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Romeo and Juliet in Kosovo ~ 2000 The summer of
2000, one year after the war which devastated Kosovo, Bond Street Theatre and
Theatre Tsvete of Bulgaria had an
extraordinary opportunity to meet, share theatrical ideas, and make a positive contribution to the lives
of thousands of Kosovar Albanians. The two theatre companies
created a compelling, non-verbal version of Romeo and Juliet and toured
the play to six war-torn theatres in Kosovo. Every theatre told a story: Podujevë was full of bullet holes and
had just one working light, the beautiful theatre in Prizren had neither
electricity nor generator; the heroic Theatre Dodona was one of
the last to be closed by the Serbs. In each case, we were
the first US theatre company to present a performance there. The response to the
performances was very deep. Women told
us they were struck by the image of Juliet at her wedding waiting for Romeo
to return from the fight. Others were
struck by the tragedy of unintended deaths. Others commented on the way that
we used ordinary objects to their full theatrical potential; one director
said “there are no bounds to your imagination.” Many told us that the non-verbal quality of
the work intensified the story. Our play ends with a
sense of renewal; the puppet spirits of Romeo and Juliet rise up from their
bodies in an ethereal blacklight dance, become one, and vanish. The
message of hope was not lost to this audience whose hope is that the spirit
of their loved ones are at peace . The two companies also conducted workshops for
actors, directors, social workers, other professionals and students, and gave
performances and workshops for Roma, Albanian and Serbian children in rural
villages and towns throughout Kosovo as arranged with UNICEF. |
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Performing Artists for Balkan Peace - May-June
2005 From May
28 to June 12, theatre practitioners from Serbia, Albania, Bosnia &
Herzegovina, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, the UK and USA, convened in
Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, to inaugurate an on-going and expandable network of
performing artists devoted to cross-border cooperation, social progress and
peace. A result of years of working with artists throughout the Balkans, Bond
Street and Theatre Tsvete of Sofia, creative collaborators for more than 6
years, co-hosted this historic event. Our immediate goal was to create a performance that would address current
Balkan issues and tour in the region as a means to promote cross-border
dialogue. An amazing accomplishment,
five theatre directors from regions still sensitive from recent wars,
succeeded in creating a fully collaborative theatre production together in
two weeks, with 20 actors representing 9 countries and 5 language groups. The
process was not without its stormy moments, but was certainly an exciting
challenge. We all worked closely from morning until night, shared ideas,
formed lasting friendships, planned future projects and crafted a performance
titled Blood and Honey (from the Turkish ‘bal’
meaning blood and ‘kan’ meaning honey) and was presented to an enthusiastic
public . The idea for the Performing
Artists for Balkan Peace emerged in response to an obvious need for a forum and arena for artists
to communicate and share resources. The project was funded by the Trust for
Mutual Understanding which helped the idea grow over 4 years, and ProHelvetia
which made it a “model” program . The founding members of the PABP: Dah
Teatar of Serbia & Montenegro, Teatri Petro Marko of Albania, Mostar
Youth Theatre of Bosnia & Herzegovina, Theatre Boemi of Macedonia,
Theatre Dodona of Kosovo, PAC Multimedia of Macedonia, Polygon Arts of the
UK, Theatre Tsvete of Bulgaria, and Bond Street Theatre of USA. |
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These projects were made possible by The Trust for Mutual Understanding, CEC ArtsLink, Arts International, and our dedicated donors! |
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Joanna & Michael in Kosovar refugee camps during the war. Photo by Marko Georgiev |
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Kosovo Refugee Camps — Macedonia 1999 As an immediate response to the war in Kosovo,
Joanna Sherman and Michael McGuigan spent three weeks bringing laughter, joy
and creative play to more than 10,000 Kosovar children in seven refugee camps
located throughout Macedonia, many children having been traumatized by the
war. The experience was tremendously rewarding. From the minute we
entered the camp we were surrounded by hundreds of children—reaching,
watching, waiting for anything to happen. We paraded through the camp with
streams of children and adults clamoring around us and trailing behind. We staged shows before audiences of
1,000-2,000 people, in any open area we could find, and taught mime and theatre games to the children. When we returned to a
camp later, we were pleased to find the children demonstrating what they had
learned from days before. This project has clearly demonstrated to us the
value of interactive theatre, and the healing power of all of the expressive
arts. The project was facilitated by
UNICEF, and funded in part by the Trust
for Mutual Understanding and Arts
International. |
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Balkan Peace Project in Bosnia & Serbia ~ 2001 Bond Street
Theatre returned to the Balkans in 2001 to continue its artistic-humanitarian
work and its successful collaboration with Theatre Tsvete of Bulgaria. Our non-verbal Romeo and Juliet was performed in Romania, Serbia and Bosnia; we conducted workshops
with young professionals, and performances for children in schools and
hospitals through UNICEF. Highlights: An International
Theatre Symposium in honor of Dah Teatar of Belgrade,
pioneers in the pro-peace theatre movement throughout the Milosevic era;
performances at the Sibiu International Theatre Festival
in Sibiu, Romania, and the International Festival of
Alternative & New Theatre in Novi Sad,
Serbia, and a week of performing and teaching at the SOS
Kinderdorf in Kamenica, Serbia, a “children’s village” of 200
orphans of the war. Through
UNICEF, we performed Romeo and Juliet in the most
critical areas of Serbia, Bojanovac and Presevo, where ethnic tensions are still high. The audiences wildly enthusiastic.
This type of theatre hadn’t been seen in
this region; most theatres were closed since
the war. Our
performances for the Hospital for Children with Mental
Disorders in Kuline, horribly neglected during Milosevic’s reign, was especially
rewarding. At first, the doctors were
concerned that our Dixieland Band on stilts might agitate
the children. To their surprise, the
children smiled, laughed and got up to dance! We are proud that feature stories about
this project appeared on UNICEF’s website and in the National Endowment for
the Arts’ Annual Report. The Balkan Youth Reconciliation Seminar, organized by the Friendship
Ambassadors and held in Romania,
brought together 40 students from 8 Balkan countries to envision a New
Balkania. We directed
them in a performance to illustrate this idea, interwoven with the music and dances of each region,
choreographed by Vanaver Caravan. The result was a beautiful tribute to the power of theatre, music and dance to cross cultural barriers and foster
trust. |
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Balkan Peace Project arts exchange ~ 2002 In 2002, the Bond Street and Theatre Tsvete conducted
exchanges with 4 professional theatre companies: Teatri Petro Marko in Vlore, Albania; Theatre Boemi in Skopje,
Macedonia; Theatre Dodona in Kosovo; and Dah Teatar in Belgrade, Serbia. In each location, the companies shared performance techniques, training processes, ideas
and missions. Each group presented a unique artistic style; each is dedicated to addressing the crucial issues of the region: corruption, trafficking,
inter-ethnic unrest, war and healing. Our
primary goal was to encourage the formation of an inter-Balkan
network of artists devoted to
peace and cross-cultural understanding, the Performing Artists for Balkan Peace. Our next goal -- to host a meeting of these theatre
groups in one location to establish clear plans and goals
for cross-border exchanges and collaborations -- will occur this June 2005! Bond
Street Theatre and Theatre Tsvete also presented Romeo and Juliet at the International Theatre Festival Skampa in Elbason, Albania, with excellent response from critics and audiences both. The production was also presented in the colorful Theatre of the Minorities located at the edge of the famous Bit Bazaar in
Skopje, Macedonia. In
Kosovo, both companies taught at the Arts Academy in Pristina, and at the new Actor’s Studio founded by famed Kosovar
playwright and director, Enver Petrovci.
Through UNICEF, the companies gave performances at a Bosnian
refugee center in Mitrovica, Kosovo, and at the famous Flora Brovina Center for
women in Pristina. |
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Sean Nowell
(Musical Director) faces off with a KFOR tank. |
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Working with Dah Teatar,
Serbia |
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Bond Street work
demonstration |
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Scenes from the first
meeting of the Performing Artists for Balkan Peace: performance, friends and
rehearsals. |
