces of Afghanistan and in different forms of theater.
With fall peeking around the corner I am determined to soak up the last bits of summer; the long, stretched out days, the sense that time has stopped inside this humid container of a city, the need to see old friends and hear their summer reflections and meditations. My summer meditation is on structure: the structure of my life as an artivist and how to structure arts and culture work for social change. In the still moments, the message I get is: “do the work and see”, but a wall of chatter soon builds up around it.
Last night I had a dream that my head exploded. I felt cold chills, imagined nothingness and longed for all I wanted to see and do. But I soon realized that I was thinking all of these things and nothing had really changed. I got up and saw that not only was I still alive but no one noticed anything different about me. I could go about my day as if it were any other. Soon, my anxiety and fear gave way to a total release of old hang-ups and boring messages of self doubt. My mind was unleashed and I no longer needed to construct myself in relation to the confines of those old hurtful messages. I was thrilled to be alive!
What d’ya know … the world keeps changing. It’s May! May Day 2011 had me thinking about the immense contribution of working people. Our work creates wealth, our labor produces the foundation of our societies. I say “we” because all artists are workers. Our collective labor transforms the world we live in and enriches people’s lives on a daily basis.
A big thank you to everyone who participated in the conversation on Afghanistan this past Sunday. For folks who couldn’t be there I spoke about the power of images (both negative and positive) to shape reality. We interrupted the negative monologue on Afghanistan and moved closer to other human beings through seeing the artists’ faces and hearing their stories. The audience created new images of solidarity and love to send overseas. HERE IS THE VIDEO OF THOSE GREETINGS!!!
On Sunday, October 24th, from 2:00 – 4:00 PM I’ll be giving a special presentation about my work in Afghanistan and my plans for the future. Come hear about the inspiring artists who are using theater for civic engagement and social change. Listen to the good news that isn’t shown on TV.
I am back in New York City, feeling energized and refreshed, after my month-long residency at the Blue Mountain Center in the gorgeous Adirondack Mountains. I took full advantage of an entire month of serenity and wide open space and have started a new play which deals with themes of national borders, identity and cultural repression, and family history in modern-day Iran. I will keep you up to date as it unfolds and develops. Here are some things I am working on during the month of October. I hope to see you around!
Some video from the working class neighborhood that I drove through every day. You see people walking, working, living life. You’ll hear the car radio in the background. Sorry for the glare, I had to take this with the window up – didn’t want to hang out of the car with a camera! You may have to watch this a couple of times to see some of the details.
Before I left for Kabul my niece Leah and nephew Garrison (both 8 years-old) were very concerned and asked me why I wanted to go. I told them that we always hear bad news, but we don’t often hear the good news and I was going to work with people who were doing really good things. Mema, (my granny-in-law) sitting behind them, nodded and said, “that’s right”. Leah and Garrison seemed to accept that idea, though their little faces still registered concern. We all know that there is more out there – that the world is a good place – but we are constantly bombarded with information and images that replay the negative, the painful, and the depressing.
So, today I am really missing my friends and colleagues in Kabul after two aggravating incidents. Yesterday an entitled and aggressive man sat next to me on the subway and expected/demanded I move over so his companion could sit where I was sitting. I was confused and wanted to move away from him, so I moved. Then today, I am walking down the street and another man rams into me and shoves me over with his shoulder. (This is in Queens, too!)
Just a quick note before I head off to bed. I’ve been up since 6am and at the office since 7:30 preparing for our final presentation. We had an amazing performance today with much discussion and a brave intervention into the play! Forum theater has begun! (Yes, I did get video of it!)
Afterwards, we had a party for the participants and all our emotions came pouring out … well, Afghan style. Which meant we basically were all on the verge of tears and some small tears, but I was really about to lose it. The men and women said such kind and sincere things to me, about the work and about their experience.
I was so touched that many of them went so far as to buy me a gift. Everything from chocolates, to Afghan sweets, to a beautiful Afghan outfit, and outfits for my future children!
I have learned so much and am so moved by the heart and spirit of my new friends and colleagues. I can’t wait to see the work they do! And, yes, I am definitely changed.
Here’s a photo of the creation of the image of our future success!
In a place where one of our artists has his name tatooed on his forearm so his family can identify him in case he’s dismembered in a bomb blast, I am proud and honored to have shared ideas and practices of liberation with a few committed souls. I told them all, that we will meet again. I mean it.
“Oh please leave, please just leave!” I’ve been repeating this phrase in my head for the last couple of days. My workshop has been stopped thanks to a high level international conference on aid and development funding for Afghanistan. The office is shut, many roadways are completely closed, and everyone is waiting for Ban Ki Moon and the other international superstars and diplomats to get on their planes and fly out of Kabul.
What’s it like to be a theater artist living in Afghanistan? Over the last 3 days the group shared personal experiences of what it is like to make theater in their provinces. We used their stories and created a “problem tree” – a tool used in popular education to analyze a present problem, what supports this problem, all the way down to the root causes. The problems they presented are somewhat familiar to me: no respect, no resources, and no support. These become the leaves, or fruit of the tree.
I have spent two action-packed, exciting, theater-filled days with my new family of 15! We have 2 women and 13 men representing 3 different theater groups in 3 different cities and provinces. There are 4 men from Kandahar which is in the south of Afghanistan. It is close to the border of Pakistan and the “tribal regions”. It is one of the more conservative parts of the country. Then there are 4 men from Jalalabad,which is in the East. It is also very close to the Pakistani border and has a strong Pashto cultural influence and history. Finally, there are 3 men and 2 women from Mazar-e-Sharif which is in the very north of Afghanistan. It is close to the border of Uzbekistan.
I am off to Kabul in 2 hours!! YIKES and YAY!! Right now I’m in an internet cafe in a fabulous Middle Eastern area of London. I am staring at all the women trying to figure out how they manage to make their head scarves look so elegant and stylish. I’ve practiced wrapping myself but only manage to look like a granny! Why didn’t I think of this back in NY where all my beautiful sisters could have given me pointers?!
I am now in Wales, about to start my “hostile environments” training course before I head off to Kabul on the 10th. I’ve spent the last 3 days in London getting to know the BBC Afghan team, seeing friends, and combatting a cold. I’ve posted a video update. It’s been quite a mental rollercoaster. One day I am feeling upbeat, looking forward to my trip, the next day I am thinking of all the awful violent images I see on the news, imagining myself in the center of such things. I was seriously questioning myself, my decision, and my impulse to continually and adamantly unveil hope and goodness from those settings and places our society has placed at the bottom of the heap. My fear was strong, my strength wavered.
