Insights at the TE'A Retreats

The two TE’A retreats we’ve had thus far have been extremely insightful and exciting. In the most recent retreat we discussed works by various models in the field of theatre for social change including Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, Jody Kanter’s Performing Loss, Anna Deavere Smith interviews, Cydelle Berlin The Star Program Model and lastly, Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen’s Aftermath. It was very informative and stimulating to compare and contrast how they have all attempted to empower people by telling their stories in hopes of creating change. We examined the works of all these great theatre practitioners and how it related to the Operations of Consciousness which is the foundation of the Insight Approach and the TE’A process. It was a wonderful opportunity to gather around a table for a whole weekend in dialogue with one another to understand more deeply the role of theatre for social change and how to ask deepening questions to get at the core of an issue.

We also discussed Rifkin’s Empathic Civilization and brought it into dialogue with Aristotle’s Coercive System of Tradegy. We explored how empathy connects the audience to the characters, and how one informs the other in the journey of a play. We saw how this may play out in Home Front. For example, as the audience members get closer to the characters in the play - gaining insight into their lives and who they are - then in return, the characters are indirectly encouraging the audience members to do the same. Unlike Augusto Boal, the spectators do not actively become the actors, with the TEA Company and the Insight Approach, the audience members are drawn into the intimate and inner struggles of the character through the characters openness and a willingness the be vulnerable in the 3^rd act. One can relate, as a human, to many of the characters, and in seeing the character dare to become self aware, the audience member may in tern be willing to ask themselves these deepening questions.