Late in the game, but this part of Boal‘s text is especially interesting to me at the moment.
One of the main functions of our art is to make people sensitive to the “spectacles” of daily life in which the actors are their own spectators, performances in which the stage and the stalls coincide. We are all artists. By doing theatre, we learn to see what is obvious but what we usually can’t see because we are only used to looking at it. What is familiar to us becomes unseen: doing theatre throws light on the stage of daily life.
I usually ignore World Theatre Day. The daily practice and my general feelings about self-congratulatory new holidays usually keep me away and a little cynical.
This year we have our final dress rehearsal that day. Should we do something? Do these gesture have meaning? What meaning, that I can support, could I give it? What meaning do you give it?
We are all actors: being a citizen is not living in society, it is changing it.
via The 2009 World Theatre Day International Message « The World Theatre Day Blog.
It’s great to hear you talking about what World Theatre Day means or could be for you and your company. It can be hard to find the right way of celebrating for you company. I know some companies are doing open rehearsals that day with plans of inviting some non-theatre people to see how theatre is created & are spreading the love that way. Others are doing tours of the theatre. Some are simply reading Boal’s speech in rehearsal or before the curtain of the show – and act that links all of these events globally.
There will be a bunch more ideas of how to get involved up on the world theatre day blog within the next couple of days, so I’d encourage you to keep checking it out.
i like the idea of actors being their own spectators. World Theatre Day sounds like a great idea and I’d love to attend an event like that. There is great theatre happening in Toronto this summer too. One of the more interesting and creative performances being at the Harbourfront Center called “Of All The People In All The WOrld.) It really puts things into perspective for all walks of life, using nothing more than grains of rice!
http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/ofallthepeople