It’s official! I will be traveling with 8 other amazing theatre artists to the village of Tengeru in Tanzania to conduct a three-week theatre intensive with a beautiful group of Tanzanian students. This will be my second trip to Africa. Last year I was honored to go on a two-week Department of State sponsored tour throughout the country of Lesotho. And this coming fall, it looks like I’ll be traveling to three cities in South Africa (more to come on this later once it’s confirmed).
I am very excited to be going to Tanzania, and will tell you all about it when I return. We leave next month (June 23rd), so for those of you who have been to that part of the continent, I welcome any stories, reflections, or words of wisdom that you may have! For more info on the Tanzania residency, and the organization that is producing the trip, please visit the International Theatre & Literacy Project website
Will Power
Thank you so, so much for your words of wisdom. I really appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences with me.
Peace!
Will Power
Hello Will! I just wanted to leave you some stories, reflections and words of wisdom having just gotten back from using theatre as a healing mechanism in Rugerero, Rwanda which is very near to where you will be.
First off, every place in Africa is unique as I’m sure you know but that area in particular is a force to be reckoned with. I feel like they have all encountered some sort of inner conflict (for Rwanda, it was genocide killing a million people) and I feel like it’s that raw history that fuels every aspect of their existence. Working with the theme of healing in Rwanda, I learned that acting to them, is simple (lord knows American actors have a lot to learn about THAT) and the people they love to portray are themsevles. My group tried to play a game of machine in which we used ourselves to form different parts of a “common” machine and we made the ignorant mistake of making a high tech, multi-gadget machine and they followed with a simple hoe and axe. We put on a full length “production” about love & marriage and all the props were improvised from whatever was in the room (broom was a banana leaf, etc.). Their bricolage is amazing and exhilirating and everything you hope for in all your theatrical experiences.
Also, being in the theatre, we are sometimes used to clear cut schedules… Africa has no schedule. You set a meeting or rehearsal for 2 pm and it MIGHT start at 3. Definitely learn to appreciate their advanced outlook on performance art. When I came back to the states, although I had been to Africa multiple times, this was one time where I felt so changed and hopeful (I guess theatre and hip hop does that to you), but the world does not change with you.
Love the days where all you have to do is sit around and practice observation, those are the ones I honestly treasure the most now.
TAKE A JOURNAL & WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN.
Make sure all the clothes you take, you don’t want to bring back because when you leave, you’ll want to leave everything there with you.
Take bubbles and lots of pictures of your family/friends. You’ll be surprised how much people will want to see the people you love.
Three weeks will not seem enough but rush nothing. Every moment counts.
A man with as much experience as you, I’m not sure if any of this helps but I hope so. When you get back, especailly from doing something like this, I would tell friends (and maybe even family) that you get back two days later than when you actually get back. You’ll need those two days of introspection for yourself. Otherwise, you’ll never really assimilate back into life. And maybe you wont want to.
Have fun. Live & love. I’m a big supporter of your work and hope to see good things come from your experience abroad.