An evening with The Living Arts Playback Theater Ensemble

Went to a splendid improv show tonight at Berkeley's Live Oak Theater, invited by organizer Abe, who knows how to get a good group discount. It was The Living Arts Playback Ensemble Theater's adventure in turning one's personal story into immediate performance. Stories from the audience members were simple, heartfelt, and poignant, as they stepped onto the stage, mike in hand, to be interviewed by the otherworldly voiced Armand Volkas, a therapist and son of holocaust survivors. 

Great, relaxing way to end a day of teaching for me! Belly laughs and poignant moments...Best tale was by Chinton from Mumbai, at 34, skinny and edgy, unable to decide upon a wife now that he's a U.S. citizen and experiencing wild and vivid choices among 40 or more potential mates across the continents, all mapped out on an Excel spreadsheet by dad. But his story had tough competition in the one told by droll Suzie, a young woman from Turkey, who just spent 3 years studying in the Bay Area, where she was astounded to find out that she may yet marry, even if some back home consider her to be "too fat" (she's not), about the meaning of pot lucks ("What? You invited me to your house for dinner, and I am expected to bring the meal?"), laundromats, and making your own photocopies. "I am packing up my boxes, and they will take two months to travel home. But, when I get on the plane, my soul won't have that much time to adjust to what it will be like to be home again..." Really, you had to be there...

 From Armand Volkas' website:

 

HEALING THE WOUNDS OF HISTORY

(Formerly called Acts of Reconciliation)

This project produces public events and seminars for people identified with polarized groups, and promotes intercultural communication, mutual understanding, and conflict resolution through the expressive arts.

Healing the Wounds of History is a process in which experiential techniques are used to work with a group of participants who share a common legacy of historical trauma. The process was developed by Armand Volkas, MFT, a psychotherapist and drama therapist from Berkeley, California. Volkas is the son of Auschwitz survivors and resistance fighters from World War II. He was moved by his personal struggle with this legacy of historical trauma to address the issues that arose from it: identity, victimization and perpetration, meaning and grief. Healing the Wounds of History helps participants work through the burden of such legacies by transforming their pain into constructive action. Armand Volkas’s work has received international recognition for bringing groups in conflict together: Germans and Jews; Palestinians and Israelis; Japanese, Chinese and Koreans; African-Americans and European-Americans, to name a few.

Healing the Wounds of History is based on the premise that there can be no political solutions to intercultural conflict until we understand and take into consideration the needs, emotions and unconscious drives of the human being. The Healing the Wounds of History Project, which takes a psychological approach to conflict, provides a map to help both groups traverse the emotional terrain to reconciliation. We invite groups in conflict, who are willing to be emotional pioneers for their cultures, to participate in this groundbreaking project:

• Breaking the taboo against "enemies" speaking to each other.
• Humanizing each other through sharing our personal stories.
• Taking steps towards healing personal and collective wounds using creative and experiential methods.
• Transforming historical trauma into constructive action and service.

Join us in an effort to work through the layers of the unresolved feelings we carry about each other. Participate in a workshop where we explore what it means to be an emotional pioneer who helps pave the way for others to follow.