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SUBSCRIPTIONS
DigitalcopiesofSceneare availablethroughtheISTAShop. www.ista.co.uk
6 Editor’s note
FEATURES
23
Case Study - An interdisciplinary unit - from idea to realisation
Angela David reflects on a recent Grade 9 Interdisciplinary Unit which explored the stories and history of the school
36 Academic/theoretical - The power of theatre
Mike Bindon recalls how his work and life have been influenced by and enriched through his relationship with Dinos Aristidou.
79 Case Study - Hear it out
90
Theatre teacher Robin Willis looks back on ISTA’s Digital global production and its lasting impact
Interview with Dr Debra Kidd
Dr Debra Kidd discusses her work and the connections with and influence of Dinos Aristidou on her approach and life.
LESSON PLANS AND UNITS OF WORK
51 High school - The Whole Truth and Nothing But…
Erin Housam-Umicevic considers the aims and legacy of a Verbatim project created in collaboration with Dinos Aristidou.
FEATURES
85 96 43
SPOTLIGHT DIVERSITY,EQUITY&INCLUSION
INVISIBLESENTENCE NOTHINGABOUTUS WITHOUTUS
CEO of Culture Shift, Julia Roberts, on a new play based on verbatim stories of prisoner families.
UCAN co-founder Jane Latham talks about a Theatre as Inclusive Practice project
73 Middle school - Imagination as The Foundation of Learning Exploring the concept of home through the lens of a refugee crisis and imaginative play.
ARTISTS AND COMPANIES
28 Professional - LEAP Ambassadors
An introduction to Birmingham Royal Ballet’s LEAP Ambassadors programme.
ISTA RELATED
9 ISTA news
11 Issue introduction - From Dream, to Vision, to Manifesto, to Practice
ISTA Honorary Member Mike Pasternak introduces us to the framing of this special issue - A manifesto written by Dinos Aristidou.
16
The ISTA Approach - The nature and four strands of ISTA’s work
Executive Director, Dinos Aristidou, looks at the nature and four strands of ISTA’s work
58
Collaborations - The Last Column
Jennifer Lagasse, Director of Education at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum and theatre teacher Amy Luskey-Barth reflect on a recent collaboration.
The International Schools Theatre Association (ISTA) specialises in global learning through theatre.
We are a UK based charity, founded in 1978, providing transformative learning experiences for educators and young people worldwide. We create communities of learning, working closely with over 240 member schools around the world and we are the International Baccalaureate’s exclusive global provider of teacher training for Diploma Theatre.
We believe in the unique power of theatre and the arts to connect, develop, transform and empower people to become active members and change makers in their own communities and the world.
Clickanyofthelinksbelowformoreinformation.
#istatheatre
In life, there are those rare individuals who possess an innate ability to inspire, educate and transform lives. Dinos Aristidou was one such shining light.
The devastating loss of Dinos, our friend and ISTA’s Executive Director, has affected everyone who met him, from those who knew him for years and were fortunate to call him their friend to those who only crossed paths briefly with him. It is hard to know how to honour such a remarkable person and efforts to do so can often feel lacking or the fear of not doing them
justice leaves us paralysed. One of the myriad things I learnt from Dinos though was that action, even when the product is not perfect, is always the right path. So, this edition of Scene is an attempt to celebrate his remarkable legacy. Dinos was not just a theatre educator; he was a beacon of creativity for all who had the privilege of working with him. I had the fortune of working with him as an artist before he joined the ISTA staff team and his generosity, warmth, enthusiasm and care had a huge impact on me. This ensemble of articles written by those who worked alongside him paint a rich picture of a passionate, committed, kind and empathetic person. Each article is a testament to the ripple effect of his teachings.
While this issue still focuses on Exploring the world through theatre we are using A manifesto, written by Dinos, as a motif throughout to frame each article.
Thank you to everyone who so generously gave their time to write for this special issue of Scene. For those who knew him these words and memories will ring true. For those who didn’t,
even though he is gone, there is still so much to learn from him.
In remembering and honouring Dinos Aristidou, we honour the principle of theatre itself – a prism through which our shared humanity can be explored.
‘Dinos was more than an exceptional collaborator or mentor. He was a catalyst for change, embodying the very spirit of wonder that he believed theatre should inspire.’
Mike Bindon
The power of theatre, Scene September 2023
‘He is irreplaceable but if we all try to be more like Dinos, the world is sure to be a better place.’
Jane Latham
Nothing about us without us, Scene September 2023
HelenAbbott
Editor
Our heartfelt thanks go out to our community who donated so generously to ‘The Dinos Aristidou Fundraiser’ - £5,000 was raised. As we continue on this journey to honour Dinos Aristidou’s extraordinary legacy, your support and shared belief in his vision means so much to us all. In a world without him, your willingness to stand with ISTA as we continue his important work brings all of us strength, hope and a future of possibilities that will make an impact on our world, with the newly created: Dinos Global Legacy Fund.
The principles of the Dinos Global Legacy Fund were developed in collaboration with Dinos’ family and the ISTA team. We want the fund to:
Create opportunities and access for young people across the globe, especially those in disadvantaged circumstances and backgrounds.
Offer initiatives which aim to have a positive social impact beyond the immediate project.
Deliver impactful and collaborative initiatives in learning through theatre; exploring cultural memory, and using story as a way to understand the world and as a tool for change.
Be joyful, fun and promote togetherness.
Be able to generate funds to continue and expand Dinos’ legacy for years to come.
Join our collaborative working group to generate ideas for exciting projects and initiatives for the Dinos Global Legacy Fund.
FIRST MEETING: THURSDAY 12 OCTOBER 2023 AT 1:00 PM UK TIME
100% of your donation goes to support the continued growth of the Dinos Global Legacy Fund, issuing grants and funds back to the community, people and projects inspired by Dinos.
During a Board meeting in May, it was decided that Liane Campbell would take a leave of absence from the Board of Trustees to act as Interim Executive Director until the end of 2023. During this time, Liane is working with the ISTA staff on strategic goals and tasks that will help ISTA to develop their practices and services offered. There’s always so much to do and it is great to have Liane on the team during this time.
Deep Dives are two to three day opportunities for educators and high school aged learners to delve deeply into a particular, focussed area of theatre/performance.
Led by experts and in collaboration with specialist organisations these experiences will offer new insights, and a deeper understanding of key areas of interest.
Pre-DP and DP learners benefit from exposure to and experimentation with specific practices, practitioners, theories and approaches that will be useful and practical additions to their theatre maker toolkits.
Deep Dive festivals offered in our 2023-2024 season include:
Geneva HS festival - Deep Dive into Tradition, Theory and Theatre Making
Frankfurt HS festival - Deep Dive into Dance
HONGKONG
Terence Makapan
Musette Tsang from One Table Two Chairs
Reggie Yip from Studio Starlit Candice Moore and Jacqueline Gourlay Grant from Sweet and Sour Productions SINGAPORE
Shanice Stanislaus from Creatives Inspirit
Benjamin Tardif
Gey Pin Ang from Sourcing Within
Jeffrey Tan from Theatre Today
Kristina Pakhomova from Bold Moment
Waldeinsamkeit (forest solitude): Devising a modern folktale
Appreciation of Chinese Opera: Through practising its formulaic movement
Introduction to the Terzopoulos Method: The road to creative freedom
Distressed Asset workshop Script analysis: How to get the most out of a scene
Finding the funny: Techniques for devising with clown
Introduction to Khon (Thai classical masked dance)
Embodied actor
Staging a scene: Different texts, different approaches
9 Viewpoints
*workshop for teacher/chaperones
WHOWEAREWORKINGWITH ATTAPSAROUNDTHEGLOBE
Russell Dean from Strangeface Theatre
Cheryl Stapleton from Learning Through Theatre
John Wright
Atri Banerjee
Masks in rehearsal and performance
Hiroaki Ogasawara
Chiara D’Anna from Panta Rei
Performing Commedia dell’Arte
Kyōgen 'The Crazy Speech'
Valentina Cesci from Dancing Brick
Amy Gwilliam
Meaning from movement
Eyes full of fun: The work and games of Philippe Gaulier
Why is that so funny?
What is a classic?
Atri Banerjee
What is a classic?
Harris Albar from Tamasha Theatre
Commedia dell’Arte for contemporary performance
Adrienne Kapstein
Ianthe Demos
Staging play texts
*workshop for teacher/chaperones
From the ground up
Laura Ford from Fifth Word
A director’s guide to interpreting play text
Staging play texts
Toby Peach from Coney
Amy Gwilliam
An introduction to Playful Activism
Eyes full of fun: The work and games of Philippe Gaulier
Leon Ingulsrud
Performing Theatre Theory with a focus on SITI Company
Matthew A.J. Gregory, Brandon Salerno, Adam Rodriguez, Samantha Evans, Garrett Lawson from Department of Fools
Commedia dell’Arte
by Mike Pasternak
Here ISTA Honorary Member Mike Pasternak introduces us to the framing of this issue - A manifesto written by Dinos Aristidou. Mike also examines the following article, The nature and four strands of ISTA, and the two lenses through which the ISTA experience explores the world through theatre.
There comes a time in the life journey of every arts community when the need arises to organise and codify the aims, processes and values which have organically evolved and nurtured the success and creative wellbeing of that community. The Natyasastra, believed to be written by Bharata, celebrated and recorded the precepts of the classic Indian Sanskrit theatre movement. Zeami, in his written treatises, maintains the importance of proficiency in the arts of dancing and chanting plus skill in communicating the basic roles as the True Path to the Flower of effective Noh troupe performances. Aristotle’s Poetics clarifies the six main elements to be considered for the creation of successful dramatic work in Ancient Greek theatre companies. These texts, as well as recording conditions for successful artistic practice, ensured the healthy continuation of the creative community.
In the early 2010s the International Schools Theatre Association (ISTA), after nearly 40 years existence, reached that point of publishing policy documents which would weave together all the threads of international drama and theatre education which the community, guided by the creative and inspirational leadership of Pat Zich, Ted Miltenberger and Sally Robertson, had developed over the years. Dinos Aristidou, the incumbent ISTA Executive Director and long-time theatreeducation practitioner, adopted this scribe role and produced two complementary documents A manifesto and The nature and four strands of ISTA’s work.
The seminal manifesto document, beautifully crafted in its simplicity, consists
of a series of provocations which open-adoor to reflective understanding of drama experiences. Each canto title - Drama is live; Drama transports; Drama is imagination; Drama is power; Drama is wonder; Drama is human; Drama is together; Drama matters - is followed by a series of short sharp shibboleths which act as passphrases for a journey of personal revelation. This would-be journal resonates with the description of a chart by Miles Harvey in his book The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime when he attests a map ‘provides no answers … only suggests where to look: discover this, reexamine that, put one thing in relation to another, orient yourself, begin here… Sometimes this map speaks in terms of physical geography, but just as often it muses on the jagged terrain of the heart, the distant vistas of memory, or the fantastic landscapes of dreams’. Sometimes the manifesto’s motivational musings are only one word whereas at other times an extended phrase reveals the beginning of a cognizant journey of dramatic self-discovery similar
‘Sometimesthe manifesto’smotivational musingsareonlyone wordwhereasatother timesanextended phraserevealsthe beginningofacognizant journeyofdramatic self-discovery.’
to the metaphorical flower and form referred to by Zeami in his first treatise Fūshikaden.
Several years ago, when Dinos and I were working together on an ISTA/IB Cat 1 Theatre PD workshop, we were chatting about the importance of students and teachers being keenly aware of the aims and objectives of the programme. I was looking for a good quotation to support this view when Dinos passed on to me an apocryphal Dario Fo reference which affirms that,
‘...the important thing is to train yourself in a given direction, and to create a discipline for yourself. But in order to create a discipline, you have to have an ideology. In my opinion it is extremely dangerous to practice in the theatrical arts without knowing what end this practice is supposed to serve.’
In many ways, this manifesto has provided a means to developing an ideology to underpin and substantiate the ISTA discipline of international theatre learning.
These evocative manifesto tenets have served as both an instrument of clarifying a personal philosophical underpinning for ISTA theatre community denizens and as a skeleton structure for the articles in this edition of Scene. Each of these Scene writings stems from the overlapping ISTA experiential odyssey in drama, theatre and international education while celebrating the inspiration and leadership of Dinos in his personal and community journey.
The following article, The nature and four strands of ISTA's work, also authored by Dinos, is a much more functional document in nature. These writings begin with a brief paragraph on the emergent ISTA philosophy in response to world changes Organically the association has always been true to the forces which brought the ISTA family into being as ‘nascent’ ISTA, which consisted of a group of educators, students and artistteachers who wanted to collaborate, share and learn from one another about their passion for theatre education in an international setting. This approach to working together was a prototype ensemble building process using communication, collaboration and affirmation activities to create Peter Brook’s description of ensemble as being ‘ ... certain moments [when] this fragmented world comes together and for a certain time ... [individuals] can discover the marvel of organic life, the marvel of being one ’ which was later to become refined as the ISTA Ensemble method
However, Dinos’ Four Strands article maintains a clear focus on what we as an international arts community practice by clarifying four threads of experiences which interlace to weave together an ISTA mission fabric. The first strand, Theatre in the world, addresses what Patrice Pavis describes in his book Theatre at the Crossroads of Culture where the act of dramatic creation and interpretation lies on a rhizomatic, nexus between different human cultures and practical exploration of one artistic cultural expression by another naturally leads to exploration of the tensions in issues of ‘translation, appropriation, adaptation, cultural misunderstanding, and theatrical exploration’
Practical experiences of different theatre traditions across time and space also serve to energise the creative growth of studentartists. The second thread, The world of theatre, refers to the acquisition and refinement of the art and craft of making theatre encompassing both performance and production knowledge, skills and attitudes. The fourth and final thread, Developing the global learner, clarifies how, through using the ISTA Ensemble method, artist-learners will nurture an open and passionate attitude to lifelong learning and a personal engagement with the social responsibilities of global citizenship.
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which are shared at an ISTA event result in a recognition and deeper awareness of who I am, what has made me (my roots) and the growth potential I have (my shoots). ISTA activities which explore issues and tensions in my school and host communities increase my appreciation of my local world and ISTA centre-of-learning site inspired projects which use drama techniques to better understand the origins and impacts of high-profile global issues open eyes and minds to an interdependent and dynamic worldwide community. Just as the four ISTA strands entwine to form a creative fabric so the personal, local and global worlds of the ISTA student merge and lead to an holistic state-of-the-planet awareness and a pathway to personal empowerment.
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The focus of this issue of Scene is the third strand of the Four Strands of ISTA's Work, Exploring the world through theatre. This thread of ISTA experiences consists of using the ISTA Ensemble method and other drama activities as tools to better understand the interconnected worlds with which a young person engages. The personal world of everyday experiences
Exploring the world through theatre, has two distinct lenses. One perspective engages with worlds of difference and diversity where attitudes such as tolerance, respect and understanding of the other are kindled and nourished through ISTA drama activities and experiential work with people and communities from a variety of cultures, abilities and backgrounds. This approach extends the intensity of the theatre experience to foster cultural awareness and elicit ‘perspective consciousness’ as Harvey puts it. The other viewpoint is that of interdependence. Through ISTA event experiences which sustain sharing, collaboration and interconnectedness, participants become aware of the power of synergy and the advantages of working together from beginning to end underpinned by the ISTA Ensemble method.
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‘JustasthefourISTA strandsentwineto formacreative fabricsothe personal,localand globalworldsofthe ISTAstudentmerge’
Dinos. One, A manifesto, which suggests a dramatic framework for a community philosophy and the second, The nature and four strands of ISTA work, which elucidates a quartet of practical pathways to personal, local and global understanding through and of theatre. But these two texts have also proved to be an inspiration for the numerous partners and projects ISTA and Dinos have been associated with over the years and who have kindly contributed their dreams, visions and practical discoveries through article contributions to this seminal edition of Scene. ◾
“Fūshi Kaden | The-Noh.com | Noh Terminology.” n.d. Db2.The-Noh.com. https://db2.thenoh.com/edic/2010/01/fushi kaden.html.
[accessed 12 August 2023]
Rangacharya , A. 2011. Introduction to Bharatas Natyasastra. Edited by Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Ltd, New Delhi. W. W Norton and Company, UK, ed. 1982. Aristotles Poetics. Translated by J Hutton. Harvey, Miles. 2000. The Island of Lost Maps. Random House (NY).
Charles, Anthony. 1972. Orghast at Persepolis, an Account of the Experiment in Theatre Directed by Peter Brook and Written by Ted Hughes [By] A.C.H. Smith.
Pavis, Patrice. 2003. Theatre at the Crossroads of Culture. Routledge.
Hanvey, Robert G 1982 “An Attainable Global Perspective.” Theory into Practice 21 (3): 162–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/004058482095430 01.
ISTAExecutiveDirector 2022-2023
ISTA is an organisation that prides itself on being current, relevant and a provider of high-quality learning experiences. Its focus and one constant over the years has been to work in an international context with a commitment to the role theatre plays in developing internationally minded, responsible young people who will contribute actively to the creation of a better world. Until relatively recently, ISTA considered itself primarily as a producer of high-quality events which engaged international students and educators with learning through and about theatre. The nature and make-up of these events have developed over time, as has ISTA, in response to the dramatic events that have shaped the world over the past two years. As well as this, ISTA has taken into consideration the new thinking regarding international education, new developments in theatre because of the digital and the impact the pandemic has had on young people.
As well as events, ISTA has now classified the range of its learning experiences under the following categories:
Events – These are experiences which are time-limited and with a particular focus (Festivals, TAPS, Professional Development and Learning, IB DP Theatre Teacher Training)
Services - These are bespoke experiences and developed with educational settings and cultural organisations based on their needs (Artist in Residencies, Mentoring, Consultancies)
Programmes and projects - These are long-term initiatives as well as time-limited projects involving more than one encounter (ISTA ACADEMY, Global Digital production)
Resources – These are designed to support global teaching and learning through theatre and the related arts (the ISTA journal Scene, free teaching and learning resources, publications, and instructional guides)
Partnerships – These are initiatives developed with organisations and often engaging with communities beyond international schools: (working with Amala on a project with refugee and displaced young people, sites of learning such as Terezin and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, working with disabled young people with UCAN Productions)
TheISTA™EnsembleMethod underpinsallISTAworkandis designedtobringpeople togetherthroughtheatreand therelatedartstoform communitiesoflearningthat leadtocollaboration, connection,andempowerment.
ISTA prides itself on being one of the main providers of international artist-educators who are experts in particular theatre traditions and practices. Global learning through theatre means offering young people and teachers the opportunity to engage with unfamiliar theatre practices that will broaden their understanding of theatre as well as build international mindedness. This is achieved by bringing together practising artists who have a specialism in a particular practice with learners and educators in different settings as well as offering virtual opportunities for young people or educators who are unable to travel. Global learning through theatre also encourages learners to consider the role that theatre plays in different cultures, its origins and roots and the way theatre develops and changes in response to cultural, social, and economic factors. This area of ISTA’s work is also a celebration of the diversity not only of theatre in the world but also of artists. Creating opportunities for cross-border working and interconnection, ISTA also encourages dialogue and collaboration, building networks of artists who bring their own particular skill sets and cultural perspectives together to create theatre experiences that are international and rich.
AllISTA’sworkisguidedbyandcategorisedbythefollowingstrands. Thesehavehelpedtheorganisationtoredefineandfocusitswork, helpingthecreation,designandenhancementofitsexperiences:
This strand of ISTA’s work relates to everything we do regarding theatre as an art form and theatre-making. Working with an international pool of theatre practitioners and artist educators who inform the development of all ISTA strands, this area is about developing understandings and skills associated with performing, devising, directing, designing and other related arts such as film, music and dance. This also encourages us to work with international arts organisations that are current and relevant. ISTA’s partnership with the International Baccalaureate as the exclusive trainer of Diploma theatre teachers means that we have contributed and continue to be involved in the shaping and the development of international theatre education; providing training, experiences and resources for young people and educators in schools around the world. This brings together contemporary practice in the world of theatre with up-to-date international educational pedagogy and, of course, the ISTA™ Ensemble method in all things related to theatre as an art form and theatre practice
This area of ISTA’s work focuses on using theatre as a tool for exploring the world. This includes inquiring into social and global issues, examining ISTA’s own communities and those of others as well as the interconnected nature of our world. The purpose of this work is to use the ISTA™ Ensemble method to give young people a deep understanding of concepts that are key to them as global citizens and the capacity and skills to present their understandings and ideas through theatre Intercultural awareness and the building of compassionate communities of learning are also key to this area of the work. Central to the exploration of the world through theatre, through ISTA™ Ensemble method, are pathways to empowerment and action, where learners consider how their ISTA experiences will inform their future development and relationship to their local and to global worlds.
Festivals are the main area where we deliver this area of ISTA work. Each year ISTA selects a global challenge which becomes the focus for the year. This global challenge is designed to be an area of global significance which offers a range of possibilities for exploration. ISTA’s global challenge for 2022-23 A world of difference provides a lens which engages young people with opportunities to explore the world through theatre.
This ISTA challenge offers host schools and artists an imaginative and meaningful inspiration which; can be interpreted broadly, is accessible and has relevance to both the host community and to the world.
The possible areas of learning for festivals and events this year, for example, are:
The post-pandemic world and its challenges for young people
The changes in our communities
Diversity, equity, and inclusion
Social justice
The environment
Making a difference/ changing the world
What it means to be or feel different
A celebration of difference and identities
The arts and how they make a difference
A story-based inquiry approach to ISTA’s global learning through theatre and the related arts approach engages young people with stories from around the world and allows them to connect with different cultures, concepts, and narratives.
‘Thefourstrands,thoughindividualandrelatedto particularendeavoursandinitiatives,alsocome together,theoneaddingdepthtotheother.’
Fundamental to ISTA’s mission is the use of the ISTA™ Ensemble method to bring people from different places together to collaborate, create communities of learning and celebrate our differences as well as our shared humanity. Using theatre and the related arts, learners also explore the interconnected nature of the world, our communities, ourselves and both the benefits and challenges of this interconnection. Fundamental to these experiences and one of their key features is that learners develop new connections, and friendships and become part of the international creative networks we create. The characteristics of the global learner which ISTA aims to develop, relate not only to learning but also to the learner’s growth and flourishing as human beings and as citizens of the world. The development of the global learner is central to all ISTA’s work and every experience is designed carefully with this in mind.
The four strands, though individual and related to particular endeavours and initiatives, also come together, the one adding depth to the other. They provide focus as well as provide ways to enrich ISTA experiences, ensuring that ISTA brings together theatre, deep learning, and responsible citizenship, making it a leading provider of global learning through theatre and the related arts. ◾
A M A N I F E S T O
Itbringstheworldclose
Hereintotheroom
Intothehereandnow
Theworld
Here
Inthenow
Nothiddenbehindascreen
Orprojectedontoawall
No
Theworldishere
Inthisplace
Hereinthisspace
Whetherit’stheelephant
Intheroom
Orthewindoutside
Abrokenchair
Orabrokenheart
Ahalffilledglass
Orafullembrace
Adancingshadow
Orabeamoflight
It’shere
Present
Inthisplace
Inthisspace
Now
Comeandlook!
Here Present
Bepresent
In this article Angela David, from Branksome Hall, Ontario, reflects on a recent Grade 9 Interdisciplinary Unit which in collaboration with ISTA and Dinos Aristidou, explored the stories and history of the school.
As the world came out o communities of Branksome Hall Asia were most exc annual exchange. This is a students travel to the othe an enriched education important part of both of t Interdisciplinary Unit (IDU school. After cancelling through October 2022, w know that our peers from B this life changing experienc
‘Storiesconnectusinthepast, positionusinthepresentand guideusinthefuture’
Our MYP Coordinator reached out to the Arts and Design departments to propose an idea related to the ghost stories of Branksome Hall, a 120-year old institution and in keeping this history alive with students from both schools. When he approached me I was hesitant; it would mean 200 Grade 9 students off timetable for a week on our campus in the middle of Toronto. Our faculty structure is also such that the arts teachers are also the design teachers in Grade 9 so the challenge would be how to make this truly an interdisciplinary unit that valued each of the disciplines' unique forms.
In the past, whenever I wondered about a new exciting idea for developing live devised theatre or building professional capacity in faculty, I would reach out to ISTA and was invariably connected with Dinos Aristidou. Dinos was excited by the idea right away and we set up time to talk about how we could make this come alive, knowing that starting to plan something in January 2022 might not come to fruition in October 2022. But we chose optimism and being in the present over fears of COVID cancelling the first international event since 2019.
As a department we decided that our purpose for the week was twofold. Firstly we wanted to create an experience where students from different schools could get to know each other so their next experience in South Korea would be successful and they could learn from each other. The second reason for the IDU was to devise art works by exploring the stories and history of the school that was common to us all. As we talked, we understood that though we said ‘devise’ this could be interchangeable with ‘design’, so professionally we asked Dinos to help us highlight this.
"ASWETALKED, WEUNDERSTOOD THATTHOUGHWE SAID‘DEVISE’ THISCOULDBE INTERCHANGEABLE WITH'DESIGN’"
Our first training session had all of the Toronto faculty in one room with Dinos as the ‘elephant in the Zoom room’. We dove into the planning documents while considering the stories we thought would emerge. After identifying the key concept of ‘connections’ we considered what global context we would explore. From this perspective Dinos asked us to talk through the possibilities that we found to be emerging.
In 3 separate groups we had conversations but didn’t do a full report. Dinos was able to listen in even from outside the room. All groups felt that ‘orientation in time, place and space’ shared the commonality of our idea of stories emerging from a place over time. As this was becoming clearer from the listening space, Dinos offered the statement of inquiry: Stories connect us in the past, position us in the present and guide us in the future We all agreed that this beautifully encapsulated what we wanted our students to explore. For
myself, I knew that Dinos had again given words to my ideas.
Once this was solidified we began planning within each arts discipline (Visual Arts, Dance, Music, Theatre). We also came to some agreements about the shape of the week, with moments of joining together as a whole ensemble and a sharing at the end. It was decided that students would work in an art area that they were not enrolled in as an ‘ensemble’. It became somewhat like an ISTA festival with the attempt to honour the presentation styles of the 4 arts as well as the learning from Design.
It was finalised in August that Dinos would be able to travel to Canada and be with us for the week. Having the structure with Dinos offering confidence and creativity to our plans gave great success and helped build that ensemble feel as he led whole group work with the students. Through these activities we achieved our first goal of being in the moment and learning about and with each other.
Our final sharing of authentically created arts pieces was live and in the moment. Students were proud of what they accomplished and how they shared it. It was the first moment of true coming together as a community after such a (long) separation. Our target audience (client) of Grade 8s witnessed a world created by the Grade 9s. The sharing brought joy to our faculty and administration.
Another artistic and educator outcome was that our audience began to think about art and performance differently. The sharing in our gym was not a pivotal event, rather it was the moment in the process in which we asked the audience to join us in exploring the ideas. The sharing of concepts across the boundaries of the fourth wall were broken. I saw a student who was nervous to perform in front of her class of 18 suddenly shine as she shared ideas with an audience of over two hundred people. We broke down expectations and barriers. Perhaps the greatest outcome was that our community widened through the integration of students from across the globe.
The one resounding piece of feedback from all stakeholders was that it would be wonderful to work interdisciplinary through Arts rather than trying to force Design in as well. We are taking that feedback and in 2023 our IDU will have an axle of Media Arts and students will explore this on the spokes of the art they have chosen to explore in depth. We are excited about the iteration and know that it comes from a foundation of strength.
'
…thechallengewouldbehowto makethistrulyan interdisciplinaryunitthat valuedeachofthedisciplines' uniqueforms.'
A M A N I F E S T
Itbrings
Thefaraway
Theworld
Intohere
Intothenow Here
Infrontofus
Intothisspace
Intothismoment
Theworldishere
Dramabringsthetheretohere
Thefarawaynear
Butitalsomovesus
Takesus
Transportsus
Fromheretothere
Sothatwecan See Feel
Thinkabout
There
Ratherthan Here
UnitedKingdom
Anintroductionto BirminghamRoyal Ballet’sLEAP Ambassadors programme.
LEAP Ambassadors are a group of young people aged 16-25 who are selected via application onto Birmingham Royal Ballet’s professional and personal development programme, led by the Learning, Engagement, Access & Participation department. The programme offers a unique opportunity for young people to investigate behind the scenes, develop new skills and experience creative arts practice.
Ambassadors participate in group training sessions delivered by Company staff and arts professionals, which offer insight into the various departments and job roles available in the industry. These include Company Management and A Day in the Life of a Dancer, Technical Production, Digital Content
and Social Media, Presenting with Impact, Events Management and more! Ambassadors also get the chance to directly shadow a member of BRB staff in their job role and gain invaluable ‘hands on’ experience working on projects and performances LEAP Ambassadors also get exclusive behind-thescenes access, watching Company Class and rehearsals, tours of the workshop rooms and studios, free tickets to see BRB performances with family and friends, a free dance masterclass and more!
We recruit a new cohort of LEAP Ambassadors each season and recruitment for 23/24 will begin late September. Recruitment takes place via BRB’s social channels, mailing lists including youth and community centres, education establishments, visits to youth centres in Birmingham and Wolverhampton and Birmingham based arts organisation contacts. Keep your eyes peeled on our website and socials for more information
What’s reflected in the cohorts are diverse young people, some are in education, some are not, some study or have took part in dance before, some have not, but all young people are recruited because they have a desire to learn more about career opportunities in the arts and gain hands on experience in these roles. We cap recruitment at a maximum of 10 Ambassadors per year as we pride ourselves on being able to offer young people tailored training and valuable time and learning with BRB staff.
‘Theprogramme offersaunique opportunityfor youngpeopleto investigatebehind thescenes,develop newskillsand experiencecreative artspractice.’
EventhoughIonlyknewDinosfora shorttime,itwasclearthathetrulywas anincrediblykind,passionateand talentedman,withwonderful dedicationtothearts.Heleavesbehind ahugeandwonderfullegacy.Iwasso incrediblysadtoreceiveyouremail.
LAURENNOVELLI
LEAPAMBASSADOR2019-2020
Dinos helped us curate LEAP Ambassadors in 2018, which led to the programme’s pilot year in 2019. Dinos remained as curator and delivered sessions to young people on finding their passion to assist them in their individual training choices using theatrical methods and with his unique flair.
He acted as an advisory mid-way through the programme for the Ambassadors 1-1’s to help inform the rest of their time with BRB before supporting them in bringing together their celebration event at the end of the year. Dinos kept reflection, stories and curiosity at the forefront of the work he did with our LEAP Ambassadors.
‘What’sreflectedinthe cohortsarediverseyoung people,somearein education,somearenot, somestudyorhavetook partindancebefore, somehavenot,butall youngpeopleare recruitedbecausethey haveadesiretolearn moreaboutcareer opportunitiesinthearts andgainhandson experienceintheseroles.’
Dinoswasarealcharacter,so passionateandenthusiastic. Unfortunately,Ineverhadthe chancetomeethiminperson buthewassointerestingand hadarealskillofbringingout people’screativity.
Thesessionswehadwithhim in2020toplanourcelebration providedescapismanda chancetofocusonsomething differentatatimeweall needed.Theartshavelosta realgem.Thoughtsarewith hisfamilyandfriends.
Ireallyenjoyedworkingwith Dinosthroughouttheyearand valueallthereflectingwedid inhissessions,aswellas planningforourfutures. Ifeelluckytohavegotten toworkwithDinos.
A M A N I F E S T O
Wondering
Itasksquestions
Ofus
Here
Inthisroom
Inthisspace
Itdemands
Scrutiny
Investigation
Exploration
Explanation
Understanding
Itasks
Why? When? How? Who?
Where?
Withwhom?
Why?Why?
Dramaiscurledsnugly
Aroundaquestionmark
Recognisingthatquestionsdon’talways Havestraightforwardanswers
Thattheworld
Isacomplicatedballofstring
Thatundoingasingleknot,findinga
thread,followingadirection
Isastart
Isabeginning
Dramahelpsus
Makesense
It’stheart
Ofmakingsense
BY MIKE BINDON
In his manifesto, Dinos reflects on the unique opportunity presented by theatre to inquire and to explore. Despite the complexities and challenges of our era, theatre grants us the
means and opportunity to examine our circumstances and to more fully comprehend the world we inhabit. This compelling urge to ask challenging questions and to meticulously unravel strands of significance amid tangled narratives has been a recurring feature of my collaborations with Dinos over the past decade. Our joint endeavour to enhance and optimise a renowned international arts curriculum aimed solely at enabling young learners to explore the world through theatre,led us on a journey that has been life changing for me both personally and professionally.
From their first meeting to their final project, Mike Bindon recalls how his work andlifehavebeeninfluenced by and enriched through his relationship and many collaborations with Dinos Aristidou.
My first encounter with Dinos was on a tram in the Netherlands during a delightful spring evening in May 2012. At that time Dinos was acting as Interim Curriculum Manager for the International Baccalaureate (IB), overseeing a period of transition while the organisation sought a permanent replacement to spearhead its Diploma Programme (DP) Arts subject reviews As the newly appointed candidate who was set to assume this role later that year, my inaugural task was to participate in a theatre curriculum review meeting in The Hague, which was to be chaired by Dinos.
I was set to meet Dinos for the first time enroute to an informal introductory dinner on the eve of the meeting. Boarding the rickety tram at the designated hour, I recall diligently scanning each passenger's face in search of this prominent Greek-British arts education guru. Upon meeting Dinos and settling in beside him on the narrow tram bench as I introduced myself, I instantly recognised in him a kindred spirit. The remainder of that tram journey was a barrage of conversation, laughter, contemplation and banter.
DP Theatre Pilot Review Team, Atlanta, USA, March 2019. Jude Scanlon, Rob Warren, Jakki Saysell, Mike Bindon, Rene Amthor, Fenella Kelly, Dinos Aristidou, Agustin Maggi
My initial experiences working for the IB were deeply influenced by Dinos. His boundless energy, intellect, dedication, authenticity, wit and profound subject expertise could have easily felt overwhelming and intimidating for me at that first meeting. However, as anyone who has ever had the pleasure of collaborating with him will attest, Dinos had a gift for making
‘Theremainderofthat tramjourneywasa barrageof conversation,laughter, contemplation andbanter.’
feel instantly comfortable and genuinely appreciated. He recognised and nurtured the best in others, kindling a confidence in them they were previously oblivious to. This generous warmth and encouragement enveloped me and his incredible leadership of that first IB development meeting set a benchmark that I would aspire to reach for the rest of my career
of collaborating with a Dinos’, eliciting nods of agreement from all who knew him, undoubtedly wishing they too had the benefit of such a skilled and devoted professional companion.
Dinos’s aptitude for articulating intricate concepts and weaving together divergent threads of significance into a singular, lucid and succinct argument elevated his contributions to curriculum development to an unparalleled level of excellence. Thus, Dinos was asked to undertake countless roles for the IB including Principal Examiner, Interim Curriculum Manager for the MYP Arts, DP Literature and Performance review participant and researcher The IB invited him to be a keynote speaker at its Rome Conference in 2014 and again at their Creativity Symposium in 2015.
Dinos was never afraid to ask challenging questions. This love of inquiry and reflection were attributes that became hard-baked into all of his contributions to the development of the IB’s DP theatre course and he swiftly established a reputation across the organisation. Colleagues who had the chance to witness his work were eager to learn from him and enticed him to join additional review teams and boards. I remember one peer proclaiming at an IB gathering that ’Every curriculum manager should have the privilege
His vibrant enthusiasm and boundless inventiveness shone most brightly in his exceptional work on the DP Theatre Teacher Support Material (TSM). This was a feat he accomplished not merely once but on three separate occasions over the years. Always keeping his focus on innovative ways of aiding teachers and enriching the learning journey of each student, he was instrumental in designing the majority of the DP Theatre teacher workshops and professional development materials, all of which are still offered by ISTA.
The task of revising a well loved arts curriculum
‘Hisunfaltering beliefinthe poweroftheatre asamediumof explorationand transformation–thatwillendure.’
is a daunting and formidable task and it is most certainly unachievable without the skills and proficiency of a committed review team. As a central member of the IB’s Theatre team throughout my tenure at the IB, Dinos’s steadfast dedication, expertise and creativity persistently propelled the IB course to uncharted heights. When we launched our most recent Theatre Pilot project – an endeavour that entailed testing the draft Theatre curriculum in 40 IB schools over a 5 year period – I sought Dinos’s expertise once again.
ace all over the world, in small office seaside cafes, schools, art galleries and own homes. We endlessly debated the s of the course in airport queues in parts of the world as we attended lum development meetings and ted IB workshops. With Dinos onboard lenge ever seemed insurmountable and shed in again unravelling the complicated of possibilities and challenges together. I ome particularly passionate discussions he nuances of the Research Presentation ment task while exploring global rks such as Pier 39 in San Francisco and while walking the High Line in New York City.
Throughout this unique process of development, he and I seized numerous opportunities to collaboratively brainstorm and contemplate solutions to the many challenges inherent in designing a global curriculum and assessment tasks. These formative discussions
My final IB collaboration with Dinos was the crafting of the DP Theatre Student Handbook, a pioneering joint venture between the IB and ISTA. Conceived over a decade ago, this student centred resource finally became a reality in 2022 and an intense 6 months of nonstop
‘Despitethe complexitiesand challengesofour era,theatregrants usthemeansand opportunityto examineour circumstancesand tomorefully comprehendthe worldweinhabit.’
writing ensued, resulting in the publication of an incredibly insightful textbook of which we were both incredibly proud.
Although complex and challenging, our work together always felt effortless and rewarding. His remarkable influence on the development of the IB’s Theatre course will leave an enduring legacy. The wisdom, joy and love he shared not only enriched my work but my life as well. Dinos was more than an exceptional collaborator or mentor.
He was a catalyst for change, embodying the very spirit of wonder that he believed theatre should inspire. As we continue to navigate the complexities of life without him alongside, I believe it's his ethos – his unfaltering belief in the power of theatre as a medium of exploration and transformation – that will endure. ◾
A M A N I F E S T
Whateverwedo
Examine
Thinkabout
Whereverdramatakesus
Italwaysbringsusbacktothis;
Whatisittobehuman?
Whatmakesushuman?
Howtobehuman
Whywedowhatwedo
Howweconnectanddisconnect
Howwefeelandthinkandlaughandcry
Whythishappens
Andthisdoesn’t
It’saboutme,you,them,us
AnintroductiontoUCAN,aperformanceartscharityfor blindandpartiallysightedyoungpeople.Hereco-founder JaneLathamtalksaboutaTheatreasInclusivePractice projectdesignedtoempoweryoungpeoplewitharange ofsocialbarrierswhofeelexcludedfromthearts.
WALES
UCANProductionsisa performanceartscharityfor blindandpartiallysighted children,youngpeopleand morerecently,adults,basedin Cardiffbutworkingthroughout theUnitedKingdomand beyond.
www.ucanproductions.org
UCANaimstoimprovethe physicalandvocalconfidence ofthosewithsightloss.Itisa peerledorganisationwhich nowemploysformervision impairedparticipantsas creativeworkshopleaders.
UCANwasfoundedin2005, oneyearafterco-founders
JaneandBernardLathammet DinosAristidou.
To say that Dinos played a part in the growth of UCAN would be a massive understatement. He was first involved as a guest workshop leader, then as a consultant and finally from 2016 became UCAN’s Creative Learning Director. Like the founders, Dinos was at the very core of UCAN. In 2013, Dinos designed and delivered a training programme called UCAN Lead, which gave young blind and partially sighted people the opportunity to become arts practitioners and share their new found skills with their peers. To our knowledge this was the first course of its kind in the United Kingdom.
Dinos’s approach to inclusive practice seemed almost instinctive. His ability to put young people at the centre of everything was a cornerstone for creating a ‘safe place’ in which they could thrive. Whilst working with UCAN he always regarded the young people with sight loss as experts of their own eye conditions and constantly asked them for their help and reassurance that he was working in the most inclusive way possible.
His ever-present notebook filled up with information offered to him by the blind and partially sighted participants such as ‘never use
‘TosaythatDinos playedapartinthe growthofUCAN wouldbeamassive understatement.’
PDF’s as our screen readers can’t read them’ or ‘please use my name when you are talking to me, as I might think you are talking to someone else’. The more workshops he led the more descriptive his language became. For instance, he learnt how to guide someone with sight loss and make sure that he offered his arm in the correct way whilst constantly describing the surroundings. Dinos's readiness to make his own teaching methods inclusive was evident to all who had the pleasure of attending one of his workshops.
In 2020, on behalf of UCAN, Dinos developed an Erasmus+ project called TIP (Theatre as Inclusive Practice) with partners from Bulgaria and Slovenia. TIP is a research and training project designed to empower young people (18-25) with a range of social barriers who feel excluded from the arts. www.tip erasmus plus.org.
It was Dinos’s dedication to creating inclusive, safe spaces that laid the solid foundations for the TIP Project. Over two years, young
...healways regardedthe youngpeoplewith sightlossas expertsoftheirown eyeconditionsand constantlyasked themfortheirhelp andreassurance thathewas workinginthemost inclusiveway possible.’
leaders through various inclusive theatre practices. These included Verbatim Theatre, Devised Theatre, Theatre of the Oppressed and Theatre of the Senses.
In turn, the participants applied their training and skills by leading workshops with other participants in their own setting. The training culminated in an event in August 2022 where the young workshop leaders and participants gathered in Cardiff to create a performance on the theme of exclusion. The performance they devised was called You Can’t Sit By Me and can be found on the TIP website.
The project came to an end in March 2023 with a series of events to share the learnings in each of the partner countries. All TIP workshop recordings, resources and materials including an Inclusion and Accessibility Pack for developing and implementing inclusive theatre related practices are available on the TIP website.
‘Overtwoyears,young participantsfromfive partnercountrieswere trainedasworkshop leadersthroughvarious inclusivetheatrepractices.’
On March 6th 2023, two days before he very sadly passed away, Dinos presented the findings of UCAN’s part of TIP at the University of South Wales. True to his nature, he made a strong case that:
‘Nothing about us without us’ is a philosophy that Dinos fully endorsed in his commitment to inclusivity. He knew that inclusivity must be embedded into all areas of a project or organisation for it to be truly accessible. It starts with recognising that people are experts in their own condition or experience and seeing the differences amongst us as learning opportunities. It requires implementing changes to ensure everyone’s needs are met, regardless of the effort required. It also means having meaningful representation at every tier of an organisation, including the volunteer team, staff and the board. These are basic requirements for creating a safe space and a welcoming environment, which are crucial for
From the participants to the developers and theatre practitioners, TIP had a profound impact on everyone involved in the project. This is reflected in the ‘Sharing Circle’ video of one of the final gatherings where the young people spoke about how they had grown in confidence and what being included in this project meant to them.
‘Creatingan inclusiveatmosphere issomethingIthinkis relevantinany theatricalcontext, whateveryoudo, everythingfromthe firsthellotothe instructions,should bemadetomake peoplefeel comfortableand included’.
making The Arts more accessible to all. To quote Dinos himself: ‘Nothing kills creativity more than fear’.
Dinos wanted the world to be inclusive. The key to his approach was sharing his skills and knowledge to empower other people and for them to in turn empower others. His kind, humble, generous and inquisitive nature will be a tremendous loss to everyone who was lucky enough to meet him. But at least the power of his practice will live on without him needing to be there, exactly as he intended. He is irreplaceable but if we all try to be more like Dinos, the world is sure to be a better place.
‘Andthat’swhy Ilovethiswork.
Iamconfidentyouwill changetheworld. Becauseyouspokewith suchtruthandauthority totellyourstory andwhenyoutellyour story,peoplelisten... Wewillchange theworld.’
First printed in Scene September 2022, Erin Housam-Umicevic considers the aims and legacy of a Verbatim project created in collaboration with DinosAristidou.
I grew up at the end of the Cold War in the US, meaning I grew up with only what I was told about the USSR In the mid1990s, I was on a night train from Kyiv to Donetsk I met a charming couple, Oleg and Masha. We stayed up all night, playing cards and drinking tea. It was my own first personal ‘glasnost’ as the pictures they painted of their lives growing up in Ukraine were vastly different from the ideas I had adopted. I needed to hear their story and their truth to begin to understand a life different from mine. Looking back, I can see how that was my first experience into the beginning stages of Verbatim Theatre.
WithintwentyminutesIwas transformedinaroomof strangersaswecollected storiesfromeachotherand builtmeaningfultheatrebased uponeachother’struths.
My journey into Verbatim or Documentary Theatre started with the role of spectator. I was captivated by Anna Deveare Smith’s Fires in the Mirror and Little Revolution by Alecky Blythe. Some years later during an ISTA Connect Festival, I met Dinos Aristidou and was intrigued by what could be done with students and verbatim. Dinos taught a workshop for teachers using his ‘Reflection Pack’. Within twenty minutes I was transformed in a room of strangers as we collected stories from each other and built meaningful theatre based upon each other’s truths.
Skip ahead a few more years as I kept rethinking and reinventing how to be a better guide to a new generation of theatre makers in a post pandemic world. I had taken another workshop with Dinos specific to the ‘Hear Us Out’” Verbatim method. (This was highlighted in ISTA’s 2021 global production, Diary of an Extraordinary Year) After this workshop, I knew this was an experience that I wanted to give my students.
I applied for and received a grant, coordinated with ISTA and decided that my MYP Drama 5 class was ideal as it would set them up for IBDP and allow them time to create, collaborate and process. What did I actually want my students to accomplish? I wanted to introduce them to a new way of creating theatre that would allow them to engage in the world around them with a different perspective.
The overall concept for our project/production was 9/11. 2021 was the 20 year anniversary of September 11 and this event was something that this group of students could all access stories about from people they knew.
My students prioritised the concept of INTENTION of dignity and respect. This included that they were sure to get written permission from the storytellers.
In October of 2021 my students began their online workshop. Dinos Aristidou guided my students through the process of creating Verbatim Theatre This process was beautifully scaffolded. One of their favourite starting points was an exercise that involved students working with partners. They were to choose a special picture from their phone and tell the story. Dinos guided them through the ideas of story collecting versus merely conducting interviews
Below: Photo from the production‘NowthatIhave manyofthese samestudents asGrade11s, Iseethegrowth theyhavemade asperformers, designersand overall,growth ashumans.’
and to work through the prompts of open ended statements rather than questions.
Dinos worked the students through creating prompts so they could begin to collect their stories. We settled on six prompts. The fairest way to assign prompts for story collecting was just to draw from a hat.
Once we had prompts and a loose plan, every student chose 2 people to talk to and get their 9/11 story. To prepare students for this experience I provided basic dramaturgy into September 11, 2001 We watched old newscasts together and I laid out original newspapers and magazines from that week, gallery style, for students to be able to read. We gained the appropriate permissions from the storytellers and then practised focused listening without judgement and showing respect.
The students had a week to record their stories. We listened to every single recording in class as a group with students taking notes Personally, this was my favourite part. We discussed every story one at a time.
My theatre makers came up with ideas for imagery specially tailored to performance and production They were also able to make connections that were not always obvious, such as ways to overlap stories and add characters that were mentioned while retaining full integrity of the storyteller’s truth by not changing any of the original wording
The interviewers transcribed all the interviews and were instructed to find a 1 to 2 minute cut that they found the most poignant. The students chose to memorise the written transcripts and not use the headphones, as we would be performing live and in an intimate space.
Once I had all the monologues I randomly assigned a student to work with a piece that was not their own. Students worked in groups according to their given prompts.
This production was almost entirely student designed. I served mostly as a consultant. Some stories were straight out monologues, some stories were combined to create dialogue or a round-robin type story. Students chose staging, physical blocking, costumes, lighting and sound. By the time of the opening this ensemble had created a stunning and poignant piece of theatre.
We started with a small audience in order to get some feedback. This was written feedback (Google Forms). We went through the notes and the students made adjustments to be more clear. Most of theadjustments had to do with timing and spacing, making sure to take pauses and
keeping with transition music. The transition soundtrack focused on 90s music including ‘Carry On’ by Fun. It was unanimous and almost unspoken that this would be the title of the piece, Carry On.
The intention of this ensemble was to remind their audience of the daily humanity behind a life altering event that went beyond what the news reported Their intent was quietly powerful and effective. This was evident on the day of the show, as many of the storytellers came, as well as audience members who were of the age to have their own firsthand memories of 9/11 There were many tears and the audience lingered for a long time after the house lights came on to talk to the actors, to talk to each other. To talk and to listen. For after all, that is the point.
This particular project finished in May of 2022. This entire process took place on and off over a year and honestly off and on, as we worked through different production pieces and units. I didn’t plan it to last from August to May but looking back, I think a year is a perfect time to work on a piece. One packs for a long trip by taking breaks and not all at once or one tends to forget things; much in the same way, we took breaks from this production to work on other things, including a one act play and other curriculum. Having the breaks from the piece and being able to come back to it heightened the students’ own process of evolving through the work.
I still have the students who were a part of the production and they’re still talking. I also use the Reflection Packs with all levels of theatre students and discussions around those have shown me where some students would like to continue practising Verbatim Theatre. This is one student’s answer to the post production reflection, to the question: ‘What would you like to work on should we do another Verbatim project?’ ‘Possibly a reverse generation piece. Have older people recall their teen years and current teenagers responding to prompts about their “now”.’ In spite of the digital age, both groups would definitely find similarities and it might help parents/teachers/coaches etc understand more about what is happening internally with teenagers during this time.
I’m an American Theatre teacher who was fortunate enough to teach overseas for a few years. Now I’m back in America working with only American students.
Short of being able to put them on a plane and take them out in the world, I find great satisfaction in being able to guide students through World Theatre practices.
Now that I have many of these same students as Grade 11s, I see the growth they have made as performers, designers and overall, growth as humans. ◾
A M A N I F E S T O
Itteachesustolivetogether
Toworktogether
Tobetogether
Tobekindtoeachother
Ohweneedtobekind
Weneedtolearnkindness
Teachit
Understandwhy
Weneedkindness
Whyweneedtocare
Becausethat’stheonlyhopewehave
Itteachesushope
Itteachesushowtohope
Itteachesushowtomake
Theworldwehopefor
Happen
InAugust2022DinosArtistidou visitedthe9/11Memorialand Museumtakingthefirststeps towardsrealisingahopeand dreamofcollaboratingwiththe museumtobringyoungpeople togethertoexplorethis‘space madesacredthroughtragicloss’. Whatfollowed,lessthanayear later,wasa3-dayfestivalledby ArtisticDirectorHelenAbbottanda smallteamofartists. HereJenniferLagasse,Directorof educationprogrammesfromthe 9/11MemorialandMuseumrecalls thisfirstmeetingandteacher AmyLuskey-Barthreflectsonthe studentexperience.
BY JENNIFER LAGASSE & AMY LUSKEY-BARTH
When Dinos and I visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in August 2022 our goal was twofold. We wanted to find something within the museum to anchor young theatre artists to this ‘ space made sacred through tragic loss’ while also helping them explore the diversity of those who were impacted and continue to be impacted by the events of September 11, 2001.
1 2 3
To do this is no small undertaking. It is estimated that a third of the world’s population witnessed the events of 9/11 in real time via television, radio and internet. The 2,977 victims of the 9/11 attacks come from over 90 nations and represent myriad cultures, professions, religions, ages and life experiences.
This exploration led us to the Last Column, a 36 foot tall piece of steel that was once part of the core of the South Tower. This column was found in the rubble at Ground Zero still standing and anchored into its foundations despite the destruction around it. As it was slowly uncovered during the cleanup at the site, it took on both a practical and symbolic meaning to the thousands of workers and volunteers. Originally it supported a temporary haul road Eventually those workers and volunteers, along with 9/11 family members, transformed it into a memorial to the victims and a record of their service at the site by covering it in thousands of colourful spraypainted markings, signatures in permanent marker, prayer cards and photographs
Through this artefact, the stories of the victims and the thousands of people who streamed into New York City from across the country and the world to help in any way they could, are made tangible The museum is dedicated to telling the accurate history of complex events
Ourgoalwastwofold. Wewantedtofind somethingwithinthe museumtoanchor youngtheatreartists tothis‘spacemade sacredthrough tragicloss’whilealso helpingthemexplore thediversityofthose whowereimpacted.Students investigating the Last Column
but it is also a memorial dedicated to honouring the individuality and humanity of the victims and the communities that were directly impacted. In this way, the work we do has something deeply in common with theatre artists we are, at our core, storytellers.
For three days in April 2023, students were immersed in the content and collections of the museum exploring the stories that objects help us to tell. In the process it was our hope that they would have the chance to see themselves reflected in and connected to this history. What the students chose to elevate in their work certainly included the loss of that day but they also chose to focus on the immense kindness and selflessness shown in response to such a profound tragedy. During their final meeting one group shared a thought that resonated deeply with me. As they said; ‘we are not the Last Column, we are the first.’ the first generation of young people for whom this is history, not memory.
“About the 9/11 Memorial & Museum: 9/11 Memorial & Museum MIssion,” National September 11 Memorial & Museum, accessed July 25, 2023, https://911memorial.org/about.
Alice Greenwald, No Day Shall Erase You: The Story of 9/11 as Told at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum (New York: Rizzoli Electa, 2016), 41.
“In Memoriam: About the Exhibition,” National September 11 Memorial & Museum, accessed July 25, 2023, https://www.911memorial.org/visit/museum/exhibitions/in-memoriam.
“Inside the Collection: Steel Fragment, Recovered,” National September 11 Memorial & Museum, accessed July 25, 2023, https://collection.911memorial.org/Detail/objects/6760.
“Inside the Collection: Steel Fragment, Recovered”
“Inside the Collection: Steel Fragment, Recovered”
“Inside the Collection: Steel Fragment, Recovered”
‘Whatthestudents chosetoelevatein theirworkcertainly includedthelossof thatdaybuttheyalso chosetofocusonthe immensekindness andselflessness showninresponseto suchaprofound tragedy.’
The Last Column, a symbol of courage, strength and resilience stood tall within the 9/11 Museum as ISTA students reflected on the power of storytelling and learned about the events of 9/11. None were yet born that fateful day. However, at the ISTA Festival the students were immersed in the National September 11 Memorial & Museum for three days exploring the profound stories of heroism, loss and hope that made what was once a history lesson come to life for them. Working in three separate ensembles with students from different parts of the world, the students developed connections between one another and discovered common themes from the stories of families and survivors and the impact of how theatre can be an effective tool in overcoming hatred and prejudice. Through a process of devising with movement, poetry, music, rhythm, tableau and narrative, led by visiting artists from around the world, these
young theatre makers created an original performance piece that was shared in the auditorium at the 9/11 museum. Through the experience they found how their artistic voices can make a positive difference in the world.
The students engaged in an emotional excavation of stories deep beneath Ground Zero that both amazed and horrified them –102 minutes that shaped the world into which they were born and will forever impact their lives. The symbolism of the waterfall pools where the towers once stood, a ‘Reflected Absence’ of names, faces and histories made that distant day in September of 2001 move from the past to the present. The students were asked to find a name inscribed on the memorial and then to learn the story of that person’s life. This simple act of connection turned a history lesson into a relationship.
‘Nodayshalleraseyoufromthememoryoftime.’
Virgil
Dinos Aristidou’s vision of theatre, led by Artistic Director Helen Abbott and artists Bill Bowers, Desta Haile and Ana Margineanu, unfolded through the students living together, working together and being together. The final sharing began simply with one voice: ‘My name is… ‘and grew into a chorus of overlapping voices of individual stories followed by rhythmic stomping, movement, fragments of memory, silent moments captured in tableau –interwoven stories that developed understanding and empathy.
At one point the narrative shifted the perspective of the central story guiding the festival: ‘We are not the last column. We are the first.’ In this powerful statement, the responsibility of telling the stories and finding the hope for a better world made meaning out of the rubble of 9/11. Through the process of storytelling the students were able to find inspiration and courage. The audience sat in the auditorium of the 9/11 memorial museum as the darkness lifted. Above us outside, a blue sky where ‘hope and history rise’. Blue, the color of 9/11.
‘Thefinalsharingbegansimply withonevoice:‘‘Mynameis…‘’and grewintoachorusofoverlapping voicesofindividualstories.’
The students’ voices joined in a musical chant that washed over us with a promise, a vow, a declaration: ‘Blue, blue, blue, I keep the memory of you. Every shade. Every way Never fade Every day ’
Through the unique ISTA process of devising a piece of theatre, inspired by the events of 9/11, the students found connections with each other, with history and with themselves All of this was made possible because of the visionary leadership of Dinos Aristidou. ◾
A M A N I F E S T O
Imaginationbuilds
Itbuildsworlds
Constructsrealities
ItgivesusthetoolsNothammersandnails
Orbricksandmortar
Notpenandpaper
Orneedleandthread
No,itgivesus
Possibility
Aspiration
Theability
Tocreate
Tobuild
Toshape
Toseeitinourmind
Andmakeithappen
Itteachesusaction
Itgivesustheability
Here
Inthisspace
Inthisroom
Together
Toimaginewhatcanneverbe
Toimaginewhatcouldbeandisn’t
Sothataloneandtogetherwecan
Create
Mould Change
Shapenewworlds
Andfixtheoldones
Let’sfixtheseoldones
Together
BY MIKE LUDWICK
In this article Mike Ludwick, cofounder and president of the Near West Group in China, goes right back to 2015 when he embarked on a new vision - to create an organisation focused on Bridging China and West through Entertainment, Education and The Arts. Here Mike recalls the first steps, the connection with ISTA and how he and Dinos Aristidou artist training designed to empow local artists.
It was October of 2015. I’d just take leap of faith and left my full time posit as the Director of Development at American International School Guangzhou, China in order to start organisation. It would be called ‘N West’, and it would be focused on Bridg China and West through Entertainme Education and The Arts.
I knew when setting out to create the organisation that it was a broad mandate but I also knew exactly where I wanted to start. You see, I’d gotten my own start in international education back in 1998 as a Drama teacher at the American School of Warsaw and had been fortunate enough to be taken under the wing of ISTA artist and embodiment of creative kindness, Mhairi MacInness who introduced me to the wonders of ISTA, took me to four festivals
in two years and basical course of my life by sho powerfully good drama in e be, if done as ISTA does dram
And so my very first offic creator of this new organ Sally Robertson, the th director of ISTA, to share a thought ISTA could spread into the Chinese education how I was inundated, requests about how to best theatre and how much my a clearly… as ISTA does drama
In that call we hammered ou which would make up the IS Global Partnership (one of IS way to help make ISTA re and experiences more access
Chinese students and the educators that serve them.
Fast forward to January of 2019 It’s the eve of the very first Near West/ISTA Festival, a bespoke 4-day event customised to deliver a completely authentic ISTA devising festival while at the same time being open and as accessible as possible to cohorts of local Chinese students and educators. Among the artistic team assigned to the event was Mhairi MacInness, my mentor from 20 years ago whom I had not seen in person since leaving Poland and who was now poised to help share the joy, wonder and goodness of ISTA with a new generation of young people in China.
Also present as our artistic director for that event was Dinos Aristidou, whom I had met and worked with on several occasions (even finding a bit of video footage placing us together at a festival in 1999 somewhere in Europe) and who now became my chief ally and ISTA partner for the festival experience And oh what an experience.
Led by an ‘ISTA AllStar Team’ consisting of Dinos, Mhairi, Anne Drouet, Fenella Kelly, Pete Benson and Ulrich Gutlieb the participants soared to unexpected heights, students from all backgrounds mixing and collaborating so well and quite notably, the local Chinese students quickly integrated, immersed and soon became inseparable from the group as a whole. They brought to life a traditional Chinese story, the tale of the life of the goddess Mazu but did so in a way that only ISTA can… as ISTA does drama.
At the helm throughout was Dinos, leading the process for artists and students alike, challenging everyone to be present, be fully
'Icanseehis faceasifitwere yesterday, glowingwithan almostchildlike joy,smilingand present’
invested and most importantly to be kind. The very first official activity for students in the festival was to be led by Dinos, silently, to stand, follow him, come into a circle in the space and follow him through a series of motions, gestures and positions in the space. I can see his face as if it were yesterday, glowing with an almost childlike joy, smiling and present, bringing all of the students so quickly together.
And that is what Dinos continued to do in
the years following, even as COVID threatened to pull apart so many things which had been lovingly created over so many years and especially as he rose to the position of Executive director of ISTA, he held things together. He held us together through sheer force of will, his unique brilliance of mind and seemingly limitless energy and through his tremendous capacity and ability to see a vision of what could be and to bring that vision into ordered being.
It was in these COVID years that Dinos and I began a new project between ISTA and Near West, one to train and empower artists in different local regions, to help ensure that even if borders suddenly closed the show could go on. Dinos was now my mentor and we met in a number of treasured virtual sessions during which we discussed what was at the core of ISTA’s impact and goodness and how we could train accomplished artists/educators to be ISTA artists/educators.
We had the training for our first cohort of local ISTA artists in Guangzhou in July of 2022 and just as planned these artists became the core team to bring in-person ISTA festivals back to the region in April of 2023. The 2nd ‘Annual’ (except for the pause created by COVID) Near West/ISTA Festival was the first in-person ISTA festival in mainland China post-COVID and it too exceeded all expectations. It was a proving ground for the first class of newly
trained artists and again delivered all the joy and goodness of an ISTA festival to a mixed group of International Schools and local Chinese students and educators. But most importantly, after so many years in flux, it brought us together.
So it was with deep, deep sadness that we dedicated the festival to Dinos, who had recently passed but whose memory and impact were written on so many aspects of the event. It was his Inspiration pack which the artists used to inspire their journey, his vision for a local artist team as the core of the event and his efforts at such a critical time to keep us all together, through drama and not just any old drama, but drama… as ISTA does drama. ◾
'Dinosheldustogether throughsheerforceof will,hisunique brillianceofmindand seeminglylimitless energyandthroughhis tremendouscapacity andabilitytoseea visionofwhatcouldbe andtobringthatvision intoorderedbeing.’
HereToddSessomstakesusthroughaseriesofexercises whichexploretheconceptofhomethroughthelensofa refugeecrisisthroughtheprismofimaginativeplay.
urveying and interviewing students for ISTA about the power and impact of their experience and I had the privilege to observe a few student feedback sessions that he led. While watching Dinos work with young people, I was struck by the depth of passion and care he embodied in his conversations. He entered each and every discourse with an open heart, offering the students an invitation to share their truth with a compassionate listener and to be fully heard without judgement.
Some years later I had the luck to be a student under Dinos’ instruction, directly experiencing the genuineness and generosity with which I had observed him engaging my students. As a group of teachers we collaborated under his careful guidance, attending an ISTA Studio focusing on mapping the journey of a middle school drama programme through imaginative, experiential and authentic practice in Brussels Dinos deftly moved from theory to practice, from concept to theatre making by leveraging
grounding our learning in reflective praxis.
Of all the theatre practices we explored with Dinos that weekend, his approach to process drama with young performers has had the most significant and lasting impact on my teaching practice. Process drama is not performative, of course, but experiential, interdisciplinary, student centred, holistic, concise, authentic and collaborative In the tradition of Heathcote, Bolton and Boal, Dinos believed that imaginative play was the foundation of learning through theatre; our imagination opens all doors and makes all things possible. While imaginative play can be used as the building blocks of devising, it is first and foremost an opportunity to explore and engage with a concept deeply, to learn about ourselves and our world, to confront injustice, to build our empathetic muscles and, as Dinos said himself, to ‘turn the abstract into physical representation’ .
In the years to follow I have adapted sections of Dinos’ work to be applied in my middle and
high school drama classes. With an emphasis on process drama and imaginative play, students have explored issues of their choosing to first investigate then ultimately devise pieces of personal importance. I often find myself returning to the primary example that Dinos led us educators through that weekend in Brussels, exploring the concept of home through the lens of a refugee crisis.
We begin by finding a physical spot in the space that can represent a place of comfort. It could be in a corner, under a table, next to a particular person- anywhere we feel comfortable, which we call ‘here.’ We explore the space we have chosen as our place of comfort, feel ourselves here and begin imagining its context, then choose a second spot to move towards. The second spot is a place of discomfort, which we call ‘there.’ It is a place we do not want to have to spend much time but have to go to. Once certain of that second place, that ‘there’ we return to the first. With a series of instructions from the teacher, we move from ‘here’ to ‘there’ and back again, exploring the various reasons and ways we might move from one place to another. Do we move with fear? Urgency? Direct or indirectly? We use our imagination to explore scenarios and refine our experience. Perhaps music is utilised to set a mood, or individuals are given a specific instruction on their movement. How does it feel to have to leave a place of comfort for one of discomfort?
After a reflection on the first activity we take time to individually create a Grab and Go Bag. Drawing from our own lives, we brainstorm the items we would put in a backpack size bag to carry if we had to suddenly flee our home What are the important items that we would need to ensure our safety if we had to run? Documents, proof of identity, photographs, medicine, comfort or safety items? We take time to brainstorm the essential list, perhaps draw items on a sheet of paper or simply write them down Once done, we get into pairs and share the contents of our bag - perhaps eliminating one item from one another’s list that is not adequately defended in its necessity.
Once we have reflected together on the experience of creating such a list, our pairs are separated into partner A and partner B; A’s are told to stay in the room while B’s are removed to another space outside the room. The A’s remaining in the space are instructed by the teacher that they are to engage in a role play They are the children - perhaps five or six years of age - and are to find a comfortable spot to
sleep. Their parent is going to come and get them soon and ask them to go with them somewhere. The children just want to sleep and do not want to go where they are being asked without proper motivation
The B’s who were removed to a separate room are instructed as follows: They are the parent who is going to go wake their child. The city is on the verge of invasion and a bus waits to evacuate all the children to a safe zone; there is not enough room for the adults on this first transport. The parent must convince their child to go with them to the bus and to keep hold of the grab and go bag for the family. They cannot scare their child or the child will not go. They must be motivated to do this, and quickly
We engage in the roleplay with the given circumstances simultaneously. This is not a performance and all partners are engaging simultaneously. We play our roles, adapting as we go to try to achieve the objective given Once it reaches a natural conclusion, our ensemble reflects on the experience in writing and discussion. How do I feel?
A final imaginative exercise comes as a small group activity, perhaps in threes or fours. We are invited to imagine that we are a famous architecture firm, one that specialises in making buildings for crisis areas. We are one of (however many groups there are in the ensemble) groups who have been invited to tender or pitch a building design. In our small group, we must collaborate in coming up with a name, logo and the description of the landmark building that made our NGO famous.
After sharing with the ensemble the details of our NGO and our most celebrated architectural achievement, we view a short film clip about children documenting their lives in the Za’atari refugee camp taking notes on our observations. We then have 20 minutes to create a sketch/model/detailed description of the building plans we would like to submit for consideration. This structure must provide housing and fulfil the needs of 15 refugee children in the Za’atari Refugee Camp. In so doing, we are asked to take on the Mantle of the Expert, immersing ourselves in this imaginary context for purposeful exploration. We must draw from our own lives and experiences, imagine the work of an architect and empathise with the children we observed in order to create and pitch a plan.
At the end of this series of activities, or any like it, reflection is the necessary tool to process our learning. There are many ways to approach reflection; however, I like to begin with the four questions Dinos posed as a starting point: How do I feel? What do I think? What did I do? Where did this take me? Beginning individually and then sharing in small groups, we build to a
larger ensemble conversation. Reflection is a living process and we come back to our thinking and writing again and again, sometimes returning to the reflection in our learning journals two or three classes later as a way of building our metacognitive practice.
Imagination, imaginative play is the foundation of learning through theatre. It offers us the opportunity to explore the nature of self, others and our world in a collaboratively created safe space. It allows us to wrestle with issues, interrupt injustice, empathise with others across boundaries and practice having the courage to act in the face of adversity. In his A manifesto, Dinos addresses the power of imagination, ‘To imagine what can never be / To imagine what could be and isn’t / So that alone and together we can / Create / Mould / Change / Shape new worlds / And fix the old ones / Let’s fix these old ones / Together.’ For truly, the future is created by those with the heart to imagine it. ◾
M A N I F E S T O
Givesusthepower
Theconfidence
Theability
Tohaveavoice
Toknowourselves
Toknowothers
Toseetheworldclearly
Throughdifferentwindows
Throughdifferentdoors
Throughtheeyesofothers
Itgivesusthepower
Toknowwhattosay
Andhowtosayit
Sothatweareheard
Here
Inthisspace
Inthisroom
Together
Dramagivesusnotonlyavoice
Butalsoanear
Theabilitytohear
Andtospeakout
Notonlywithbreath
Butalsowithmuscleandheart
Tospeak,tolisten,tosee,tounderstand
Withallofourbeing
BY ROBIN WILLIS
A look back on ISTA’s Digital global production. Here Robin Willis takes us through the stages of the project and its lasting impact.
After months of sitting behind a screen, attempting to be dynamic and engaging for a bunch of blank Zoom boxes and wishing for something that would shake us all out of our lockdown gloom, I get an email: ISTA is launching their first Digital Global Production, Hear It Out, which is an opportunity for theatre students to collaborate globally and share their stories of 2020. In other words, ISTA has imagined a new way of collaboration and connection in these unprecedented times and has invited the community to participate. We accepted the invitation.
The Hear It Out project was a Verbatim Theatre project based on Dinos Aristidou’s Hear Us Out technique, with the goal of capturing young people’s lived experiences during the year 2020. Ten schools across nine countries and four continents participated in the project, including 60 student performers, ten musicians and ten filmmakers. Each performer audio recorded a two-minute true personal story of an experience in 2020, inspired by a provided prompt. Each audio story was then shared with ISTA and sent to a student in another part of the world who performed the story using the Hear Us Out technique – in which the performer puts on headphones and
‘
...theadultsinthe projectstepped outofthewayof thestudents allowingthemto speaktheirtruth’
listens to the original storyteller while themselves speaking the story as accurately and authentically as possible.
The student musicians, with Matt Baker, collaborated to generate original themes that would accompany the storytelling while the student filmmakers worked with Mike Bindon to develop skills to beautifully capture the performances on film. The filmed performances were stitched together by Dinos Aristidou, the project’s artistic director, using movement and choreography guided by Helen Abbott who also coordinated the entire project. The project resulted in two films, 2020 Vision and Diary of an Extraordinary Year, in which the performed stories sit in conversation with each other.
On a community level, 2020 Vision and Diary of an Extraordinary Year, pushed boundaries of what live theatre in a digital medium can be and how it can connect performers and audiences over time and space. Through capturing the voices and experiences of young people from around the world the films are an important piece of oral history –especially when most documentation of 2020 is from the perspective of adults, even if it is about young people.
The films went on to be nominated for Music and Drama Education Awards and are finalists in the category of Outstanding Drama Initiative. While these accomplishments are incredible,
‘Through capturingthe voicesand experiencesof youngpeople fromaroundthe worldthefilms arean importantpiece oforalhistory’
perhaps more meaningful is the impact that the project had on the participants themselves.
While the project focused on the lived experiences of 2020, this was not a ‘COVID play’ nor was it designed to be traumatic. What Dinos Aristidou did with such care was to provide space for the student performers to choose the story that they wished to tell while articulating clearly that every story is a gift that is worth sharing. Because of his thoughtful framing, not only did students’ agency in the project increase but the participants shared more truthful and beautiful stories. In this way, the adults in the project stepped out of the way of the students allowing them to speak their truth – with all the joy, pain, humor and love that this entailed. This, then, was a process of students amplifying their voices and realising that their voices and stories matter. It was a process of deep personal
ISTAhas imagineda newwayof collaboration andconnection inthese unprecedented timesandhas invitedthe communityto participate’
reflection, vulnerability (which is, in itself, a superpower) and then empowerment that has carried on long beyond the project’s completion
What was remarkable about this project is that it asked participants to slow down and really deeply listen to others as opposed to remaining wrapped up in their own worlds. By receiving a story from another young person across the world and unknown, students had to listen, to empathise, to understand, to accept, to imagine and ultimately to speak another person’s words as truth, not as performance.
The impact of this was that the story and the person behind the story became in a way, sacred. My students handled the stories they received with such care, such delicacy. They truly wanted to honour and respect their storyteller. In short, my students built empathy for others through the process of listening.
In watching the films 2020 Vision and Diary of an Extraordinary Year and in seeing the care that another person took with their story, my students felt honoured, seen, heard, respected, valued, loved and connected. Their lived experience was validated. They learned
that they are not alone. Through the project my students learned that their voice, their perspective, their lived experience matters and they gained the confidence to bravely and vulnerably share their truth.
Yet, they also learned to listen deeply, with compassion to the stories and experiences of others. Through practising speaking and listening in this project my students have gone on to share more truthfully, lead more boldly, listen more deeply and connect more vulnerably in their lives since the project.Hear It Out reignited the creative spark for the student participants as well as the adults. In connecting to create something meaningful we found ourselves and each other. And perhaps this is Dinos’s legacy? Dinos taught us that the simple act of sharing a personal story and of listening to another person’s story –which actually, is not so simple – can change the personal, build connections and therefore change the world. ◾
‘Dinoshascreatedsomethingreally specialhere.The[HearUsOut]project makesmehappy-it’sapositive,creative, fungroupwhoareinterestingandinspiring tobewith.It’sunusualandachangefor metolookforwardtoagroupandleave thegroupfeelingbetterthanwhenIcame in.Hehasmademefeelpartofthe community-notoutsideit.’
HelenB
Dinos Aristidou was a lover of stories and a passionate believer in the power of words. He was a brilliant playwright whose writing was widely performed in venues across England. He worked, among others, with the International Baccalaureate and Birmingham Royal Ballet as a tutor, director and mentor and served on several voluntary Boards.
His work with the International Theatre Schools Association that empowered and endeared him to thousands of young people across the globe is well documented. Perhaps not quite so well known, was his quiet work giving voice to marginalised and underrepresented communities through the power of their own stories. Dinos had a unique gift and will be fondly and gratefully remembered by the many people whose lives were changed through their work with him.
Using Verbatim theatre, which he believed unlocked something so precious and powerful in participants that it empowered all who took part, Dinos gave us insights into the lives, struggles and dreams of people who have been silenced, ignored and shut out.
ThankstoDinosI havegainedareal senseofbelonging tothissweet communityof olderpeople,their wisdom,humour, creativity.Andit’s importanttome, beingtrans,tofind Ibelonghereina worldwhichisso oftenhostile.
PersiaW
He worked collaboratively with, for example, blind and visually impaired young people in Cardiff using their stories to find their place in the world; prisoners’ families in Sussex, sharing their stories to explain the impact of their loved ones’ incarceration; young asylum seekers and refugees telling their migration stories; bereaved LGBTQ+ people in Brighton finding solace and community in sharing their grief; and throughout lockdown, for New Writing South, with older people celebrating queer lives in the brilliant Hear Us Out project.
This project in particular had a personal significance for Dinos. He loved collaborating
with such a committed group of people from his own LGBTQ+ community and believed passionately in the power of stories to combat homophobia, transphobia and queer erasure.
Dinos was a trusted, passionate, inspiring writer and teacher and a joyful collaborator. He empowered the people he worked with to be better than they ever imagined they could be. He will burn bright in the memory of those he worked with and his legacy will endure through the many hundreds of young playwrights he nurtured and encouraged. Noone would be happier than Dinos himself to know that. ◾
A M A N I F E S T O
Dramatheysay
Isallaboutprocess
Yes,it’saprocess
Aprocess
Ofmaking
Andcreating
Andseeing
Andbeing But
It’salsoawaytoprocess
Awaytomakesense
Tomakemeaning
Tomakesense
Oftheworld
Together
Andtosharethissense
Witheachother
Hereinthisroom
Andtothinkabout
Whatwedo
Andwhatwewilldo
Andwhatweneedtodo
Andhowwe’llbe
Andhowweneedtobe
Outthere
Outsideofthisroom
Whowewillbe
Anditteachesus
Howtotakeaction
Outthere
Beyondthisroom
Thisspace
Outthereintheworld
Howtoact
Withthought
Understanding Compassion
Responsibility
Howtoact
Helen: Can you tell us why Dinos was chosen and invited to speak at the World Education Summit?
EducatorDrDebraKiddmetwithScene editor Helen Abbott to discuss her work andtheconnectionswithandinfluence of Dinos Aristidou on her approach and life. Debra was one of the hosts for the World Education Summit 2023 and invited Dinos to speak about Human Potential:Sharingourstories,changing the world. Here we discuss his session, whythetopicissoimportantandsome of the myriad learnings from Dinos she holdsdear.
Debbie: I've worked with the World Education Summit since it started and during the pandemic, for the first time, it moved online to be a global virtual summit. I was invited to be an ambassador and to help the organisers curate speakers for the summit at this time. Then, this year, I was asked if I would host a whole day of speakers around the theme of human potential so of course my mind went to who would be good to talk on this subject. In education it tends to be the same names who keep coming up, the same people who get invited but I really wanted to bring to the fore the voices of people who over the last 20/30 years have helped shape my practice and help to develop the way I think. People who I have seen working in such beautiful and profound ways with young people and that should have this platform. Dinos was obviously top of that list. I wanted to bring Dinos into the picture because I'm not sure if he was as known outside of the ISTA world as he absolutely should have been. I wanted to make sure that he got that chance.
Helen: Why do you think this topic specifically, ‘Sharing our stories changing the world’ , was of interest? What drew people in to log on and watch?
Debbie: I think it was twofold. Personally, that's been the driving force of my practice. I feel that narrative and storytelling should be the beating heart of education and I think it's the way that doors open up in children's minds and hearts to understand the world and express themselves and take their place in the world. Of all the people I've ever met, Dinos has been at the forefront of that work and that practice alongside people like Dorothy Heathcote, those huge names in education, who genuinely understood that story is a vehicle for learning and a vehicle of being human and becoming human. So that was an important thing for me.
Helen: During the post speech talk between you and Dinos, you use the words ‘safety blanket’ when talking about the ISTA ensemble method and specifically about the way it was used in Amala for example. I wonder if you can elaborate on why it's important to put care and safety measures in place within the work that you do with young people.
Debbie: If you're going to put young people in a situation where they are being asked to share their own stories or to take onboard other people's stories and find a way of expressing them, you're asking them to take a big personal risk. When you're working with that risk is profound. They feel peer pressure very deeply. They feel embarrassment and humiliation very deeply. The work of neuroscientists like Sarah Jane Blakemore points out the fact that the
adolescent feels shame so deeply, even just in anticipation, that it can be the most inhibiting factor on whether or not they decide to participate So you have to wrap them in this safety blanket to make them feel safe enough to take those risks. So there's a personal element there. But I think there's also an ethical element, because when you tell the story of another human being or you ask another human being to trust you enough to tell their story, you have a moral duty and a moral responsibility to treat that with care. I think what Dinos did really profoundly, along with others who've worked with ISTA for many years, is to think about what that looks like, how you break that down, how ISTA artists have to have this understanding that the first standpoint we take is trust and safety and care.
Helen: You've worked with Dinos a lot over many years and in lots of different capacities. How has Dinos inspired you and other educators to build in good rigorous pedagogical practice into your teaching spaces and techniques?
Debbie: The first first time I met Dinos was before I'd even heard of ISTA - He worked with young people at our school focusing on developing theatre practice through our community arts work. So the first word I associated with him was beauty because his work was just spectacularly beautiful, beautiful as a writer, beautiful as a director. Then it was when I became part of ISTA and I began developing my own practice within ISTA, that I really started to see how profoundly and carefully he unpicked the process. He was incredibly intellectually astute, he was really well read. He had this brilliant capacity to break things down simply and to start understanding the ‘why?’ of why we might say this word The why of why we might stand in this place, the why of why we might use this gesture or this facial expression to communicate something to young people. When I worked with him on developing this pedagogy for the different phases – primary, middle and high school – we had two glorious days just sitting here pulling strands of thinking out of each other's heads and piecing this together with this understanding of the different developmental phases and the different kinds of pressures that young people find themselves with at different points in their lives. It was such a privilege to have that time just sitting with him where we were literally spewing out ideas and thoughts and bits of research and then trying to come up
‘
...youhaveto wrap[young people]inthis safetyblanketto makethemfeel safeenoughto takethoserisks.’
with a format. It was a wonderful privilege, seeing how beautifully he crafted theatre but also how carefully he worked with thought. And with ethics He was such a deeply ethical person.
Helen: You've already touched upon this but what are some of the key techniques or messages that remain with you?
Debbie: It goes back to that sense of ethical care. He was very playful and he was hugely energetic. You watch him interact with young people and it was beautiful. Every decision he made and everything he did was quite deliberate. I know that doesn't sound very
creative but it is. He was able to put deliberate, informed, intelligent practice into a playful space. He had trust in the process. He taught me a lot about just trusting in the process – I tended to over plan and over prepare and he would say ‘trust in the process’ . I think that's what he did for me, he showed me how to break it down and he showed me how to build those building blocks of an ensemble that he's written about In lots of things he's written about belief, the belief in that process and the critical importance of pulling everyone together into this bubble of trust. I think that was something that was essential to his work. And that's lovely, the idea of a bubble of trust Beautiful
‘Hetaughtmealot aboutjusttrusting intheprocess.’
Helen: And finally, please can you tell me a bit about your work and how it connects to what Dinos was speaking about at the World Education Summit?
Debbie: Dinos and I both came from a similar strand of thinking. He did his PGCE with David Davis in Birmingham who was a close friend and associate of Dorothy Heathcote and so I think his understanding of process based drama and my understanding of process based drama have been rooted in that group of people who emerged out of Dorothy Heathcote’s practice. I think what Dinos did was he took that practice, which might manifest itself in the classroom through Mantle of the Expert or through exploring a story through drama or exploring science through drama or whatever it is, he took it into the theatrical world. Process based drama tends to sit aside from the practice of theatre and I think what Dinos did was to merge those things and I was really interested in that. I was always really interested in the crossover between those two areas of thought. His rehearsal process and hopefully my rehearsal process, which has largely been inspired by him, brought those two things together. So it was always about the learning as much as the outcome at the end. ◾
'Ifeelthatnarrativeandstorytellingshouldbe thebeatingheartofeducationandIthinkit'sthe waythatdoorsopenupinchildren'smindsand heartstounderstandtheworldandexpress themselvesandtaketheirplaceintheworld.’
Inthisarticleartist,theatredirector andCEOofCultureShift,JuliaRoberts, looksbackatarecentprojectwhich sawherdirectanewplay,writtenby DinosAristidou,basedonverbatim storiesofprisonerfamilies.Julia breaksdowntheprocessexamining theimportanceofthehumanelement andtheroleofstory-gatherer.
Late 2020, Dinos Artistidou and I started planning a new project together We were coming out of the weirdness of lockdown and feeling a renewed enthusiasm for working in person (we had worked together through COVID in a mix of online and occasional in person workshops) and it felt good to be embarking on something new, with ambition and purpose.In partnership with a small charity called Sussex Prisoners Families (SPF) and with funding from Arts Council England (ACE), we planned to create a Verbatim play. Dinos would write and I would direct and we would work with a company of professional actors we had
both worked with before, Uninterrupted Theatre Collective, based in our home town of Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom.
As I look back now, through a veil of time and grief for the loss of my dear friend, the following is my attempt to articulate my memories of this process and the resonant learning.
It is vital to have a starting point which interests, inspires and motivates you. The initial exciting, joyous and chaotic stage of the creative process is the time to explore ideas and test the boundaries of what is and isn’t possible. In this instance, this stage
‘Ourideawassimplytorevealthe traumaandstigmaexperiencedby innocentfamilymembers.’
was characterised by lots of coffee and conversation!
Dinos and I shared a belief that theatre provides a powerful platform for important ideas, to inform and shape opinions and we were driven by wanting to share what we had learned from hearing the stories of the staff and family members at SPF, stories which we believed were largely unheard.
Our idea was simply to reveal the trauma and stigma experienced by innocent family members.
Over recent years, Dinos had developed a particular interest and specialist expertise in Verbatim Theatre and it was clear to us that this was the most appropriate form for this project.
Stories were precious gold to Dinos. He grew up on a diet of stories which he overheard whilst watching his mother at work in the hair salon she had in their home in North London, frequented by an army of ‘aunties’ from the local Greek community. He loved them, he loved their stories and they inspired a lifelong appetite for new stories and new ways of storytelling. This project was the latest opportunity for Dinos
'Itisvitalto haveastarting pointwhich interests, inspiresand motivatesyou.’
to sate his appetite for storytelling and develop his practice as a playwright. He relished the process of gathering the stories. He was like the proverbial child in a sweet shop.
I worked alongside Dinos, inviting women to share their stories with us and he provided clear and strict guidelines ensuring that all parties were prepared, confident and secure. We conducted interviews via Zoom and our conversations were framed by a series of questions which the women were given in advance. Dinos outlined an ethical code which our process was governed by which is vital in relation to Verbatim Theatre.
Our job as ‘story gatherers’ is simply to listen well, carefully, respectfully, trusting in the process and allowing the gems of ‘real’ words to emerge naturally.
Theatre is a collaborative art form demanding strong communication skills, emotional intelligence and high levels of empathy, combined withof course - imagination and creative skills. Dinos balanced all of these with apparent ease and consistent humour, demonstrating that it is possible to be serious about your work without being serious all the time.
Our friendship and all the relationships with partners and contributors nurtured through this process were strengthened as a result of our shared experiences.
Through collaboration, we simply understand ourselves and each other better.
With utmost respect and care, Dinos transcribed our recorded interviews with six women and these formed a collection of stories. He then read and re-read these stories undertaking the painstaking process of collating themed fragments of text and eventually the stories began to merge as three characters - a young girlfriend, a mother of a son and mother of a daughter. These characters were given fictional names and all other recognisable references from the original verbatim accounts were anonymised.
The final script for Invisible Sentence contained less than 20 words which were not verbatim material. It was a brilliant and compelling script which Dinos himself believed to be his finest play to date. One of the female contributors shared with us some poems that she had written for her partner when he was serving his prison sentence. We loved the poems but as they were not verbatim they could not sit within the body of the play. We commissioned a musician to use the poems and the music he produced greatly enhanced the play.
We have a responsibility to cherish unexpected ‘gifts’ of material and use them creatively.
One of our main aspirations was for Invisible Sentence to raise awareness of the circumstances surrounding an individual in prison. This was explicit in the final scene of the play where the characters directly address the audience about the need to talk about the issues, which serves as a call to action:
MEG
You see, when you sit there in silence…
SUZIE
… when you sit there in silence, you’re invisible.
WILLOW
And it feels like you're the only one living this.
MEG
But if you, if you’re talking about it…
SUZIE
… like with people…
WILLOW
I suppose it sort of helps heal.
We decided to initiate this ongoing conversation through an after show Q&A, inviting feedback and questions from the audience. We worried that most audience members may not be keen to stay but we were proved wrong in this and, at the premiere and subsequent three public performances, the Q&A was attended by almost the entire capacity audience and vibrant conversation ensued.
Dinos was a strong advocate for reflective practice and this was a gratifying and reassuring reminder that reflection is an important element in theatre, for audiences as well as practitioners.
Invisible Sentence illustrated to me the inherent value of after show discussion and other feedback forums, such as audience surveys.
An Oscar nominated film director saw the play and offered to fully fund and produce a film of it. The resulting condensed film version of the play (20 minutes long) was seen at an online conference of the Scottish Prison Service, thereby reaching new audiences. You can view this version of the play at the link below.
The audience feedback we received was extraordinary. People consistently said that they had never heard or thought about the stories of prisoner families and numbers of potential SPF volunteers were boosted as a result.
ACE encouraged us to create a further two plays to complete a trilogy; adding the perspectives of male family members and children to the female perspective of Invisible Sentence. There were plans for a tour including a potential trip to New York.
We were reminded of how powerful theatre can be, conveying a message and provoking both thought and action. Together we had created a script, a film and myriad potential new projects waiting to be started.
And then, sadly, we lost Dinos - who had been the expert driving force in writing Invisible Sentence.
We need to create active engagement with our audiences, not simply seek passive observers..
When a creative process is complete we often experience a sense of sadness and loss and this was definitely true for all of us who worked with Dinos to create Invisible Sentence. It felt like we had created something of value and purpose.
The ambition to create a trilogy hangs over us like a piece of overdue homework and I am not yet sure if it will be possible to complete the task without Dinos at the heart of the creative team. And yet, I remain convinced that this project provides a clear illustration of why Drama matters on so many levels; a legacy of ideas, relationships, shared experiences and learning.
This is what Invisible Sentence represents to me.
‘Ourjobas‘storygatherers’issimplytolistenwell, carefully,respectfully,trustingintheprocessand allowingthegemsof‘real’wordstoemergenaturally.’
It brings the world close
Here into the room
Into the here and now
The world
Here
In the now
Not hidden behind a screen
Or projected onto a wall
No
The world is here
In this place
Here in this space
Whether it’s the elephant
In the room
Or the wind outside
A broken chair
Or a broken heart
A half filled glass
Or a full embrace
A dancing shadow
Or a beam of light
It’s here
Present
In this place
In this space
Now Come and look! Here Present
Be present
DRAMA TRANSPORTS
It brings
The faraway
The world
Into here
Into the now Here
In front of us
Into this space
Into this moment
The world is here
by Dinos AristidouDrama brings the there to here
The faraway near
But it also moves us Takes us
Transports us From here to there
DRAMA IS WONDER
Wondering
It asks questions Of us Here
In this room
In this space
It demands Scrutiny
Investigation
Exploration
Explanation
Understanding It asks Why? When? How? Who? Where?
With whom? Why? Why?
Drama is curled snugly
Around a question mark
Recognising that questions don’t always
Have straightforward answers
That the world
Is a complicated ball of string
That undoing a single knot, finding a thread, following a direction
Is a start
Is a beginning
Drama helps us
Make sense
It’s the art
Of making sense
DRAMA IS HUMAN
Whatever we do
Examine
Think about
Wherever drama takes us
It always brings us back to this;
What is it to be human?
What makes us human?
How to be human
Why we do what we do
How we connect and disconnect
How we feel and think and laugh and cry
Why this happens
And this doesn’t
It’s about me, you, them, us
DRAMA IS TOGETHER
It teaches us to live together
To work together
To be together
To be kind to each other
Oh we need to be kind
We need to learn kindness
Teach it
Understand why
We need kindness
Why we need to care
Because that’s the only hope we have
It teaches us hope
It teaches us how to hope
It teaches us how to make
The world we hope for
Happen
DRAMA IS IMAGINATION
Imagination builds
It builds worlds
Constructs realities
It gives us the tools-
Not hammers and nails
Or bricks and mortar
Not pen and paper
Or needle and thread
No, it gives us
Possibility
Aspiration
The ability
To create
To build
To shape
To see it in our mind
And make it happen
It teaches us action
It gives us the ability Here
In this space
In this room
Together
To imagine what can never be
To imagine what could be and isn’t
So that alone and together we can
Create
Mould Change
Shape new worlds
And fix the old ones
Let’s fix these old ones
Together
DRAMA IS POWER
Gives us the power
The confidence
The ability
To have a voice
To know ourselves
To know others
To see the world clearly
Through different windows
Through different doors
Through the eyes of others
It gives us the power
To know what to say And how to say it
So that we are heard Here
In this space
In this room Together
Drama gives us not only a voice
But also an ear
The ability to hear And to speak out
Not only with breath
But also with muscle and heart
To speak, to listen, to see, to understand
With all of our being
DRAMA MATTERS
Drama they say Is all about process
Yes, it’s a process
A process Of making And creating And seeing And being
But
It’s also a way to process
A way to make sense
To make meaning
To make sense
Of the world
Together
And to share this sense
With each other
Here in this room
And to think about
What we do
And what we will do
And what we need to do
And how we’ll be
And how we need to be
Out there
Outside of this room
Who we will be
And it teaches us
How to take action
Out there
Beyond this room
This space
Out there in the world
How to act
With thought
Understanding
Compassion
Responsibility
How to act ◾
OneofISTA’slong-standing programmesforIBDPTheatrestudents adaptedtoavirtualsetting.Thecourse isdeliveredthroughonlineliveartist-led interactivesessionsandteacherled sessionswithaccompanyingresources provided.Italsoincludesa90minute specialistworkshop.
The Virtual TaPS Inspirations experience engages young people with the philosophy of the DP Theatre course, its core components and the assessment tasks. It acts as a launchpad for students’ explorations of theatre within the context of the course. The Virtual TaPS experience is designed for a single group or cohort of students from a single school to explore the programme with a dedicated IB DP Theatre specialist and world theatre traditions/theoretical specialist for their additional workshop.
TaPS Perspectives events in Hong Kong, London, New York and Singapore follow a different format. This programme gives IB DP Theatre students the unique opportunity to work intensively with a series of 4 current and practising theatre professionals who each specialise in:
Collaboratively creating original theatre
Staging play texts
Exploring world theatre traditions
Performing theatre theory
And also an IB DP Theatre specialist
Students work with other IB DP Theatre students from different schools. ISTA TaPS Perspectives provides students with an understanding of how the syllabus areas of the IB DP Theatre course are applied to real-life, current theatre practice. It provides a launchpad for students’ explorations of theatre to further pursue once back in their own schools.
Virtual TaPS consists of a combination of:
a) ‘live’ interactive workshops run virtually by an experienced IB DP Theatre practitioner with students to complement the course. The time period is set by the teacher and in consultation with ISTA.
b) a collection of slides, sent to teachers in advance with activities for them to run with their students between the virtual sessions. Each collection of slides contains video, audio material and resources as well as 90 minutes of activities pertaining to the IB DP Theatre syllabus areas.
It is an exciting opportunity to supplement your teaching, provide teachers with new resources and inspire their IB DP Theatre students with different approaches, ideas and strategies.
Many teachers enjoy booking virtual TaPS Inspirations due to the flexible scheduling that it offers. Virtual TaPS can span over a few days, weeks or even months depending on how the teacher would like to set it up.
Birmingham Royal Ballet is one of the world's great companies, a true powerhouse in classic ballet and contemporary dance We’re proudly rooted in Birmingham, our home since 1990, and we cherish our connections with the diverse people of our city. At the same time, we tour around the UK and internationally, bringing world-class ballet and live music to the widest range of audiences in our nation and beyond.
https://www brb org uk/
Amy holds a Masters in Pastoral Counseling from Trinity College of Graduate Studies and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama from USC. An award-winning theatre director, producer, teacher and coach whose career spans thirty-five years in educational theatre, Amy founded Tri-School Theatre Conservatory for Servite, Connelly and Rosary High Schools and served as Executive Artistic Director. She recently retired from her position as Artistic Director for Talon Theatre at Santa Margarita Catholic High School . She was the recipient of the University of Notre Dame Great Teacher Award and was named one of the Top 25 Teachers in Orange County by OC Parenting Magazine. She is Executive Director of Theatre on Purpose, a non-profit organisation that supports theatre educators and administers Project Speak UP! a nation-wide suicide prevention program Amy resides in Long Beach, California.
Mike trained in arts education at Bretton Hall College (United Kingdom) and taught Theatre and Film in secondary schools for many years. He has worked as an Arts Curriculum Manager for the International Baccalaureate (IB) since 2012 and oversaw the development of the Diploma Programme (DP) Theatre and Film courses
Mike is director of Red Curtain Studio, a video and creative media production studio based in The Hague, Netherlands. Mike is currently completing a doctorate at the University of Bath, focussing on the barriers to the uptake of DP Arts subjects in the IB.
I have been learning through play all of my life. The play making that started in my parent’s backyard in Saskatchewan, Canada became a lifelong passion for telling stories. I have since made this my career, having created theatre and taught on five continents. It’s a great way to find truth. That truth is what inspires me about theatre.
Primarily I work through physical theatre, aided by Meisner methods but technology and postdramatic theatre intrigue me as well. I have worked as a teacher leader and administrator at the Teacher Capacity Building Workshops in Moshi, Tanzania. These workshops were a sharing of best practice and teaching pedagogy. I have been an instructional leader since 2002, working with teachers to develop their curricula and teaching practice. I have worked with IBDP Theatre examination since 2009 and have been a Team Leader for the Collaborative Project Portfolio since 2019.
I am a traveller, theatre-maker, teacher, learner, story collector, storyteller and animal advocate, although not always in that order. After being fortunate enough to teach IB Theatre in Zimbabwe and Morocco, I am back in the US, teaching and enjoying the collaborative artistic journey as ISTA evolves to the changing times. Artistically, I am particularly enamoured with staging Shakespeare with students, Commedia dell’Arte, Verbatim, Deaf Theatre and engaging students with movement and body work on stage.
For 21 years I've taught drama to 4 year olds up to university age. Now I work with teachers and students in schools around the world, exploring how drama can bring learning to life. This includes leading them through curriculum development and talking about leadership.
Over the past 30 years I have worked with schools all over the world to develop humanity rich practices that are inductive and agentive, and allow young people to feel like they are empowered to make change, drawing on research in the areas of empathy, active compassion, happiness and wellbeing. Knowing how important the arts is to human development drove me to do my doctorate in education and to write four books about education placing the arts, creativity and humanity at the heart of learning. I believe that the arts have many benefits for wellbeing and for learning, but most of all, I believe that the arts have the power to change the world and so most of my work centres around empowerment. A pedagogy of power.
Jennifer Lagasse is the Director of Education Programs at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, where she oversees the planning and administration of school, teacher, youth, and family programs. She holds an MFA in Acting from the New School for Drama and is deeply interested in exploring how storytelling can be used to help students and educators confront difficult histories.
Previously, she spent five years working as a Museum Educator at the New-York Historical Society. She currently resides in Brooklyn with her husband and 2 cats.
Jane Latham is Development Director and co-founder, along with her husband Bernard Latham, of UCAN Productions She has been an Arts and Media development Manager since 1995. Clients have included BAFTA Cymru, The Welsh International Film Festival, BBC Wales, Channel 4, The Sherman Theatre and The Gate Arts Centre.
Jane was awarded a Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship in February 2012 This Fellowship enabled Jane to travel to the USA and research organisations that support blind and partially sighted young people and to build links between UCAN members and young people in America. In the 2019 New Years Honours list, Jane was awarded a British Empire Medal for her work with blind and partially sighted children and young people in Wales.
Mike Ludwick is an American educator, entertainer, and entrepreneur with more than 15 years’ experience in China, where he worked at the American International School of Guangzhou as a drama teacher and then as the school's first Development Director.
Mike (乐⼩⻁) is also a singer/songwriter, actor and TV personality who has appeared on dozens of programs, including the Beijing TV “International Spring Gala,” and CCTV's “New Year Gala Talent Show ”
Mike has combined his passions and talents as the founder and President of the Near West Group, dedicated to Bridging China and the West through Entertainment, Education, and the Arts.
Mike Pasternak was Chairperson of the PA dept Ecolint, La Châtaigneraie campus, Switzerland from 1973-2010. He has taught in the UK and Canadian state system and Research Fellowship in Teacher Education at the CGE, University of York, UK specialising in the development of the Arts in Interactive teaching and learning approaches across a range of disciplines
He has been actively involved with ISTA since 1978 [Board of Trustees 1983, Executive Secretary 1985, President 1998 and HLM present]. Mike has worked with ISTA as an Ensemble leader at both HS and MS Festivals throughout the world; as a workshop leader on ‘The Stratford Experience’ and IB TAPS; and, as co-Director for the ISTA Travelling Troupe Mike has been involved in a series of ISTA developments including IB TAPS, Performance Appreciation and Teacher Enrichment programmes in the Arts
I strongly believe that creativity has an immensely powerful impact in our lives and this is true for me on a personal and professional level as actor, singer, director and television producer within organisations such as Glyndebourne Opera and Chichester Festival Theatre and training Performing Arts teachers for the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.
Recent work includes founding Uninterrupted Theatre Collective, directing a new play based on verbatim stories of prisoner families. As Director of Culture Shift, I work with diverse artists and community participants, including disabled musicians, Delta 7, reaching international audiences through a BAFTA shortlisted documentary in 2021.
Todd Sessoms is a teacher, actor and director who has been enthusiastically bringing students to ISTA events across the world for 12 years Originally from the United States, Todd has taught drama at schools in Seattle, Washington; Shanghai, China; Amman, Jordan, and has spent the last six years as a Drama Teacher and Director at the American School in London. When not teaching or working with young artists on a production, Todd can often be found cooking and exploring nature with his partner and daughters.
Robin Willis is a theatre artist and educator who believes in the power of stories to make the world a better place. When not directing plays, building revolving stages or working in communities, she is probably bird watching.
Robin has worked in the United States, South Africa, South Korea and now Kenya. She is currently the Middle School Theatre Teacher at the International School of Kenya.
Lesley Wood is the CEO of New Writing South, a small writing development agency based in Brighton, England. She has worked in the arts for over 30 years, as a sound engineer, site-specific theatre manager and, latterly as the Programme Director for The Coast is Queer LGBTQ+ Literature Festival. She believes passionately that the arts change lives, foster understanding and enhance our wellbeing.
