lunching with lions

What's in a Name: Abby Jackson

“Murasa.”
A quiet giggle bounces around the classroom as I announce the name of our play’s main character. Our students have just finished sharing what their own names mean and brainstorming possible titles for the brave, honest, question-asking girl whose journey ties our play together. The board is covered in names-- everything from Rihanna and Frank to more traditional tribal names, like Murasa.

Lauren and I gently prod the class to find out why they laugh when tribal names are spoken. We struggle for a few minutes to get them to move beyond their shy smiles and teach us about the culture. Finally someone stands, in the tradition of students here in Tanzania, and says, “I think maybe Joyce would know. It is her name.”

The energy shifts a bit and the room softens as Joyce rises from her chair to answer our question. She stands slowly, her head swathed in scarf and her eyes seeming to hold some secret.

“Murasa,” she begins tentatively, “is a person who is confidence and respect and happy all the time.” She glances up at me. For a moment I see that this is her true name-- somehow a truer name than Joyce. She is suddenly older to me. Perhaps it is the elegance of the scarf, or the knowing smile, or the secret-keeping eyes, but I think it might be that in the revealing of her name, she too has been revealed. Not exposed or stripped of defenses....but beautifully unveiled. The confidence and respect and joy within her become visible in the owning of her name. I wonder how she would be different if she was called Murasa....would something new emerge? Is it possible to become a Name?

As she sinks back into her chair, I look around at our students, with the meanings of their names still ringing in my ears. Brightness of heaven....honest one....gift of God. Their faces are full of an innocent strength I have not encountered in American students. Their willingness to play, their imaginative minds, their generous spirits....there is such a childlikeness about these teenagers, and yet somehow I always feel they know things about life that I will never know....at least not yet.

With only a little over a week left, I have so many unanswered questions about our dear bunch of students...so many conversations to have, dances to dance, drums to beat, and stories to tell. I cringe at the pressure of time. But I am so thankful for the time I have had with them....for these beautiful, wide-eyed souls....for their dreams and for their stories and for the names that contain them all.

Dwelling in Possibility: Lauren Lanker

Wednesday, June 29th

Daniel beats the drum. He is one of the smallest in our class, one of the quietest, but his hands pounds the drum with a lion’s ferocity. The rolling rhythms welcome us when our van bounces in each day and bid us farewell at the end of our teaching days. Our students are always at play. They are actors through and through.

We have been teaching for four days now. Abby and I work with Form III students at Nkoanrua Secondary School who range from age 14-18, all new to ITLP and soaking up every moment along with us. We spend our days together flexing our bodies and voices, awakening the imagination, and playing games that bolster creativity and concentration; we dredge for stories through writing and poetry prompts, on a quest for individual voice and not an examination essay. We learn to articulate ourselves more clearly to our students, using our bodies more and superfluous words less. Overcoming the language barrier has been one of our greatest struggles, but after four days we note progress.

These have been our days of exploration and now, Abby and I sift through the work and “ah-ha”s of the past four days to begin shaping our play. Here are a patchwork of just a few of the moments strewn before us:

The beating of a drum, sending bodies in motion.
A magic scarf that can turn into ANYTHING: a crying child, a mango tree ripe for the picking, the dress of Miss Tanzania.
A car rolling in slow motion, its parts made up of 10 people.
A museum of sculptures that morph and change into new stories with each clicking of the clave.
A character named Strong Tom, created from an image from National Geographic. He is a researcher who survives a wrestling match with a snake in the “colorless” water (according to Baracka).
A flock of students soaring in unison to “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga.
A line from Jackeline’s journal: “I worry about a day I will become an old woman.”

Somewhere in here lies a play, waiting to be uncovered, discovered, made. Or rather, there are 1,000 plays, and it’s just a matter of plugging in coordinates and setting sail--selecting one thread from the back of the quilt and following it. We aspire to do our students justice and to help shape the story they are already telling us in their wide eyes, heartfelt stories, laughter, dances, and chants. Also, we are aware of the delicate balance of beckoning them to new possibilities in theatre while honoring what is important to them. It must be their play, and it must push them beyond what’s comfortable.

So, here we are: “dwelling in possibility....” Marilyn Chandler McEntyre uses this phrase in her book, Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, to describe the feeling of being taken into a story--and it’s exactly how I feel, being taken into the stories of the 20 students of Form III.

Although the possibilities are endless, one thing I know for sure: our play MUST include Daniel’s drumming.

Hope-full: Felicia Bertch

Listen to the MUSTN’TS, child,
Listen to the DON’TS
Listen to the SHOULDN’TS
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON’TS
Listen to the NEVER HAVES
Then listen close to me—
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.

-Shel Silverstein


We are in the land of Base-Coat-Brown. Vibrant splashes of color, pattern, and chaos dance across this layer bringing Tanzania to life. If you squint just-so it all becomes a kaleidoscope- a moving, breathing organism. There is the appearance of people standing, sitting, waiting, being… But even in stillness, there is movement: an eye darting; the flick of a finger; the flash of a smile, the ponderings of the mind... Somehow the space-time continuum has negotiated different terms with the Tanzanian people. Each day is teeming with the tasks of survival constantly interrupted by the obligation (or admirable desire, I would argue) to commune with your fellow Livers of Life. This is the land of “Never hurry; Never rest.”

22 students. 2 weeks. A world of theater. 2 weeks. The depths of the imagination. 2 weeks.

Where and how do you begin a creative exploration in a world where hunger generally dictates the routine? Despite appearances to the contrary, this is actually a place of strict rules and structure.

But, we’re one week down and somehow we began. Our students have been excused from classes in Math, Science, Geography, History, etc… to participate in the only artistic outlet this school (or any school in Tanzania, for that matter) has to offer. Each day Laura and I attempt to whisk them away to a land of creative writing prompts [ “Tell us and draw us the best dream you have ever had” OR “If you found a magic lamp and could make any 3 wishes, what would they be?” ]; explorations into the world of story-telling; and dance. And ever so quickly these students have proven that they are still the creativity bearers of our planet. And they have proven that despite the shouldn’ts, mustn’ts, won’ts, and impossibilities that seem to reign supreme in their precious lives, hope is alive and well.

Anything can be…

I am black in color and tall

I am black in color and tall
I wonder if I be the super actor
I hear the sound of sweetie song
I see the sun rise
I want to be the actor in the world
I am black in color and tall
I pretend I am Prince
I feel happy
I touch the fruit in Eden garden
I cry to fail my future
I am black in color and tall

- David - Nkoandrua Secondary School

from Laura Stewart! Day One

"Think of our lives and tell us your particularized world. Make up a story. Narrative is radical, creating us at the very moment it is being created. We will not blame you if your reach exceeds your grasp ....
- Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize Lecture, 1993

Two nights ago, I sipped sweet Tanzanian chai in the darkness and waited. The power had gone out. I couldn't see anything, so I listened for the sound of a car horn at the lodge gate. In only a few minutes the 2011 ITLP team ought to be arriving from the airport. Then our teaching adventure would get underway. I had come to East Africa earlier than the others and was looking forward to my team's approaching reunion.

At about 10 p.m., the crunch crunch of gravel announced an arrival. Felicia, Rebecca, Kate, Lauren, Karis, and Abby piled out of two vans. In the light of my headlamp, I saw their tired, eager faces, and realized that in only two days, we'd begin leading our playwriting workshops at Tanzanian schools. What would our classrooms look like? How would our students respond to our theater exercises and writing prompts? These questions mixed in with my greetings. I think the whole team was entertaining similar questions.

The next morning (that's yesterday), our jet-lagged team dove headfirst into preparing and fine-tuning our lesson plans. St. Margaret's teachers face a new, joyful challenge this year - creating an original play - from scratch - out of the kids' writing. (Last year and the year before they created scripted plays as adaptations of Midsummer Night's Dream and Our Town). All three plays (one class at St. Margaret's, two at Nkoandrua Secondary School) will center loosely around a Shel Silverstein poem, but the content will come from the students' own writing and work. And I must admit that, during the course of preparation, our task sometimes struck me as daunting ... I wondered, as Toni Morrison wrote (see above), if our reach had exceeded our grasp.

Only one way to find out - and that's to try. "Joy lies in the doing," as Shakespeare said. This morning, plan in hand, my teaching partner Felicia and I set out to St. Margaret's Academy for our first day of theater and English instruction to a class of twenty 9-11 year olds. Our students, neatly attired in golden and green uniforms, greeted us politely.

It was soon evident that one thing they really loved was exercises involving group movement. They showed more hesitancy at standing out in any way - moving or speaking in front of their peers.

We faced similar challenges with our writing prompts. We noticed how students wanted to get answers 'right', and reach a group consensus. When responding to questions designed to draw on their individuality, they shied away from differentiating themselves. We worked to pull out specificity. When we encountered specific ideas or questions about God, family, culture, sports, education, nature, we were pleased. Specific answers are the stuff of good stories, and the means by which we connect to one another as people.

At the end of a long day, the bell sounded. Felicia and I hitched a ride home on a school bus. As we careened down dusty roads, my foot brushed up against a bag of raw chicken on the floor. I saw fields of coffee plants and matoake trees - those spindly but powerful plants that channel all their energy into the production of just one bunch of bananas.

And now night has fallen. Again, I am sitting in the middle of a power outage. I hear dogs bark outside and the low hum of music. I am grateful to be in Tanzania with ITLP. Theater has connected me to other people, expanded my sense of what is possible, and set me free from apprehensions. I know it can do all these things and more for our students, too.

- Laura Stewart, teaching artist, 2011 - St. Margaret's Academy

The International Theatre and Literacy Project 2011
Teaching Artist Bios: Tanzania Team

Kate Cook is a member of the faculty at Illinois State University, where she teaches movement for the actor with a particular focus on the Alexander Technique and Rudolph Laban's effort action work. Kate enjoys new play development; she has helped workshop plays for Enda Walsh, Richard Kalinovski, Aline Lathrop, J.R. Sullivan, and Rahul Varma. Kate's acting credits include: Utah Shakespeare Festival, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Dallas Theater Center, Chicago Dramatists, Classical Acting Company, and Willamette Repertory Theater. Upcoming work includes Elizabeth Bennett in Pride & Prejudice at Round House Theatre in Bethesda, MD. Kate is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association. Kate is thrilled to be joining ITLP this summer.

Karis Danish lives and works in NYC as a quadruple threat actor/singer/writer/economist. She has degrees in music performance and an M.F.A in acting from Florida State University's Asolo Conservatory. She has worked as an actor in regional theaters around the country including the Asolo Repertory Theater and Cape May Stage as well as independent films that occasionally pop up at your local film festival. She enjoys cultivating the work of emerging playwrights and composers and has work-shopped new material in New York City with New Georges Theater, Project;Theater, NYU and The P.I.T. She believes in the importance of story, hers and other peoples, and endeavors to create the space in life where the two intersect. She's also a member of Actor's Equity.

Lauren Lanker is thrilled to be joining the ITLP team in Tanzania this summer. Originally from New York, she currently lives with her husband Mark in Columbus, Ohio, where she teaches English & theatre to the talented and creative students at Canal Winchester High School. Highlights of the year for her include coordinating the annual Poetry Out Loud competition and directing and choreographing the spring musical. Recent directorial endeavors include Godspell & Side by Side by Sondheim. Lauren received a B.A. in English-writing with a theatre minor from Wheaton College, Illinois, where she was a four-year member of the theatre company WorkOut. She obtained an M.A. in Educational Theatre & English Education from New York University's Steinhardt School in May 2009 and was blessed to have the opportunity to study community-engaged theatre in Dublin, Ireland. She has an ever-growing passion for the development of original theatre as a means of bringing voice to the voiceless, and she looks forward putting this passion into play in Tanzania this summer. Let the adventures begin!

Abby Jackson is an actor and teaching artist currently living in New York City. In the past, she has worked with the Shakespeare Theatre Company (Washington, DC), Will Power to Youth, and in several smaller community organizations teaching theater to students of all ages and backgrounds. Most recently, she has been facilitating a theater group with participants from a wellness cafe for those in recovery from homelessness, addiction or mental illness. Abby believes strongly in the power of theater to cultivate compassion and transform communities. She is so looking forward to emerging from the desk of her day job and into the joy of collaborating with students, teachers, and artists in Tanzania!

Felicia Bertch mostly just likes stories and laughter. She has traveled the globe collecting other people’s stories, hijacking her way into those stories and subsequently learning the best and most laugh-worthy ways to share these stories with anyone who couldn’t come along in person. Felicia received her MFA in Acting at The University of South Carolina, studied at the LeCoq School in Paris, and currently works as a clown and an actor in Chicago. She teaches Modern Dance and Theater Movement classes/workshops at various institutions in the Chicago area, including Wheaton College, Columbia College, and The University of Chicago. She is also a theater choreographer and performance devisor. Since Felicia considers children to be the physical embodiment of story and laughter, she has spent the past 20 years teaching, nannying, playing with, and observing them in every imaginable way. This is never boring. She has made every effort to include children in her life’s story and is so grateful for the opportunity that ITLP has given her towards that end. www.feliciabertch.com

Laura Stewart studied acting at Wheaton College, IL and at the National Theater Conservatory's intensive program in Denver.

She has also worked as a writer and editor for nonprofit organizations. Last year she served as a Fellow in Uganda with International Justice Mission (a human rights agency that provides legal representation and psychosocial services to victims of violent oppression).

Laura has also taught French classes to young children, and tutored inner city youth in Denver. She is grateful for the opportunity to return to East Africa and to bring together art and justice issues.