Music plays So today we are very honored to have with us members from the Bond Street Theater from NY Crowd Cheering But what is so special is that they are not performing here by themselves but are working with students from the University of arts and culture in Baku and this isn't just on any artistic endeavor it's social theater and that's what's so exciting about what Bond Street does and what they're bringing here to Azerbaijan is this concept of social theater Group cheering as typical of our work we've come here without specific intention just to ask them what kindof issues do they want to talk about coming into the space in the studio and not really knowing what you're going to do but get inspiration from your imagination and then also but the others are providing and especially when we were traveling and working with groups like this and want to be inspired by them ♪ Music Bond Street came in and talked to the students and got from them what they cared about and how they wanted to address what they want to see their society become “This couple goes this way and couple goes this way ” during the week of workshops we gathered a lot of these issues focus on domestic violence women's rights corruption in the Healthcare System usually the last people to be asked what their opinion is and very often their opinion is dismissed and they're going to have to voice theiropinion and some other way that is violent or extremist in some way so this is giving them another way to express themselves “This is drama.

Ohhh the father is rejecting his daughter ” Azerbaijani being spoken on stage my wife is trying to convince me to let the daughter go to college and I have to say n is!

(In Azerbaijani) which basically means do as you like or whatever Forgotti thought I was saying “ashak ” which is both a Afghan dish kind of like a ravioli it also means donkey in Azerbaijan and he was saying why are you saying donkey at that point and it says no I'm saying n is “Dont listen to him!

This is what was going on last night.

Listen to Me ” Narrators come out and get into an argument No way!

What rediculous idea is it true that parents will sell their daughters for money Translator: my main character as a narrator is to ironically criticize the father who marries his daughter to the highest bidder and making fun of that the audience is not laughing at me but realizes the huge problem that exist in our society “Bala get out of the house ” and he says yeah!

If he marries her get out of the house ” In Azerbaijani So they both disowning their children so it's like a cross and always theaters painting a picture and our basic premise is that you can't tell people what to think but we can point to situations that paint a picture a lot of people did respond to us and say that they play was very heartfelt Theres a real genuine — they really got the message and got the visceral response because I'm told domestic violence is a real problem here and they identifying these things here Dialog in azerbajni Translator: my character grew up in an abusive family he started out good-natured but seeing his father beat his mother changed him and he becomes an abusive person in his own family but at the end of the play he breaks the cycle of violence “I think the students have never tried to do a show this way before ” and its a new expeirence for them to start from an issue and create small pieces and then create the full play from that are play right now it's called moon cycles because we see passing of time represented by the moon The theme of the play is breaking the cycle of domestic violence so it is a cycle we see it with the father and we see it with his son and so that's all represented by this Moon keeps going around and around You know when you write a play sometimes you start writing and it goes this way this way and then starts to go this way and try to nudge it back and then it goes this way this way and that it starts with whoop and you try to nudge it back the play is about domestic violence now you go to Azerbaijan and they say we're the biggest issue we're dealing with is the spousal abuse and it's not like she's got Oh I've got that spousal abuse play in my back pocket If you want to really look sad make sure you're smiling before you look sad Or if you want to really be happy make sure you looking a little down and itll make you more happy.

she has a formula or a style or method of working with people to get the stories out of the people and I think that is what a good director does anyways you get the character out of the actor Azerbajni spoken Translator: bribery corruption and domestic violence these are actual and real issues in Azerbaijan we shouldn't blame one individual person we should blame ourselves we should blame the society The main character Laila she says I will not be silent I will be brave I will not be afraid this message is really strong she must and shell definitely be a role model to women especially to young woman In their workshops they were teaching the students various different drama techniques Group shouting: “IM TALKING TO THEM OVER THERE!

” Translator: when Michael first introduced us to this training room he said to other people this room is empty but to us actors and directors this room is not empty we have to fill it with our own imagination and creativity audience laughs at actor's perfe Theater is like a mirror to society helps us to see our own mistakes but also theater helps us to find the right path many of the training methods of they use are not easily available for students here stimulating imagination leadership developing team building and collaboration This has a very essential elements of the training in terms of corruption where every class that you take it and grade school you know on you have to give a little present in order to be able to get the grade in order to be able to take the exam take the exam you notice I said not pass the exam and maybe a higher price for everything In the scene where I am playing teacher we wanted to see how we could incorporate ourselves inside the show as well as being on the outside and helping kind of just shape it right and interact it based on all the students ideas ♪Music plays on stage and that's what's amazing about social theaters they're taking those discussions and reflections on the students own community and then turning that into a play which then becomes a message they can share as we're now on tour here in the region in medical care I mean literally you have to sort of bring a pile of money with you because you have to bribe to get the medicine prescribed and then to get the medicine in hand you have to pay a bribe but this younger generation I think cares very much about changing that culture and try to do it through the Arts is exciting.

it's neat becoming an agent for change ♪Singing in Azerberjani♪ what we're doing in these very short-term projects is primarily we're hoping to discuss how do we need to work together and communities to solve these issues Bond Street Theatres mission all together is to create mutual understanding between cultures to use theater is a way to do peace building and I know peace building is a little cliche these days but really you do build peace through being able to have reasonable conversations and some sort of way and our epiphany moment I believe happened in Israel in 1984 part of our work in the festival will say we're going to gather a group of israeli-palestinian a real mixed group of performers who if they weren't together creating a show might very well be in you know an arguments with each other It was completely inter-ethics and inter-age And there were Kurds and Yemenis, Israelis and Palestinians all working together and we created is Big Street pageants so their goal was not oh this guy's Palestinian oh this guy is Ethiopian it was like make sure that the play looks beautiful that was that moment when you realize that theater could do that you don't know if she has a political affiliation all you know is that she's a citizen of the world she believes in the power of theater that's her politics There were no words in that piece and a travel down Ben Yehuda The Walking Street in Jerusalem And people were crying at the end because they understood the message that we all have to live together on this tiny little blue dot of a planet about 10 years ago 12 years ago we discovered the space cuz we've been a homeless theater company before then and I just started to weep the power the presence of this room was so overwhelming with See Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call in Brooklyn from this church Frederick Douglass spoke here Charles Dickens spoke here the first former slave woman to preach a sermon the Quakers brought her up and she preached here at this church we wanted to create work that was not only entertaining but had some sort of social significance and that took us on a very circuitous journey over the years working with kids and teachers and prisoners and people at risk of HIV infection and homeless people and our latest incarnation is with the New York City Police Force Eric Garner happened and Trayvon Martin happened and so many sad situations like this and their response was so I thought brilliant But think about yourself when you see a cop on the street do you make eye contact or do you just to look away most of us look away but here that's a person there I love the program they have with their work with police and victims of police violence to bring them together and by creating theater to create a better understanding between these two split sides of our culture I think that's a brilliant program its been written up in New York Magazine's got a lot of attention it deserves to get a lot more attention in the third week of the workshop program I have the cops bringing their hats and they stand onstage all seven of them and then I asked him to take the hat and give it to one of the community members and then I asked him to put that hat on it gets very emotional at that point some of the community member start to cry one woman said she felt like it was burning a hole in my head “This hat.

What it represents is something that makes me profoundly uncomfortable ” and I feel so much more comforted knowing that someone like you was wearing it so that's something that can't be taught and it can't be lectured it has to be experienced and that's for a theater does that better than any other art form in the world ♪♪ “Ghostbusters theme plays ” Telephone rings “I got it!

” DOD press NYC Hi this is Carlos Menchaca and Im in Sunset Park.

We got some injustice to bust “Lets go bust injustice ” Theater of the oppressed NYCs mission is to collaborate with communities facing oppression to inspire creative action through theater “I need you guys to sign the leash today.

I mean lease ” Ok great!

we also explore legislative theater it's moving money away from all the policing is happening in school that's what we need in our schools not arrests but support and that's the that's the idea to collaborate with the audience and using the play as an inspiration to devise new policy ideas the way we make decisions Your story matters.

it can influence the way we make decisions It cannot be from the ivory tower it has to be from the ground up You know on the flip side we have also been talking to folks who are in government and they see that theater “So Im going to open it very briefly for voting ” allows for of engaging format you know what they as members of the government want to know, they want to know what do community members think of whats going on “There shouldnt need to be scanners because they have the program for restorative justice in place but right now but since thats not in effect there should be a combination of the two until policing isnt necessary ♪Music plays when I was a young girl at 3rd generation Mexican-American kid growing up the South Texas I never saw my family story or people who look like my family and had our lives in mainstream movies or books or TVs or theater and I most definitely never learned about our history and our experiences in text books or in classrooms never we were invisible to the world three years ago when unaccompanied refugee minors were fleeing violence in Central America And I felt strongly the theater could not only help heal these children many of whom have experienced severe trauma Janet called me and she commissioned me to write the play Oyeme, the beautiful to capture these refugee stories that would grow out of an after-school theater program and we name this program Oyeme, “hear me now.

Oyeme this day is Ill find my way.

” ♪guitar plays in background Oyeme provides the voice otherwise they would be living in silence just trying to fit in this provides an opportunity for people to feel that empathy “Im going to send you money so you can come live with us.

And Im going to take you to the place with the fancy lady ” “It will cost too much, mi hij ” “and we will be together again ” “no quero e. no quero ” "God.

Dios.

he will carry you “ door closes Joanna was the only artist got an award she's a graduate of Cooper Union and that was an impressive night I spoke about how this tiny company makes such a powerful difference all around the world she takes her theater skills and goes to Afghanistan, Myanmar and they go to the poorest places and speak to people they went to a women's prison in Afghanistan and the children are in prison with the mothers and have them create a play then they wanted to take a photo of the participant,but Muslim women cannot be photographed so they could only take a picture of the children what she does is rather unique she goes to places that are very scary to go to and she has no fear.

She said to me: Jenny if you ever want to come with us we'd love to have you and you know it's not like I'm a class A traveler but I need a bathroom and I was like OK I don't think I can handle this but I would really love to be a fly on the wall and maybe one day I'll get my guts up to go cuase I think it would be real bucket list ♪music plays♪ I was driving back from a school performance in New Jersey in my car listening to the radio they were talking about huge Ree crisis of people leaving Kosovot going into Albania and into Maca and Carol Bellamy of Unicef got on the radio and was saying we really could use artist come into these refugee camps and work with these kids because a lot of them are separated from their parents they've seen trauma one of the critical things when children are involved in a truamatic situations is to try and bring a little normalcy in their life there in an abnormal situation can you bring any normalcy Children screaming with joy and applauding If you can get children to laugh and to talk and express their feelings again art and music and theater.

Folks like Bond Street were very important ♪Music♪ I dont think people realized that living in a refugee camp was a bit like living in jail there's nowhere to go and it's nothing to do and of course boredom for everybody and of course boredom for the kids their best toy would be a plastic bag Isabel please can you work with our traumatized children I said we're — we're actors we're not really therapist and they said that's perfectly fine please come over to our kids just do what you do you Children laughing You don't have to muck with theater it is therapeutic it just is ♪Music♪ I was feeling like I was in the mix I was writing some political songs that was working on some socially active theater and I went up to a resort and met a young woman named Joanna Sherman and my life changed So the two of us gather our core friends.

That core company said let's create a theater group that will make social commentary Would talk about issues of the day that really matter to the audience.

Right?

and to bring those themes to life where the commedia dell'arte were clowning were music masks, puppets, pageants most of our plays had women in the lead roles 'cuz we thought that was import and all of our shows, as I recall, ended in the end of the world because we wanted the audience to stay and discuss the issues we brought up Bond Street Theater and John and Michael particularly they provide a unique opportunity for people I've seen it in Afghanistan.

I've seen the way that they interact with their participants and I think that's been very very effective When we start working with say that group of women that group of girls that we get together we always say what do you want to talk about what's important for you child marriage.

the idea of selling your daughter to a rich person it'salmost like chattel really also women's literacy.

a lot of the men didn't want thn to learn how to read because it's a dangerous thing she might have more power these issues they would create these stories about your find a way to make like a whole play so our job was helping them tell their story the best Performers speaking in Pashto The women play the parts of then and I'll tell you they're pretty awesome because they know how the abusive husband acts what he says what he does Some of the women speak with a very small voice because they're told not to speak up and so our exercises to yell your name across the room you hear everyone saying your name back to you Yelling in Pashto yes I am who I am I will give you an example that's all I can do when they were in Afghanistan people were very concerned about young girls being forced to marry older men the age of women were dropping and droppingand dropping to the point that some of these haven't even achieved puberty and they did a play about this and then they created a Youth Council well one of those youth leaders learned that his cousin was going to be forced into such a marriage and given the confidence that he gained from working with Bond Street he secured a meeting with the chief of their tribe in Afghanistan and the chief forbid the marriae so all I can do is respond with what they've done and that's what gives me tremendous confidence and that one young woman's life was saved ♪Music plays this was really taking on a big risk our part us and our collaborators from Bulgaria and we decided that we were going to bring all these troops that we had worked with In Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and Albania and Macedonia and that first couple of days they were just arguing with each other I thought they were all going to kill each other really “it's just our mind.

Most of the time it's like mind of a chicken ” But how did we all come together?

We found common ground we put papers all around the room and every country had to think of their worst problems and we wrote them down oh trafficking yes corruption as we start to fill out all these papers we looked around and realized like everybody had the same problems no matter where they came from ♪Music plays so we created together a non-verbal version of Romeo and Juliet we never identified who's who over these people are the Bosnians and these are the Serbians never people find their own meaning in the stories Chanting Screams of grief Joanna does very effectively and getting people together from different ethnic groups and that's a really powerful experience see how you discover other people have the same challenges you do and you know you can learn from each other and have empathy for each other and see you're not that different after all This kind of ethnicity against ethnicity religion against religion these kind of false divisions and how long is this going to be handed down from generation to generation that we have to just remind people again and again and again that war leads to nothing except more war ♪Music plays when they were traveling in Afghanistan they were stopped by a member of the Taliban and he went back of their car and he found Mike stilts and he thought they were weapons and with interpreter he explaind that these were not weapons these were stilts and Mike walked on the stilts and the Taliban officer was pretty taken with Mike and he was looking at him Mike was so smart he taught this man how to be on the stilts and they had a buddy in the Taliban and to me that is such a powerful message about what the arts can do they go to countries where they don't speak the language and they go into these very strange spaces which were never designed for theater prisons recreation centers basketball courts whatever and they make this magic happen in a short period of time Audience laughing And I love that they're sending Bond Street all over the world and supporting the arts and what's the point of having a woman's theater company because they can go perform for the women we did the show about the elections so that they know they not only have the right to vote but they must vote and it's going to be safe for them to vote and know your husband can vote on your behalf you've got to go out there and do it yourself this is your right and this is very effective There were no women's theater companys at all anyway and we have created four of them that's why they're performing for the girl's high school but there before him for 1200 girls at the girl's high school that's 1200 eyes that have just seen something they had never seen before I think all together in five different regions of the country they have reached about 250,000 people Joanna and Michael and the whole concept of Bond Street Theater ended up bringing something that is very American due to very ordinary but extraordinary Americans this is typical of what the United States what we try to do overseas it's the build friendships through art and in this case through theater is way to help unite communities what Joanna and Michael have done in moving the theater forward has been to take that to a new level where they're really creating the opportunity for social change and maybe they become more social change agents that happened to use theater and that's what Bond Street has really enabled here through this program is giving these students a voice the way to engage with their community and a lot of the students have said that they want to continue the engagement through theater on important issues for their community and these are ideas they'll take with them in their careers as actors and directors Translator: How to communicate with an actor how to work on a play I learned here, Bond Street Theater changed me 100% “And may theater save the world ” groups cheers & toasts glasses