Archiving and reporting on the arts is just as important as the execution of artistic practice by itself.
The archival and recording of theatrical work may not be a part of creating the actual work, but it makes sure that theatrical happenings live beyond their ephemerality.
Careful recording and detailed reflections are extensions of the creative process behind any performance, educational program or workshop, and can become valuable learning resources for the entire field.
At TEFO, we’ve always been thinking about how to fulfill our responsibility to develop ourselves as a networking and consulting organization for other practitioners in this field, and we hope that the principle of “Shared Knowledge” can continue carrying us forward in this work.
Thus, we are continually working to strengthen our online database’s ability to gather, organize and preserve applied theatre practice here in Hong Kong, so that our field’s research, records and archives can inspire present and future generations of applied theatre practitioners.
Please note that our English database is still under construction, and there may not be as much content as our Chinese database. For more resources, please visit the Chinese version of our website.
On “I want…”
In Theatre for Living workshops, whenever David Diamond led us in an Image Theatre exploration, he would always ask us to start a line for a character with “I want…” Sometimes, he required us to be very specific. If we said “I don’t want…” or “I want him to…”, he would interrupt us and ask directly: “What do you want?” This reminds me of an observation a professor shared when I was in university. He said that when choosing a career, many young people are often very clear about what...
Story of the Oppressor
In his book, David Diamond invites us to think beyond the binary concept of the oppressed and the oppressor. For reasons I’m still unpacking, I kept finding myself drawn to the perspective of the oppressor whenever an opportunity arose. The exercise began with an image created by the participants. It consisted of three people: one on the left, appearing angry and looking toward the right; another on the right, who seemed helpless with her head down; and a person in the middle, acting as a mediator with his arms extended...
Image Theatre and a true dialogue
Recently, I led a community group in a two-month Forum Theatre workshop. Deeply inspired by my training with “Theatre for Living,” I adopted a very different approach from previous years, embarking on a creative journey with the participants. The core of the workshop involved spending a significant amount of time using Image Theatre to explore their relationship with and experiences of oppression—an oppression that was not limited to violence but also included the powerlessness of being a bystander. I adhered to the core principle from David Diamond’s work: “not naming...
Changing Practice?− Exploring the potential contribution of applied theatre training to capacity building for NGO workers in China
Does applied theatre training contribute to capacity building for NGO workers in China? If so, how, and what factors might support or inhibit its effective application? This study adopts a blend of reflective practitioner research and action research as methodology centring on an applied theatre training workshop with a group of Chinese NGO workers. It draws from adult education literature in the area of experiential theories of adult learning and pedagogy, and the growing literature related to applied theatre and drama education. Both of these literatures raise theoretical issues concerning holistic learning and mindful and reflective practice, and a wide range of relevant categorisations of learning paradigms, fields and modes is canvassed.
