by Costi Rogozanu I attempt to answer the question “Why is there not enough literature about marginal groups?” with my own cheap rhetorical ploy: “Why is there not enough literature?” We have literature by the gallon, but, with only a few exceptions, I find that the tons of published fiction keep floating in two distinct bubbles: the aesthetic chimera and the commercial one. Writers in the first group have old-fashion dreams, they reject any trace of manifesto, any sense of urgency dictated by the present and, in blatant disregard of their own aesthetic ambitions, they reject the lessons of realism…

by Mihaela Michailov I keep hearing comments such as “we need educated viewers who understand our art” and two questions spring into my mind: educated for what, exactly? And what kind of art? If we need viewers who are tamed and educated to gobble up heaps of exclusivist art which might give them the feeling of belonging to the category of “values inaccessible to the inane multitude”, then education misses its main critical stake and becomes a sort of high-class training. Thanks, but no thanks. The radical change which theater brings to marginal groups and communities pertains to the reformation…

by Jan Cohen-Cruz[1] The very act of speaking one’s story publicly is a move toward subjecthood, toward agency, with political implications. The story circle is one of the most pervasive forms of workshopping and playbuilding in community-based performance. Although there are many variations, circles typically involve from five to twenty-five people who choose a theme and then, one by one, tell a tale. Each story is welcome no matter what its style. In accordance with the Appalachia-based Roadside Theater for example, stories might recount family history, local history, folklore, ghost lore, a personal experience, or even riddles or jokes passed…

The theme of issue 4 of G.A.P. is Art with/for Excluded Groups and it is comprised of a series of articles, interviews and theoretical texts which analyze the ways in which excluded/marginal communities, groups and individuals take part and are (re)presented in various artistic forms in the public sphere. Hence, we propose identifying and debating forms of participatory and documentary art – in Romania, as well as in the Republic of Moldova, Hungary, the US, Kenya, Uganda – which address issues confronting ignored social groups. Such socio-political acts trigger a process of translation from “the center” towards “the margins”, from…

by Mihaela Michailov Two years ago, after a performance I saw at the Țăndărică Theater, a little boy told his mother: “I’ve seen this show before”. His mother asked: “Did granny take you?”. “No”, said the little boy. “Did the school take you?” “No”. “Then you couldn’t have seen it”. “But I did”, the boy insisted. “Who did you see it with?” “With you”. Slightly confused, his mother said: “You couldn’t have seen it with me”. “Yes, I saw it last week”. “No, last week we saw something different”. After a couple of seconds, the boy said: “This was the…

by Shaili Sathyu – Artistic Director, Gillo Theatre Repertory, Mumbai, India Yes, the title of this essay may sound a bit preposterous! But before I continue, I would like to say that this project is more for the individual growth of each artist involved in the production, rather than some larger service to society or reference to the politics of the arts. Background For a few years now I have been thinking about what it means to be an ‘urban’ theatre practitioner. One is bombarded with accusations from within and without, regarding one’s identity, background, aesthetic core, training and traditions. Stuck…

by Radu Apostol The process of education by means of Educational Theater is an extension of the way education is conducted within the household. A classroom during a class of educational theater strongly resembles the floor in “the children’s room”; in fact, it resembles the floor in any room where there are children. There are no predetermined “better seats” or “worse seats”, there are no insecurities induced by “the front desk” or “the back desk”, because encounters leading to a performance scene can occur anywhere within this space, anywhere the imagination of the participants takes them. There is no teacher’s…