UNCHARTED TERRITORY
Theater performance directed by Julia Hart.
Lichthof Theatre, 10-11 June 2017
How did you feel after the election and how does one cope with the anger, disappointment, fear, and hopelessness experienced by millions of Americans after the election in November? Form a theater group was the therapy offered by director Julia Hart, who brought together nine women (many from Democrats Abroad Hamburg), both experienced and novices to the stage, to express their feelings and those of anonymous others in cleverly choreographed sequences probing emotions from self-criticism to despair.
The audience immediately became more than just spectators, and in fact remained for an hour after the performance to ask questions and share information with the cast. Among the many interesting observations were the following:
. The cast shed tears during rehearsals while working through the deep hurt they felt, and shared true stories, but for theatrical purposes, rotated roles so that most often they were not relating their own experiences, but those of others.
. They spoke of deep political/emotional rifts within their own families which may not be repairable.
. They doubted that they would be so free to speak about these feelings right now in the States, what with the deep divisions that remain.
. They had to endure the taut “you don´t have any idea how it is” from those stateside, which only increased their feelings of powerlessness.
As a German member of the capacity audience concluded, “You touched me, made me laugh, and feel the pain.” If you missed these two performances, watch this space for more information about a possible extra performance during the first week of July.
Article by Maryann Schmunk
Photo by Julie Silvera
