racism

I've been doing Playback Theatre for over four years now, and knew by the end of the evening on April 12th, that we'd had a special performance and stories. But even i was surprised to hear from strangers after the show about how this kind of artistic form was needed for community dialog in York. Hey folks, we're not running for president. But it was encouraging.

The Healing York Playback project was launched out of the need for Yorkers to tell their stories around the hurt and healing of racism and violence in the city -- and have those stories be heard. After months of planning, publicity and recruiting, a sampler workshop was organized on Saturday, September 22, 2007. Nine people were in attendance at the William Penn Performing Arts Institute with folks from a range of ages and ethnic backgrounds. After five intensive hours of playing, acting and stories, the workshop was enthusiastically endorsed by participants as a strong beginning toward a Playback ensemble that could serve the greater York community.

We had a wonderful Playback Sampler workshop this Saturday at the William Penn Performing Arts Institute (York, PA). The overriding sense of the gathering on departure was enthusiasm for MORE of what we had begun -- a Playback Theatre process of sharing stories around our experiences with diversity and racism.

The day began with a deflation of expectation. Seven people who pre-registered failed to make it. Four of these had been prospectively interested in the longer-term project, putting into question the viability of the project's ensemble. The next such community workshop (if and when) will certainly have at least a nominal fee or deposit.