 Welcome to a discussion that explores the creation and staging of a street performance in Portland, Maine called Gaza Bleeds. My name is Tim Paradis and I and my colleagues Shelly and Steve are involved with the grassroots group Main Voices for Palestinian Rights. MVPR is engaged in public education and advocacy in support of justice and human rights for the Palestinian people. Gaza Bleeds was performed during the summer and fall of 2018 in downtown Portland. The silent drama recreates the scene at the Gaza border fence with Israel where 200 protesters were killed in the past six months and over 18,000 wounded and maimed by Israeli Army snipers. The dead included many young teenagers as well as medics and journalists wearing visible symbols identifying themselves as such. Most people living in Gaza are individuals and family members of Palestinians expelled from their land and homes by Israel and Gaza has been called the world's biggest open-air prison where access to everything from food to medicine to water is controlled by Israel. The protests by the people of Gaza and the killing and maiming by Israeli Army snipers are ongoing. We're going to turn now to show the video and then we'll discuss its creation. This short drama about recent sniper shootings in Gaza is part of a much larger narrative. For over 100 years Palestinians have been steadily pushed off their land and oppressed by a variety of unjust often brutal practices and laws. The US government as Israel's top supporter via military aid and diplomatic backing has acted against its own national interests. A more balanced approach that at last takes into account the political and human rights and the security needs of Palestinians will vastly improve chances for a stable and peaceful Middle East. To start our conversation, Shelley and Steve could you tell me just something briefly about yourself and when and how you first became aware of the plight of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause. Do you want to start Steve? About myself, what I do. Briefly. Yeah, I'm an actor, director, I do, I narrate audiobooks, I play music, this sort of thing. And I first learned about it through my brother actually and back in, I think it was probably the early 80s. He had been investigating these old London Times articles up at the University of Maine in Orano and looking at microfiche from these old things and he began to understand what had gone on in those early days of Israel's formation as a state. And so I sort of listened to him and it was I always thought of it as kind of this problem over there that I didn't know anything about and you know I felt sorry for everyone and I began to understand what the history was and once I began to look at the history I began to be very interested in it and to begin to have an informed opinion. And Shelly? I first learned about it also in the early 80s. A friend from college who was very political, a very smart guy and he was all torn up about the Palestinian situation and was doing everything he could on campus to generate awareness and how to support the Palestinians being so far away. Also at a pretty conservative college I'd say. And then I think of myself as a political person but I actually don't follow politics. I don't really understand the structure of the government. So I'm not very political from that point of view but I certainly care about people and so as the years went by you know I didn't really know much about the Middle East or the geographics and the cultures it always seemed very foreign to me so it was sort of another form of removal in a way. But in recent years I have just been around more people who are also very intelligent and aware and know the history and so I've been able to learn more again and then I came to know all of you who are first involved with the main voices for Palestinian rights and of course Bob Scheivel who has been so you know carried the weight of that group by himself practically for a decade. Now that I see what he's doing organizationally I'm so grateful for because I'm not that organized but if I can get involved in an organization that's doing that part and I can show up and bring what I know how to bring I'm very happy about that and so that's how I've landed here. Thank you and fast-forwarding and picking up on this notion of being organized and doing stuff out in the public. How do you recollect that Gaza Bleeds was first thought of what were the first conversations that led to its creation if you recall? I can remember and I'm not sure whether it was you or Bob Scheivel who first brought it up to me but said well we're we're thinking about doing some kind of dramatic presentation and we thought of you because you have some experience in theater as a director and and then we started meeting a few of us four five five of us was it and regularly it was usually Tuesday mornings at that point at a downtown place in Portland and just discussing how this thing would might might look. Yeah first we thought about it being just a tableau and the way we got to that was because so many people we were first doing the street corners handing out pamphlets and making signs just to bring sort of poster notes to people's awareness about what's going on in Israel and Palestine and so many people would come to me and say what are you doing that for friends how do you think that has any effect on anybody I don't think anyone pays any attention to that and I started to get the feeling that people actually had an aversion to it and so then we started to think how could we connect with people more of a heartfelt way instead of you know I don't know what it is it turns some people off but not everybody is but some people were and so we were just trying to think of how to reach more people and we came up with the idea of doing the tableau and then it kind of grew maybe from you Stephen about actually putting some action into it our movement or words and so we played around with that idea until what we saw on the screen was born and there was the there was a discussion at some point as to whether there should be a tableau is where people don't move and a silent drama is where people move but they don't speak and then a drama typically has dialogue and and so we played around with the idea of no movement you know movement without so and and then we we came up with basically movement without words yes and as I recall the the the one sound that we needed or at least we felt that we needed was that sound of we didn't want to use guns because you know fake guns obviously because who knows what in this you know any day and age but particularly this one people might think if they saw even toy guns out in public like that so we so we we we lit on a gesture but it needed some kind of a voice accentuating the gesture so I was the one who was who was chosen to be the person okay you want to do it you do it and and made a kind of a loud violent noise with just with my voice we'll delve into some of the theatrical aspects of this a little further yeah but I'm wondering if either of you had been involved with what I'll call adjut prop theater in the past or what sources of inspiration in terms of this kind of street theater with a social or political message were sources of inspiration well the I've never I don't think I've ever done I may have somewhere deep in my memory that's gone I've done street theater I mean I was I was around for all those big protests of the the late 60s and early 70s in DC but the specific theater that I've done that connected with this issue was two two pieces my name is Rachel Corey and seven Jewish children seven right I think and I actually Tim you you you worked on that with me and that was presented in various locations around Portland and and Brunswick and Boston it was a reading but it was a reading done by a lot of people there was originally just basically Rachel Corey who died under a bulldozer that she was standing up to prevent from going in destroying a Palestinian home and the bulldozer didn't stop and she was killed and it was her diaries written before and so but we broke it up into a lot of different voices of all of you know both sexes and all ages and it was kind of effective because it wasn't just about this one girl it was about standing up for something and and what happens and Shelley as Gaza Bleeds was being formed were you thinking about other street performances that you had seen or how did I have seen street theater which I think is really exciting and I am an artist and an actor and I have not done anything like that before but I love the idea of you know connecting the arts to politics I think is a great resource otherwise I'm painting landscapes and trying to forget politics flowers yeah so it's wonderful to bridge those things a lot of people do but I hadn't so I was happy to be a part of that too and Steve you started talking about the theatrical aspects of this what were some of the elements that you were thinking about to make it most effective to engage folks that support MVPR and to reach out to the public what were some of the elements that well it was necessary we knew that it would be necessary to have something in the way of signage because a lot of people would have no idea if we just showed so there were signs but they were used we hope judicially judiciously I should say at certain points in this but it was to be some basic action with you know we needed we needed a barrier so someone got some chicken wire I think it might have been you Tim and we needed we needed to somehow we had the Palestinians basically dressed in in red to make it clear visually that these were people and they were on the other side of this barrier and and we had them fall in a obvious way as if they were you know had been shot and I was there prancing around you know being the sniper and and then we had someone come in and lay a white sheet the bloodied white sheet on each of them so it was it was supposed to yeah I mean I those were the theatrical elements we had to choose what would be readable what would read from a distance too because you know people we were hoping to attract people who were just passing by usually on on art walk Friday I believe yeah pretty much yeah and then we carried over that red and black theme to the signs too which we made a lot of signs and we spent some time thinking about you know what what messaging we wanted to do with that and I think traditionally you know signs have been angry and not that we aren't angry about what's happening but also we don't want to shut people out and so we're we're trying to reach people from you know really try to get the heart of everybody to respond to this crisis which essentially everybody I think ought to be concerned about and so we don't want to push people away we want to be thoughtful about what we're communicating and the red and black theme I think is dramatic even for the signage and so we use that and one of the signs or some of the signs that I made we made we literally wrote down the names of the people who had been killed at the border of many many of them a few of them well yes well we had the list but we only did 30 to represent the greater number I mean I mean in our hearts we were writing all of them because we did it with such care and thought and we had all the names so many of them were of course young people too but when I did that I I used a calligraphy partly because I was trying to I think about what we do when we have something that we care about any kind of an event whether it be a funeral or a wedding we often will use a thoughtful script and so I did that trying to communicate that these are not just you know some enemy lives that were lost these were real people who were really loved by their family and only you know coming up to the border hoping to communicate or make a connection with someone to you know get back some basic rights just basic humanity so anyway what I mean to say and all that is I think what we think about and the intention that we give to things makes a big difference in a cause like this and I see a lot of people who care a lot about people even people we don't know but people who are suffering and so that's sort of what motivates me and excites me being around so many caring people for one thing in a world that's full of hate and as you see on the video there were other actors involved can you speak to your work with them Steve because you were primarily responsible for orienting them orienting them and directing them yes as they say it was like hurting cats there were I was I thought the people who played the Palestinians is that bad no it's not bad it's just difficult the Palestinians who were who were killed were they each of them clearly felt a lot about this I mean to to give that time on a Friday to come out and you know put yourself in front of a lot of people many of whom may not exactly see eye to eye with you and to put out you know this they were these were not theater people necessarily these were not these weren't people used to doing anything in public but anything in public but they I mean I was I was amazed at how how much looking at them particularly on the video and and at the time too how much they communicated of of that moment of of a person unarmed person being shot you know and just and you know it was it was amazing I thought they did a wonderful job and everyone seemed very they if we needed more people to carry signs or fewer people to you know whatever that people were happy to give it a try it was not the easiest thing it would not be that easy for me to to fall down as if I suddenly had no legs under me on stone which is where we we did the stone or brick and and everyone no matter what age found a way to to to crumple you know and sometimes it looked like they were lying themselves down very laying themselves down very carefully but um but it was it was a great effort I mean the people threw their hearts into it it was it was nice and what is your recollection of the response of passersby the audience as it were to the first time this was staged I recall that it was on a first Friday in Monument Square and I think we got the timing wrong so there weren't that many people around but any thoughts about the engagement with the public yeah I wasn't at the first one but I was at the second one and I was happily surprised to see how many people approached our table who stopped and were really watching and because I was holding the sign so I wasn't necessarily I was holding the actually the edge of the chicken wire fence you know the barrier and I was able to really watch people and so I was happy to see that people were engaged I guess and really watching what appeared to be contemplating what was going on that's different than when we're passing out pamphlets on the corner on Fridays which you know we did all summer so very different response that's what I noticed yeah I mean the the great thing is that when you're when you're performing when you're doing a performance people are not only they're not only allowed to they're people are encouraged to just look at something they're not being approached and anything nothing's being asked of them directly will you sign this do you know about this it's just we can just look at this from a distance and be there's a separation between us which allows I think people to feel more free to look at it and to find out what's going on because I don't care what it is if someone comes up on the street with something I mean now I usually look this frequently they're petitions I want to sign I won't stop but the the initial thing is no I've got other things to do because I just don't I don't want to you know I'm but yeah that's that's a great thing about about something that has some a visual but not not a not a not a need to to engage which and is why in theater you know a lot of people don't like theater when the actors engage the public is like I came to watch this I didn't come to be part of your show and in this case people were able to just watch and I believe that Gaza Bleeds has been performed four or five times to date in downtown Portland over the course of that time frame have elements of the peace change significantly or at all and in what ways either the script or really the way that the message is being presented well the the big thing that I remember that we wanted that didn't seem to be getting across in the first one was that the moment of the shooting just pointing at someone it didn't seem to be so I remember that that was that that was a big thing that you had to make some sort of a noise and when we when we performed down pretty much we I think we performed each time except once in monument square and the the once that we went down to commercial street between rira and and the the ferry it was a different I mean there were people coming off cruise ships and and with little with little kids and and it was someone was quite angry that I was making a loud noise said it was it was just it was frightening people so you know you have to choose your venue and and say well maybe it's not so bad that you're frightened by a noise of someone yelling if you find out what it is and what it's about it's actually about not people yelling somewhere it's about people killing other people you know so any other observation any differences in the the presentation no because I only did the one so I wish I could speak to the others yeah we'll probably have a minute to come back to any concluding thoughts but um I just have some end remarks uh first some notes of thanks to Martha Spies for filming and editing the gossip leads video to the portland media center where this is being taped for both filming this discussion and for giving us this venue to show the the film and to the struggle which is a tv show hosted by stan heller which is bringing this message to 20 community tv stations around new england and new york city if you are inspired or interested by the video and this discussion you're welcome to contact main voices for palestinian rights you can visit the web page which is mvpr.org or contact us by email at mvprites at gmail.com um as we move forward the killing continues at the border fence with gaza the oppression of the palestinian people continues the search for a just and fair solution to their plight is still a long way off so i'd like to quote something that was sent to us by one of the staffers at the us campaign for palestinian rights to put this in the broader context he wrote at a time when the connections between domestic us struggles for justice and the palestinian freedom struggle are clearer than ever gaza bleeds shows us all that we have choices we can resist we can educate we can use public space to highlight injustice gaza bleeds reminds us of the appalling human cost of israel's aggression against the unarmed palestinian protesters and asks us to think about what more each of us can do to urge our government to end its complicity in israeli abuses we still have a couple more minutes any other plans for such street performance i know where i think might might be worth worth pursuing i recall being being asked probably two months ago to look into other other possible script ideas and and how we might because i'm always big on on let what is the history people people in this country knew the history they would not support our our our government supporting this what's been going on so the history so how do you make a history so basically a century clear so that and i haven't quite gotten around to doing that script any final thoughts shelly because we're almost done yeah i agree that there's some some if we can get some messaging across it will make i think it will make a big difference because so many people just don't know both sides including me for many years so i understand how confusing it can be i believe it's a minute okay well we've we've kind of run out of time well you know i was i was i was hoping i was i knew that i didn't know what you were going to say with that statement that you read right i was saying well the big thing is this country our country our tax money is going to support israel right and all of its actions some of which are things that i think if people knew they would not be behind and that run directly counter to what i imagine to be the ideals of of our country that's right and international law well thanks to both of you for an interesting conversation thank you to him thanks to him