Norman A. Bert

The Incarnational Actor:
From Christian Theology into Theatrical Praxis

[pages 217 - 221]

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Abstract

Editor's Choice #1: This paper was presented at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, summer of 2003 as part of the panel "Religion Shapes the Actor's Work". The panel investigated the effect religious belief and practice has on one's decision to act, on the kind of training one pursues, and on the acting approaches and techniques used.

This paper looks at reconciliation and the entire Christian ethic as law of love, the one commandment that Jesus imposed upon his followers: Christians are commanded to love others, friend and foe, as Christ loved them—meaning sacrificially, even unto death—and to do unto others as they would have others do unto them. This paper explores how this belief system impacts the work of the Christian actor.

Ken D. Elston

Ritual and Inhabiting the Mask:
An Actor's Search for the Transcendent Creative State

[pages 222 - 234]

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Abstract

Mask training, far beyond its capacity for developing facility in characterization, induces transcendent creative states in performers. This phenomenon is both observable and repeatable. Whether sacred or secular, rituals surrounding mask performance share the capacity for liminality or transformation. Ritual is a universal path to such transformation, and it serves the same role in training for all creative expression and, specifically, theatre performance. The creative state is an internal shift allowing a free exchange between the artist and the artist’s world. Universal commonalities in the experience of inhabiting a mask suggest that examining the transformative phases induced in mask work might illuminate the nature of the creative state itself. As the creative state is defined, so too is the creative act. The intent of this investigation is to follow the threads from ritual to performance [and application in actor training]. In comparing characteristics of aesthetic mask work to those of other transformative states induced by ritual, the paper makes the case that artistic exploration in the mask offers a system for achieving transformation toward the creative state. It suggests that the quest for the creative state has an equal validity to the resultant art. As the two are inexorably linked in the dialectic of creative expression, the human need for art is satisfied in the communion of the two.

Yvonne Fein

From Sacred Scroll to Stage and Page

[pages 235 - 266]

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Abstract

A Celebration of Women was produced by the Jewish Museum of Australia in conjunction with the National Council of Jewish Women (Victoria) as part of its 75th anniversary celebration. The performance was well-attended and subsequently invited to the Magdalena Festival in Brisbane. However, some rabbis were unhappy with my take on biblical, talmudic and midrashic texts. One even forbade his congregation to buy tickets. Consequently, for some time now, I have been intrigued by the phenomenon of a writer finding inspiration in classical Jewish texts. Certainly not everyone agrees the material is hers for the taking. Controversy flares quickly when sacred words enter profane arenas because aggadaic material is potentially incendiary when presented as drama, song, poetry and performance. I have written about the experience of having put together a piece such as A Celebration of Women, its consequences and its otherness. It concerned women, and much of its strangeness was drawn from talmudic footnotes, or arcane midrashim. When Jewish but secular performers (and director) came to interpreting it, that added more layers of unexpected elucidation and illumination. I discuss what it means to be a Jew, a writer, and a human being who feels compelled to breach those very ancient boundaries which both incense and define me.

Mahmood Karimi-Hakak

Religion and the Actor:
The Art of Mastering Double Standards Under The Theocratic Islamic Regime of Iran

[pages 267 - 274]

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Abstract

Editor's Choice #2: This paper was presented at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, summer of 2003 as part of the panel "Censorship & The Stage: Experiences From Around the World." The panel investigated censorship of the arts on a personal and political level in various countries around the world, and then considered what censorship means today.

"What is interesting in an actor is what he can not do yet he tries," says Joseph Campbell, and thus he summarizes in one sentence what the acting profession has faced within the Islamic Republic of Iran for the past quarter of a century. I will narrow my attention to my native Iran, and within Iran's Islamic history I will concentrate on the last twenty-five years, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, which claims to lead the world of Shiite Muslims. I will further focus on what I personally witnessed in my seven years of theatre and film experience in Iran, from 1993-1999.

Pamyla A. Stiehl

Bharata Natyam:
A Dialogical Interrogation of Feminist Voices in Search of the Divine Dance

[pages 275 - 302]

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Abstract

During the revival and reform of India's Bharata Natyam in the 1920s-30s, both religious and secular "authorities" reconstituted the temple dance while simultaneously removing the devadasi (dancer) from her sacred profession. Interrogating this potent time period, many feminists have dissected and deconstructed the development of contemporary Bharata Natyam. But, where can God be found in this paradigm? In this paper, I dialogically engage with feminists who have critically examined the material significations of Bharata Natyam. I argue that aspects of their critiques fall short when they ignore the spiritual, transformative power of this devotional dance.

Philip Zwerling

The Political Agenda for Theatricalizing Religion in
Shango de Ima and Sortilege II: Zumbi Returns

[pages 303 - 316]

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Abstract

When theatricalizing religious themes there are always questions about which themes are highlighted, the author’s intention, and the audience’s reception. Shango de Ima, a Cuban play, and Sortilege II, a Brazilian play, both bring the Yoruba religion on stage to recapture a cultural heritage and to make a contemporary political point. This paper examines how political ends justify dramatic and religious means.