 Without further ado, please welcome David Diamond and his volunteer players, Jim Forsyth, Ingrid Brussillon, and Tara Moon, building bridges through improvisation. So folks, first of all, thank you for the intro. Very nice to see you all here. I'm going to talk at you for just five minutes, and then we're going to do stuff. So I want to start by asking how many of you know and are concerned about the fact that humanity all over the planet is polarizing right now? Like, yeah, many, many of us in this room. The so-called left and right, which I'm not sure I believe in anymore, us and them, Republican and Democrat, liberal and conservative, the worthy and the unworthy, the wrong color, the wrong gender, all of these things and more labels that we humans make to separate us from each other, to make the other. Nature doesn't do this. We do. Alongside this polarization, I believe, is something that's contributing to the polarization in the collective consciousness. Just in the news this morning, and I need to say, I was just waking up at the time, I'm not altogether certain of the number. But the temperatures the planet's currently experiencing are the highest in the last 12 or 20,000 years. Whether it's 12 or 20, frankly, I think is irrelevant. We're in an emergency. And the revolution we need on the planet is dissolving walls and at least bridge building, not more polarization. I co-founded a theater company, Headlines Theater in 1981, became artistic director in 84 and then having encountered the work of two Brazilians, Paulo Freire. How many of you know of the work of Freire? Just, yeah, and then Augusta Boal. He is the founder, of course, of the Theater of the Oppressed. Boal and I went on a huge journey from mentor Menti to colleagues to very dear friends. We loved each other and I miss him. But over the years that work that I was doing evolved into what I now call theater for living, not theater for the living as opposed to theater for the dead. I did not see that coming. Theater for living. And so I get invited into communities all over the planet. It's remarkable. Nobody's more surprised by that than me to do projects about various forms of violence, getting beyond us and them, humanizing hierarchical environments like faculties and universities, and reconciliation among humans, and also reconciliation with the planet. All of it in the end, building bridges of some sort. But instead of trying to tell you about it, because it's a very difficult thing to explain, I'm going to try, please understand, I normally work with groups for at least eight hours, usually eight hours a day for a week, not 81 minutes. So we're just going to do a whiff, get as susan as they say, just dipping our toes in the water here today. Now these courageous people, would you introduce yourselves please? We got together today at 1.30 and we worked together for just under two hours to prepare for now. We're going to present you with some images out of their lives, out of their lives, about something that I'm hoping we all share and that is their struggles somehow inside their relationship with improvisation, because that's what this conference is about. And it's what you're here to discuss. And it's one of the things in my mind that makes you a community. And so we're going to look at that. And of course, I work with individuals of course in a room, but what I really work with is this consciousness of what I call living communities. So we're going to do it and we're going to have time for discussion afterwards. Um, no, yes, of course. What we're going to do here today can't be about those people out there. It can only be about us in here. And I want to acknowledge, because I'm going to be inviting you to come on and off the stage, because it's not a performance. It's an improvisational event. And there are a lot of you in the room and you're really crammed together. And it's going to be challenging for you to get out of there and up here. It's going to be challenging. But you know, folks, life isn't necessarily easy. So I really want to encourage you to do that because the more you sit and watch people do this, the less is going to happen in this room. And the less everybody is going to take away. And the more you actively engage in it, the more is going to happen in this room. And the more everybody is going to take away. This truly does depend on you. So away we go. Can you hear me without this? Yes. Yes. Yeah, so, pardon me. So, could we have a first image? Here's an image somehow of a struggle inside the world of improvisation. What do you see? Just start yelling stuff out. Balance. Pardon me? Balance. Disgust. Actually, raise your hand because, yeah, yes. Mediation. Resistance. Confusion. Disdain. Conflict. Force. Disconnection. I'm sure there's other things. I'm assuming many of you are improvisers. If you've been one of these characters, either realistically or symbolically, I'm going to ask you to come onto the stage, stand in the same shape as the character. If you've been one of these characters, realistically or symbolically, I'll do this at the same time. Just because you're back there again, exactly. Come, please. People in the image, if you want to get started, shake it out. You won't have to stay frozen all the time. Folks, decide that the stage is full and don't have another opportunity. Be in the same shape. And just be here for a moment, and they'll just relax your bodies for a moment. I think you will all know this, but I need to give it to you, and here's something you don't. I'm going to be asking when you're here to do internal monologues. An internal monologue is a character, response, and feelings of love. It's not a dialogue. So these two, for instance, are not speaking to each other. It is a monologue. If I'm going to shake like this, the internal monologue, once in my head, might be, ah, shit. Oh, shit, shit, shit, shit, but don't say the same thing over and over again. The internal monologue is like an island, it has layers to it. We're going to get down past the first layers, not to say the same thing over and over again. So, ah, shit, where is everybody? Why is it always like this? Or whatever. You know. So you do something about this, you resonate with. It doesn't have to be her exact story. You understand something about the story. So you place yourself inside it, and you have an internal monologue. Same for all of you. Ready? Interchase, please. Internal monologue, just for a few moments. Keep talking so they ask their song. Ready? And go. On that side of the stage, just to latch your body, so don't go away. Over here, I'm going to touch you on the shoulder. Say a sentence, please. Begin with the words, I want. I want. Speak as a character, please. Decide on his commitment. Don't change it with your other people's. Here we go. I want to go slow. I want nothing to do with you. I want you to be normal. That's what you want somebody to be. What do you want? I want to be normal. And if I could be normal, maybe somebody else could be normal. I want to do this right. I want to belong. I may not get to all of you. I want to pursue my dreams. I want them to understand you, so I want to help you right now. I want true representation. Relax, if you're in this shape. I think so many of you are in this shape. Yeah, relax if you're in this shape. In this shape, in your shape, please. I want. I want this person out of my life. That's what you want this person to be or do what you want. I want to be in that alive. I want to feel connected. I want to be. I want to feel safe in this space. I want to understand. I want true representation. Just again, because you're that. Oh, correct. I don't want to go. I want to have some right to use. I want them to understand, so. That's what you want them to do. I want to focus on my other stuff. I want to build. I want to bring people together. I want to create safety. I want to help. I want to create safety. I want to do this right. I want to be recognized as a full worthy human. I want to get out of the middle. Is that the character or the participant? I want to make a decision. I want communication to be that way. Accept it as what I am. Which is very similar to what you said. The people who place yourselves should thank you. Go back. I'm going to ask one more question about this image. Back into this shape, please. We've peeled some layers of complexity away from this. And I want to say, even though I said to one of the participants here, that's exactly very close. It's not a contest, folks. Whatever you say here is a valid. Because we all see the world differently. If you think of this as a close up in a movie, and we pull back into a wider angle shot, is it just them in this moment of your conversation, or are there other people? Who sees other people? Can I see some of that in this case? If you see other people, and just for the interest of time, I'm going to give you a dozen of you. Some of you from here, and some of you from there. A dozen of you. Come. Be those other people. It doesn't have to be an exact dozen. Quickly, papers, please. Into shapes, please. Into a wall along all of you at the same time. And go. Yeah, that's right. Once again, a sentence that begins with the words, I want. I want to belong just to me today. I want to go to peace and quiet, please. Why? Because I'm scared. I want not to be frightened anymore, and the way I cannot be frightened anymore is to have total love. I want to go on all these problems. Again. Why? I want true representation. I want to do my own thing. I want to help. Is there an end or a but after that? And I don't know how to. What are you calling? I want my face back. You all know about the slime on, right? I want to feel connected. He sent from way over here with his back to everybody. I want this to be better. I want true representation. I want to be seen. I want to be as accepted as what I am. Is there anybody you can come to? Oh, sorry. I will save you. Who placed yourselves? Thank you, go back. How many of us recognize how important the representation issue is? Not just in the important way, but our arts and culture. How many of you recognize that? And how many of you recognize that for people, not for everybody, but for some people, that's a complicated thing. How many of you understand that? As those of you who understand it, and I can't be all of you folks, just like we four or five of you at the time, how do you understand, if you will, if you will, in a sense you, not long enough. How do you understand that? Because you want to represent unique, you want to represent the things that we recognize, but also all the uniqueness in people, which is something collective, but also something individual. Anybody else? Just saying that I will repeat how I repeat. Has varying levels of privilege and... Everybody heard that, right? Yeah, go ahead. No. I'm complicit in wanting to retain my power. We are complicit in wanting to retain our power. And I want to do more. Sometimes we don't have to know how to show ourselves, and then hear another song. The one who wants to be comfortable with their own authenticity and vulnerability. I want to be like that everlasting god stopper, where there's a hard shell, but invariably like a little bit gets worn out and that's the part you don't want to expose and everybody sees that. Once you're part of the everlasting god stopper, which she calls the little bushy part inside, you don't really want to expose. Very last, go. Yeah, I'm trying to talk to you. I'm asking you what you observe. I'm asking you what you recognize in your life. Many of us are motivated by fear and vulnerability, the fight for freedom response. Okay. We're going to move on. Now, just so you know that, in my work, I'm not going to tell you who's it, well, whose image this was, really, and I don't ask the engineers to explain their image. Why? Because I don't want to work with a conscious and single group. I am more interested in our perceptions of the image than on the story of the image. I find it's a more inclusive way of work and, in fact, it's safer for the people who make the images. It took me a long time to get there. So, image of a duplicate. Here's an image of a struggle, somehow, inside the world of their conversation. Audience, let me just see. You see, or hurt. Grief. Bodied. Sorry. Exploitation. Shaving. Miscommunication. Mocking. Mocking. Be overwhelmed. Longing. I like this question because I think it's a very powerful question in this work, so I asked it often. Because it also helps us understand the diversity of perspective in things. Because we all, you know, with all images, it's an image, it's a symbol. And, with all art, we bounce our own lives off a piece of art. And we see ourselves as a symbol. So, back into the shape, please. If you've been one of these characters, realistically or symbolically, come, stand with the character. And if you've come already and lots of other people are coming, make some space. And if you don't be coming, give yourself an opportunity to come again. Come, folks, you can all do this at the same time. And thank you for making your way into the audience. It's really what we need you to do. Into shape, please. Of the character who struggle, you understand. Somehow, audience members, be in your shapes, cast members. I didn't ask you to do this in the last image that I regret it now. Relax your bodies for a second. Turn around. No, no. Audience members, stay in your shapes. Cast members, so that's your bodies. Look and see how many people are in your shapes. And it's your shapes. Into the follow-up, all of you at the same time. Ready and go. And freeze. Ten speeds of these words I want. And then when we finish this part, I explain why I want is important. When the shape's on stage. I want you perfect. Comedy is only for the world better. That's what you want the comedy to do. What do you want? I want the world better. That's what you want the world to be. And I assure that I want. But what do you want? I want to relax. And only the world could be better. I would go change the world. So I don't have to feel it. I want to be entertaining. I want to smile. That's what you want it to be. What do you want? I want peace. I want to help when I'm comfortable. I want to help when I'm too comfortable. I want to help when I'm comfortable. I want to understand the facts about it. I want to be comfortable. I want to be loved. I want support. I want respect. I want to be accepted. I want to be taken seriously. I want to play. I want my African music. I want to take that back. I want to belong. I want a book I'm going to make you laugh. You hear this. And so many things you say. Connectness. They're not the same results. But audience. Can you hear how they're connected? How many of you could hear that? Thank you folks. People, please just understand. I stumbled across this I-want thing. Really just a few years ago. After almost 40 years of work. It seems so simple. Why did the app to cross the stage? Yeah, well true. But it's because she wanted something for herself. Not for other people. You're being a son of your year who does not believe in true altruism. In total altruism. Mother Teresa, I never met her before. And she did wonderful things, I'm sure. But she got something out of that. I don't bet. All my investment's on it. A place in heaven. Feeling needed. That she wasn't charitable. But we are also human beings. And we're self-motivated. It's important in the theater. But I'm also an activist. And I think the activist community in particular is really good at knowing what it wants other people to do. I want them to do what they want. I want to get extra on them to do what they want. I work on violence issues, or laws. Do you like being a person? I've got a character on the stage like this. I want her to be afraid of what she wants. I want her to feel what she wants. I want to feel safe. Oh, and if you eat the crap out of this other person you think you're safe. You're wrong, but I understand. I understand you want it. And for me, this is getting beyond the safety of things. Yes, we work with a lot of violence in the world. I don't need another project to tell me that. What we should be asking ourselves is why, as a culture, we're growing so much violence. Because folks, it's just like there's a spring of bad stuff. And we have a bucket. And we're just bailing away because we continue to deal with symptoms. And we don't want to deal with the core issues that are the root problems. Why? Because it's really inconvenient. Because we have to take responsibility for stuff. And we want other people to take responsibility for stuff. So the I want has become really important to me. Back to the changes. I need to demonstrate something. And I need one of the three of you to be okay with me hugging you in order to do that. Anybody? This is an image. And I say, somebody come and create an ideal image. Here's my desire for an ideal image. Folks, I want to suggest to you that if you're here and you get here really fast, it's magic. Don't trust it. It's magic. You don't get from here to here in the 17th. It can happen. It takes time. Magic is an interesting thing in this work. Because for me, every time anybody comes out to the stage and takes up a shake, it's magic. The theater is full of magic. So the question then is what is acceptable magic and what is unacceptable magic? I'll leave you two examples from my own work. I get asked to do a lot of work on addiction machines in communities. I challenge anybody in this room to say they're not addicted to anything. They're really in a highly addicted country. Some of those addictions we get rewarded for by addictions to work. That addiction still goes to those families. The same way in addition to alcohol and drugs. Everybody I know, myself included, carries addictions. In the addiction work, if there's a character that has an addiction to alcohol, it's magic to come on to the stage in the 17th. And I wonder if you enter the addiction and you work from there. I did it 20 years ago with ex-gang members. The heart of the play was, yes, how do young people not get both the gangs important. But the real heart of the play was, what's your name, how do you get out and not be killed. And the characters of gang members had guns made improvements to these guns. They were heavy. And if you wanted to replace a gang member, you had to take the gun. And people would come and go, I don't want the gun. And I said, well, you can't replace a character. Because wearing the gun changes. So I'm coming to the shakers. And one of you, come. This isn't a test. It's an exercise. You're not going to do the wrong thing. Come. And re-sculpt them into a shape that you would see as a possible ideal image. And rob it in a time of sorts. Because I'm going to do that quickly. Thank you. Now you can move around. But don't explain anything. Just put them in new shapes. You're going to do this one. Oh, I just went too excited. So try to talk. More we name stuff, and more we erase the creativity of the people who are acting. Yeah. So, feel this in your bodies. Understand this. You're going to interpret it. That's always the case. Know this in your body. Here's what I'm going to ask of you. You understand we can't rehearse this because you don't know what anybody's going to do. You're going to go back into original shape. I'm going to start to clap my hands. On each... Could you just... Just hold it up. On each hand... I'm going to start to clap my hands around this speed, around that speed. On each hand clap, you're going to take one step using your entire body. You're going to try to move the desired ideal image. But you must remain true to your character. You might have had somewhere else. You have a goal, but you're going to tell the truth of the character that you know you're playing. Clear, folks? I'm going to give you five claps. Use them wisely. Here we go. One step at a time. Stay focused. I'm going to come to your senses and give you anything just all you need for right now. I won't. No, just anything. Why can't you just be yourself? You understand me? You have two more steps. In other words, I wish different than I want. I want this in the present. I wish the future. Decider this and make the world change. I wish I always thought this way. Don't do all of it. I wish this would be fun. I start talking to the characters now and holding responsible for what they've just done. I'm not going to do that here because I wish I had time and I don't want to step on the journeys that happen that each of you interpreted. And I really mean this, folks. I see word pointless from other people sometimes and when the workshop is over they come to the audience and go, here are the three things we learned here at this event tonight. And I go, fuck it, do you think? Because that is what I learned tonight. I guess I must be stupid. The things that you learn and you take away and nobody actually ever needs to know about. Image of the three things, digital struggle somehow, the exciting world of improvisation, audience, what you see, concern, domination, misunderstanding, the patriarchy, misunderstanding, standing by, power struggle, despair, trauma, non-consensual, non-consensual, a threat way back, complicity, frustration, frustration here then there the next time, go. Indifference, regret. If you've been one of these characters and we've been here for a while, folks, let's be honest because let me ask this with the best of intentions and I need this, how many of us have been this character in my season of incidents? This doesn't need to have any intent to be in this shit, but I could have the best of intent. If you've been one of these characters, come, stand in the same shape as the character. I actually want this on the stage for you. Pressing? What do you want me to buy? If you're one of them at the same time, ready and go. I'm not creating you, so I'm gonna come and touch you a sense of speed because of the words I want. Decide what it is, commit to it, don't change it what your dead people say. I want to help, but it could get me in trouble. I want out the far away from that pain. I want it down my way. I want it down my way. I want it to judge. I want to know exactly what's going on. I want to move on. I want to be outrageously fucking brave by the scale. I put so much pressure on you. I want to be loved. I want to be free from the oppression. I almost fell on you. I want to meet my way. Relax your bodies over here. I want to know you. I want my intentions to be understood. I want you to understand. I want someone to tell you what you want. I want to know that you understand. I want you to know how virtuous I am. I want to talk to anybody and know what you want. I want to be virtuous. I want to be heard at least just once. I want to be good. I want my experience to matter. I want to be right. I want to be meaningful. I want to understand how we go in like this. I just want to help you. Relax your bodies. Can you replace yourself with your wife? Did I count everybody? No. Thank you audience for that for yourself. Thank you guys. It's going to be interpreted in many ways. That's what makes it so powerful. In the real world, things can be very ambiguous now. I don't want. I don't invite them to the water for confirming violence issues. I recognize that this can be interpreted that way. I know the story that comes from after using that. But I know it can be interpreted that way. How do we understand the complexity of this? Can I see some hands please? And please, I just want to say I hope you hear what I'm saying. You have to get it. You can tell the shape, please. Pass this other thing one more time. Can somebody come and create an ideal image from this? But one is not. That's a very sculpture. So I'm assuming that... What's your name? Steve. In your ideal, something else is happening before this image. And I'm going to ask you, please, to sculpt it. But there has to be an intervention. Because in order to get here, many other things would have to happen. You know what I'm saying, folks? And I'm asking you to sculpt this image into an ideal from this image. I know that there's been two or three other scenes in between. Do you understand what I'm saying? I don't. I don't understand. I think... Am I misinterpreting this? No, take us. Yeah. And so somebody had to call the police. The police had to drive. Right? And the thing I'm asking, and I'm not suggesting that's wrong, in order for it to happen, all kinds of other things would have had to happen first. This image. You with me? Yeah. So, an ideal image from this image. How many of you understand what I just did? I'm a seasoned artist. And here's the thing for you, folks. I'm a big believer in you, for what the way it is. It's not the way you wish it was. The way it is. You're still there. You're still there. I don't understand. You haven't moved me anywhere. Oh, you're back to the original. Yeah. We went back to the original. You need to be sculpted. So that all that interest... You didn't have it. I want you to look around. Let's see what you're doing. Okay? Any body that's... understand this... lives. The life's lives. I'm going to give you six cuts. And those six cuts, I want you to try to move from the original into this ideal. But you must remain true to character. That includes even helping. So you didn't have six claps. You could do anything go anywhere you want. Same. Same. You're going to try to get to the ideal, but you're going to tell the truth from the character. Clear? Clear? Clear. It's a shape, isn't it? Six claps. I'm going to ask you to do something that I didn't introduce you to, but you can do this. Your secret thought, the thing you're really thinking as the character right now, what would you never say about it in front of other people? In this moment, your secret thought, decided it is to make you do not change it when you're with other people, same. She can hear this. Does she think something's to be? She's got a problem. We have three steps left. Stay in shape. Auditon's going to put my hand on top of the character's head. This has to be in some kind of orderly fashion. You can't hold on to say the tongue. But you tell me about the thing you're saying out loud, please. Here we go. You can't hear the bell. Should I do it? Should I do it? It's my chance to help. It's my chance to help. This will change everything. This will change everything. Got it. Got it. Enough is enough. Not again. Not again. I'm going to get into trouble. I'm going to get into trouble. No, please. I want revenge. Actually, what does no please mean translate? Please don't do that. I want revenge. What is happening? What's happening? I'm going to get into trouble. I'm going to get into trouble now. I've got no allies in this space. It's all her fault. Something's changing. Something's changing. Pardon me? You miss on your stuff. You miss on your stuff. I think I'm fucked. I think I'm fucked. I promise I won't. I feel helpless. I feel helpless. I can explain. I can explain. There's a hand up somewhere. But I'm a nice guy. I won't do it again. I swear I won't do it again. I swear I won't do it again. I swear I won't do it again. I swear I won't do it again. I just didn't swear I won't do it again. My life's father's great. These are the three legends that God created, starting at 1 to 3. My hope is, so we're going to go into a conversation. My hope is, and like I said, this is like a whiff of the work. It's really scratching the surface. But when groups and communities come together, can I want to say, I want to know that as individuals, if we don't express ourselves, if we just keep it all bottled up inside us, we get sick, right? How many of you know that? Can I see some answers to this? Well, the same way as your body is made of cells, to make up the living organism in your body, a community's made of people, to make up the living organism of a living community. The living community is used to restressing cells, so it's soft, dense, drama, art. Something that, as it goes around, used to say, belongs to all of humanity, not only those people that get to stand in the light. But recently, in the evolution of human kind, that activity has become commodified, along with everything else. And so now, we buy use, we buy drama, we buy paintings, we buy dance, we paint strangers to tell us stories about strangers. When you get together as living communities, not to tell your story or your story, but our collective stories, the answer is, to a very large degree, although I blend up with human communication, still do that, that are rare. But to a large degree, we don't. And in the same way as people get sick, so do communities. I think the proof of that is everywhere we look. And so, improvisation is an art form, like every other art form. And doing improvisation as a troop and doing it with community somehow, regardless of the subject matter, sometimes the subject matter will be very important. And sometimes it just doesn't matter the act of doing it is an act of human, of a community expressing something together. In these three images, and you don't need to know what was at the core of her image, what was at the core of his image, what was at the core of her image. You don't need to know. The things that you interpret are actually quite different. And the things that you interpret are the consciousness of the community. How many of you recognize that? Can I see some hands please? Because you know, I used to have this argument that my English teacher in grade 10 all the time. What do you mean by all of these? Yes. When I believe it, it means this. And I mean this folks. How dare you tell me I'm off. It's art. You're a family because I don't, they trip up the whole thing you do. It's bullshit. I can say that. I don't understand. So, my hope is, I'm going to go into discussion. I'm actually right on time. We're going to go into discussion that through this, you start to recognize one way, it's not every way, it's one way, that improvisational work can build bridges of understanding. Because when 20 of you come up and you take on, I don't know, this shape and you'll have different perspectives on it. That are all your truth that we are building bridges of understanding. That's by doing that. Folks, could you stand for a second? So, there are people with microphones apparently out there who are going to run around. At the end of the day, we have 29 minutes. Questions, comments, and is it okay if you get questions? Is it okay, folks? Anybody? Or they could just yell high and repeat it. Like I've been doing. Hi. One of the things that I like about improv when you're just kind of talking about is letting go. So when you want to do improv, firstly, when I welcome you to that room and let go of everything that's outside and that way I can be in the moment. And that's what's great about improv. That's what I like about the community and the people that do improv. And this exercise that we were doing it embodies that to me. That we all have our own perspective of what those things are. And it's not wrong. It's not wrong. It's your perspective. And we accept that when we do improv. We say, yes, and we build on it. So let's just let my thoughts and thank you very much. Okay. I'm not in control of this anymore. Don't. So I have that question with you, Mark. What are the priorities that you used to begin your presentation? I mentioned, it seems to me that you mentioned those is that was the problem, like right versus left, left versus left versus a Republican and so on. So the troubling thing that I had with that in your research, we have to build bridges. How do you build bridges between two opposing rulers that have an adversarial approach to solving problems? I mean, for example, what is the compromise on an issue like abortion? What is the compromise on an issue like racial injustice when you have one political party that is so negative in it and one political party that doesn't pay any attention to it at all? So that is mine. I'm very interested in where I have it. Thank you. This is the one guy. I have a very dear friend. He is a Colombian who was tortured in Colombia for the winter he was doing. He left, and now he's back. The story I want to tell you is about Santos, who was the president of Colombia. I will guide Adam Cahane when... How many of you know Adam? And Santos accepted his Nobel for peace for ending the conflict in Colombia. And let's be honest with you, there are many issues that still exist in Colombia. He thanked Adam because Adam navigated the workshops that brought the Grimmons, the military, the peasant population, all the different sectors that were in civil war together into space to have dialogue. How did he do that? He went and talked to the man in the jewelry room. And he discovered that they all underneath it all wanted the same thing. Two things. They wanted the violence to stop. And they all had very different ideas on how that could happen. Right? The military thought that the Grimmons should lay down their arms. That's all that happens. And the military should understand that that's all violent. And neither of those things were going to happen. And they were concerned for the safety of their children. All of them. And so, as he understood this he said to all of them here's who I want you to come together to talk about. The violence and the safety of your children and in dialogue you need everything else at that door. All your political agenda everything. And they had to really do that to come. And they all really wanted these things. And so they came huge change happened. I just finished my 24th annual theater for living training last week. And two of them from the United States and they had come to sit in a group together and they came back with this beautiful new play. The woman the character is the head of the communications department of the university. And a very good friend of hers and colleague is in the department and she's been making jokes publicly about Trump. And he's been the bug of those jokes. And he doesn't like it. And he's come to her office to jump in and stop. And in the play she says I'm just joking with you. And he has to be angry. He says you know what it's not fucking funny. And he says it's not like she says it's not like you wrote it for Trump. And he says what if I did this he's gone from being very good friend of hers to being the enemy. And I think that play is a true unit. Because as a Canadian what I'm witnessing is the United States is in a civil war. It's a very different civil war. But it's a civil war. And part of that is that when I say left and right I don't believe left and right anymore. You know why? Because the extreme right and the extreme left have come around full circle and become an absolute mirror of each other. Absolute. They are each other's best allies. I am going to say one more thing. I was in a conference in Beale and somebody who works with the land was saying from this absolute question would he ever work with the landowners? And the answer is no. The landowners want to work with us and give up their land. And I thought to myself what do you want? Because I'm not going to give up. And I think what he wants is to be in the fight he's in. Because he's addicted. And if he really wants peace he's sorry. There are landowners who he can work with. All of them know. But we seem to be in a moment of time where we overlap like this. We can't work together. And we don't overlap like this. I don't overlap like this with my best friends. We need to be searching for places where we overlap like this. And those places exist between Democrats and liberals here. Sorry, between Democrats and Republicans across the board. They exist. And instead of going I can't talk to you both sides and it starts somewhere. I have to start to reach across that divide in real ways. My work is not rocket science. It's about people I work with people who disagree with each other all the time. And you know what they do? They have an opportunity to look each other in the eye and recognize they both have children who they're working with. But it's not rocket science. And things happen. I hope that answers your question. And I would say if we don't start doing what I'm talking about we are doomed. Anybody else? There's one aspect that I thought was somehow to be represented. And that is the character who is well-meaning or well-intentioned who feels that they are ineffective or doesn't know what to do. On the occasion I thought in people's responses and I wonder how do you deal with people like that? It's been a hard time hearing you. Where are you? You're there. One of the things I thought was not well represented in people's comments was the character who feels well-intentioned or well-meaning but feels that they don't know what to do or is it ineffective or just doesn't know how to turn those intentions into accomplishments. Yeah. And I wonder how you deal with that. Did you come on stage to represent it? No. That's the way I deal with it. You know, people say, well, this didn't come up in a conversation and I say, well, you could have brought it up. Why didn't you bring it up? Because what I deal with is it comes onto the stage because it's not my job in this work to educate you. I think that's a subversion of this work. That's why I said, come onto the front of the stage and go, here are the three things we moved today. Right? I think that's just another act of oppression. Right? It's not my job to educate the audience. My job is to try to stimulate dialogue in the audience that comes from the audience. Because community A and I, this happens to me all the time, I'm with community A this one month and they travel like a second door and it feels like a enormous distance. And I'm with community B three or four months later and they travel what feels to me like a very tiny distance. But the tiny distance for community B may very well be a much longer distance from then than community A. If my job is, if I have an educational agenda that I'm setting an agenda for a community that isn't theirs. I'm telling the same folks and this is a big deal for me so I need to explain this one thing because there's something like on a funny world now. How many of you are hearing the words social innovation? Can I see some answers to this? Social innovation for me is a scourge on all planets. It is a corporate version of community development. In community development a project gets developed I hope with the community and a status taken and that status analyzed and then based on what just happened another status taken based on what happened. Same thing with another status taken and that means that you might end up in a project in a very different place in the future. Social innovation wants pre-determined outcomes and with pre-determined outcomes you cannot do real community development work. You are setting an agenda a corporate agenda for the community and I've gotten into huge public fights about this with funders in Vancouver and that ties in to the answer to this question Yeah go Yeah Yeah They were also in charge of this I wanted to ask you a little bit more about those images like how you chose them or what you were intending with them some other information please I asked these people to make images out of their own lives where they were struggling somehow inside the world of their conversation That was it This is what we got That's always the case Did you talk about it? Not about explaining your images and I told you we would do that No no, did they talk about it in general? Yes they did because we're doing this for a conference and I wanted to make sure they weren't the same images but normally in my work no the image maker doesn't explain the image because it's not psychogram I think psychogram is a great thing don't get it wrong but I'm not a therapist I'm a theater director and I think it's really important that you clear them all under and do it That was a bit different When these three people were sitting on the pizza one have they talked about what the different three things is or is they okay, fair enough that's the big difference for me it's not a it's not a picture that they have talked about what it illustrates This person made an image from her mind here I didn't realize that So we know they didn't make them together This person used the others to make an image from her life This person used the others to make an image from his life She used the others to make an image from her life and then I made sure that they weren't about the same things so that you could get a team of the images Is that clear? Yes, it is not Yes Yeah, we are Hi As we're talking about the situation in the US being pretty violent what I feel in the US is that the media is a terrible scene partner and it feels like as a US citizen that we are sort of against fighting against the media as a general population I see people every day loving each other caring for each other asking kindness in every community that I'm part of whether it's spiritual entrepreneurship or theater whatever it is and every time I look on the news it is literally narratives that are so destructive and divisive so how do you deal with a bully of a scene partner how do you deal with something like that without it turning into unrest or as the people becoming violent we're taking it out on each other to some degree but how do you fight or stand out to the media as a bully constantly inciting violence and that's a very powerful place to be I think for a lot of people in the US I agree with you both but you never know if you feel any problems in the US when Trump appeared I was somebody from this side of the border who was saying to people pay attention to this guy he's not a joke why? because he actually understood something very real and my opinion was it didn't it hasn't mattered who was in power a very large proportion of the US population has become disenfranchised he understood that disenfranchised living in poverty feeling abandoned that's a thing and that isn't just happening in the states it's happening in a very smart world and please this is just my opinion and I disagree this is a result of a particular form of capitalism that has been born in the US and it's tied to years ago a court case where corporations got the rights and that has affected everybody around the world it's actually more and I understand the problem with the media however personally something I do I get my news from lots of different media from left media from the right media from Al Jazeera from all kinds of media and I know that all media is propaganda all of it you know I've watched CNN become a mirror of Fox News like I don't trust anyone and I wish that that was happening in the states that's the only way I can answer your question is that the other thing so here so it makes total sense to understand that each community is unique and community and community development is not the one size it's all that you work in each community how do you measure your success I measure my success by the level of dialogue that happens in the room that's where I measure my success there's something tied to this let's imagine because I do a lot of this I'm working with I at risk youth I don't understand what I mean this is part of the contract that I signed with people I'm not working with them because they're broken and somehow in the theater we fix them I think that's a terrible way to work I'm working with them because they have X and T young people don't have and together we can make something that knocks the community off balance why it's the same for any living organism but to me the place that transformation is possible is when the organism gets knocked off balance and we attempt to regain equilibrium basically one of two things happen goes back to the exact same place or it ends up somewhere new and so I think the purpose of the work is to knock the community off balance and with that we go into a dialogue of action where the community is trying to regain equilibrium and I want that dialogue that happens in the room part of my job is to create a space where it's safe enough for us all to get away from comfort like I do a lot of group of reconciliation issues and I say to all of you that this is close if you think real reconciliation is going to happen without us being uncomfortable then don't believe yourselves we have a responsibility to enter a territory of discomfort some of that is just about recognizing the truth of Canadian history and then if reconciliation is going to be real there is a return of large tracts of land just for instance and so I'm not looking necessarily for X and result other than a real dialogue in the community why? because this community's solution that is real for them might be very different than the next community's solution that is really real for them and if this is going to happen it's going to try to say well I know what you should do I'm just an owner colonizing so you're a hate and so for me it's about the dialogue the at-risk youth to come back to them here's what happens let's say a six day process around day three they start to realize I'm telling the truth and they're going to get to make plays and all of a sudden it's really important to them not some funders of Jenga not some social service agencies of Jenga very Jenga so for instance this could play squeegee if the purpose of the squeegee is right if the purpose of the play is to convince them to go home they don't want to have anything to do with it they left home for real reasons going back home was not a solution for them however well meaning people might think they are they want to play to talk about safety on the street for street youth do we wish things were to the street yes we do aren't they yes they are I believe in dealing with the world it's not the way you wish it was and so we made a play that was very challenging for people and these youth suddenly got to be the leaders in their community not for all of them it was that we fixed the leaders and that changed their lives so it wasn't my agenda that changed their lives it wasn't my vision that was to make the best people you could together but not the human off balance and I've been in more therapy than most people I know trust me I think therapy is a wonderful thing but actually I think the agenda of not going you're broken and not going to fix you somehow but is recognizing our mutual expertise that you could take a leadership role changes people's lives in a more authentic way than we try to fix you that's your question yes thank you hi right here first of all I appreciate how you've taken bowels in each theater and really you know adapted it here for this large group I guess my question is going back to process original intentions were dictatorship in Brazil and overcoming having put the power hands of the people decoding the code to dance all of that in terms of how you I have seen form theater for example being adjusted where no longer does the person who is the protagonist necessarily the one who has to solve the problem because sometimes the foot is too heavy on the protagonist's neck in terms of where we are now in our culture and all of the things you're talking about how are some ways that you have to adjust bowels in each theater form theater all of the things to to live in this moment to breathe in this moment I already saw some of the things that you were doing on stage that I thought were fabulous I just wanted to know if there's a particular thing I have a quote called theater form living I know I know it's just a particular thing I got an email about two hours before I came here I'm leaving for Europe on Sunday to do seven projects and I got an email from someone saying I'm trying to get your workshops in there full because I think you've solved a problem with the theater of the oppressed what I find is happening all over Europe it was very nice for me to get that email because there are honestly folks for some people in the theater of the oppressed community I have been dealt with because and it goes to where I love you gentlemen I'm going to tell you something it was him who encouraged me when I was and he read the first draft of it and we had a fight we kissed and made up but he said to me David you're not leaving there were just monsters in the world who are not worth out of the ball and I said to him like ooh and he said like the Nazi soldiers super people on trains nobody what they were doing and he said okay and he knows I'm Jewish so he was trying to push a button okay so I guess that means that soldiers in all other conflicts who knowingly said perhaps innocent people are against because this happens are also not worth our bother because we're talking about an idea here because they're not just specific moments and their families who knew what they were doing and supported them in these actions are also not worth our bother we're talking about a lot of people who are not worth our bother when you keep saying the word belongs to all of humanity or do you just need that part of humanity with whom you agree and Augustus I met I loved please understand David he did when the conversation ended he stopped communicating about it do I believe oppression exists in the world of course I do is that language in my words now no it's not so that's the change I'm just trying to get back to the process yes I'm making plays where the issue in the play now adjusted now to adjust to a maladjusted mental health system that doesn't serve anybody including the mental health professionals right so there aren't evil people in the play there are people who may be doing terrible, terrible things because they believe it's the right thing to do and so I'm not putting character issues on the stage and then I'm saying to audiences if you recognize the struggle with the character issues any of the characters and you have an idea but I ended the character struggle and in my adjusted case humanized mental health then after homelessness great housing that's safe and appropriate when people expect actors in the same way and so the binary system is gone and it's really off the system's view of the world yes which is not to say which is not to say the fault the person I'm beating up is responsible for being beaten up people want to know that yes my question is is this where we have a place to be how many of us have been I realize to be more symbolic in this shape and how many of us you know I challenge those of you without your hand up I challenge you because I don't need just any people physically I need psychological violence emotional violence I challenge anybody on this room to say they have never and and so if you understand the struggle the characters engage in and around time I have so many stories about this of people you never think understood this character struggle coming on the stage because I I'm making something up now I don't understand your trauma but I understand my trauma and the different stories but our trauma makes us in a way that we really can understand each other in some way and that's building bridges between us thank you so much thank you so much I said this when this invitation came I am leaving for 90 years of work here on Sunday and I don't like it when people come with key notes in a vanish I actually do the 8 and I do the 8 because things are crazy so I will stick around for a short time but like I mean it folks I think these people should stick around for the conference I really mean that and I can't is there a way to reach you go to the website hello at theaterforliving.com so theaterlike e h-e-a-t-r-e for a very short time so on that note thank you Jen, Sarah, favorite