 |
|
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Verily Yours : Anne Chua Anne Chua is currently the main artistic director of Tapestry Playback Theatre, an extremely powerful form of theatre that impacts all who participates in its socially meaningful activities. Its performances consists of a group of actors who 'play back' the stories of the audiences under a conductor who interviews them. The potential for multi-disciplinary forms of storytelling is wide and much information of Playback Theatre can be found online.Anne attends Trinity Christian Centre, is a core team member of TAGS and has been a rare example of the reliable and trustworthy leader in the Christian arts scene. Her professional portfolio includes educational therapy and topical workshops for women. CreateLeVoyage.com is pleased to discuss with Anne Chua updates on Tapestry Playback Theatre and its relevance to the Christian community.   Tapestry Playback Theatre. Anne Chua sits in the middle in white. Dawn : I've been a big fan of Playback Theatre since I first interviewed you and Agnes Law. It opened my eyes to a new kind of work that would be a positive yet creative healing catalyst without the jarring ambiguity of socio-political ambitions. Could you comment on the staying presence of Playback Theatre in Singapore? Anne : I believe that there are a lot of potential areas of involvement for Playback Theatre (PT) in Singapore. However, there has been an inner struggle for me to promote PT extensively and yet, not wanting it to become too commercialised. There had been occasions in the past when some people have approached me to sell Playback Theatre programmes, they tried to convince me to sell it like a miracle cure to every social issue in a school environment. I did not feel comfortable in promising some things that I cannot deliver and presenting PT as isolated parts rather than as a holistic process. In the end, I am choosing to do it slowly and in the community that I am most familiar and that is, human and educational services. I can see schools and community groups setting up PT clubs and use them to build bonds within their own communities. Dawn : This is a question that will no doubt be compared to existing leadership structures in churches or arts groups. One of the most difficult things in any group is transition - in your case, it involved Agnes, the original director moving to England for long term studies, passing to Anne, who was left to continue its vision and company expectations. Anne, how do you understand this as an inevitable process of managing group dynamics? Anne : Jonathan Fox, the founder of Playback Theatre wrote about the importance of providing rituals for social events that are happening in each Playback group. I see this as even more important when there are transitions within a group. Such rituals develop a good orientation for new members to assimilate into the group, renew present members' commitment and allow a good exit for departing members. For Agnes, this ritual was a special playback session with her talking about past experiences, Tapestry's future vision and mission and our current hopes and dreams as a playbacker . For example, in one instance we draped 4 chairs with 4 different coloured cloths that represented reflections of the positive and insightful experiences for 2005 as well as individual hopes and dreams for Tapestry. This is a true-blue Playback Theatre style to facilitate discussion where every member's opinions and comments are seen as important and valued. It gives the participants the space to air one's views without any judgement. For my probationers, I also ensure that they too have a special ritual that reminds them of their transition of the role from being a probationer to being a full-fledged member. As playbackers, we view transitions as important milestones in our company's life and we want to remember these special moments with special ceremonies or rituals in a true Playback style. Dawn : Also, just to understand that we are on the same page : "ritual" in this case is defined by "the code of ceremonies observed by an organization"*? Anne : Yes, and this ritual is seen as an accepted tradition for all members and probationers. It is also one that will change with time and agenda.  Tapestry Playback Theatre members pose. Anne : In the first place, the founding members of Tapestry (namely Agnes and I) had envisioned a group of PT practitioners who are employed as full-time workers in human-related services. They would see themselves as instrumental in serving the Singaporean community using PT. We saw the need for those who would join us to have the basic Christian values and not necessarily being Christians themselves. After three years, I am more convinced about this truth within my group. I have non-Christian members who go to Cambodia with me to serve the Christian missionaries who are helping the children to experience the healing effects of PT through telling their stories. As a leader and trainer for my group, I am very aware of the differences in faith experiences and artistic training in my members. They have been very open to me about their group expectations and have been most generous in allowing certain rituals to be in place. Something like praying before a performance has become an integral part of Tapestry's pre-performance rituals. In terms of training, it is a balance of getting members are trained in dramatic arts to share their expertises and allowing those who are more skilled with active listening and empathy to demonstrate such skills to one another. Dawn : The following is a very interesting excerpt I found online. "There is a paradox in doing playback theatre: the basic idea is so simple and accessible. But doing it well is extremely difficult. The form has great artistic and psychological power, which we spend years learning to use constructively. We know from experience that playback theatre practiced with too little background can lead to unfortunate outcomes. It is students' personal stories that are the texts here, and there can be reverberations." Joanathan Fox's letter to teachers wishing to teach Playback Theatre in academic settings, http://www.playbackschool.org/lettertoteachers1.htm This probably happens when our good intentions do not come at the (necessary) sacrifice of learning something deeply. I do notice that actors in Playback Theatre in Singapore, or participants in its workshops have been quick to try to understand its form and practise it, and in doing so, alienate something of its foundation. How has this affected the way you think of say, 'discipleship'? Anne : For me, discipleship is not an easy process. To date, I have trained at least 100 people in Singapore and Cambodia, but only a small handful of participants are still keen in continuing to learn more about PT. As a teacher, I would want to continue my mentorship with them. But it is very much a mutual relationship. The truth is most people just want to learn the skills, forms and theories quickly but they ignore the essential process of PT. What I mean by process is the time that one needs to spend in dialogue with other fellow playbackers, the time spent in developing relationships that are open to talking about interpersonal conflicts and exploring different perspectives, and even the process of forgiving and being forgiven. For those who continue to persist in this process, they would find that not only do they improve on their Playback skills, they also improve on their psychological, emotional and spiritual development in the process of doing PT for one another. I have often shared in my workshops that to continue to do good playback theatre, one must continue to develop their understanding of PT. Such things include reading about the latest happenings in the global Playback community, improve on one's own artistry, jam with fellow playbackers and to add on to the knowledge of playback theatre by doing more playback practices and performances so as to write about them. I am always available for dialogue and consultation for anyone who says that PT has a place in their lives. Recently, Agnes shared with me that no one is really bad at PT, it just takes more time for some people. I want to add on to that comment by saying that it takes more courage and patience for some other people too. Dawn : How has God and church (they are different) been fundamental or influential to your personal growth in your art practice? Anne : To me, Tapestry is God's project. I would not move in any direction unless God approves of it. This is a lesson I learnt from the start. When I first learnt PT in 2002, I had lofty dreams of using PT in many little communities within Singapore. However, God showed me through my fellow Christian friends who were involved in one of my earlier playback workshop sessions that I needed more training before sharing PT with others. Their concerns got me really worried about using PT with so little training and I almost gave up on PT. But God provided for me and given me the best teachers in PT, namely Bev Hosking, Veronica Needa, Jonathan Fox and Jo Salas in the last 3 years. God gave me a dream a year ago that He will provide me with all the human and material resources so as to help Tapestry become a professional theatre company that will honour God in our creative and spontaneous ways. When my pastor knew about my involvement in Playback Theatre and the Playback Cambodia project with Mercy Teams International, he was very encouraging and even wrote me a letter to affirm me that this is truly my ministry in redeeming the arts for God's purposes. I am very thankful to have many spiritual leaders who have been praying for Tapestry's projects and its members. With their blessings and prayers, I know I will continue to serve as a leader in Tapestry and a spiritual mentor to those whom I meet along my Playback journey. Dawn : How do you think Playback Theatre can relate, or is already relating, to the church in Singapore? Could you explain with illustrations, examples to give us a concrete idea? Anne : On 31st May this year, Tapestry gave a special presentation at a children's camp for the Church of Singapore where we did fluid sculptures and stories for the young participants about their camp experiences. Everyone was particularly touched by a story told by one camper who felt so happy to be at the same camp with his best friend who had been with him since his childhood days. We were happy to be able to use PT to commemorate some of these precious moments for the campers. Recently, Tapestry presented a sharing session of PT to a group of young adults who are taking a certificate in creative arts at Theological Centre for Asia College (TCA). It was the first time we were able to share some playback theatre skills in a creative arts course that is targeted at people who are preparing for their ministry. Until now, it had been the dream of the Christian members in Tapestry to use PT as a platform to give honour and glory to God.Therefore, it was such an honour for my members to re-enact many significant moments in the personal life testimonies shared by the TCA students. Visit Tapestry Playback Theatre at http://tapestryplayback@blogspot.com or email tapestryplayback@gmail.com. ------- *http://www.webster-dictionary.net/
|
| All articles, files and materials are copyright of CreateLeVoyage.com unless otherwise stated. Views of the writers, artists and contributors may not be taken to be the views of CreateLeVoyage.com. To reprint, reproduce or link to our website requires written permission. Email us at createlevoyage@gmail.com |
 |
 |