Robert Cohen - Theatre, Brief Version-McGraw-Hill Education (2016)

294 Chapter 10 Global Theatre Today
The Aladdin Theatre is a community theatre in the town of Parowan,
Utah, population 2,790. Built in the 1920s and proclaimed a
“Community Theatre” on its marquee, the theatre is maintained by the
city corporation and its board of community residents; shown here are
the stars of the theatre’s 2011 fall production of The Taffetas ready to
greet their audience. © Mary Halterman,Parowan Community Theater Board
The Global Theatre
While this book is published in America (it also appears, in
Chinese, in China), its readers who find theatre attractive
should be aware of seeing theatre beyond their borders,
for few spectator experiences are as challenging and fascinating
as seeing plays from a culture—and a country—
other than your own. Theatre from other countries—and
continents—presents a variety of styles, techniques,
and ideas that will make your eyes pop and your mind
explode. The global theatre transcends local ideologies; it
can make antagonists into partners and turn strangers into
friends. As theatre once served to unite the ten tribes of
ancient Attica, so it may serve in the coming era to unite
a world too often fractured by prejudice and ignorance.
Nothing could be more vital in today’s world than sharing
popular “entertainment”—and being reminded of the
original meaning of entertain: “to bring together.”
A trip to an international drama festival, in the United
States or abroad, is a superb way to sample the theatres
Current Latin American theatre is usually experimental and often intensely
political. Here, in the Teatro Ubu (San José, Costa Rica) premiere of
Argentinian-Quebecois Luis Thenon’s Los Conquistadores, Maria Bonilla
(director-actor at Costa Rica’s National Theatre) kneels in anguish at
the plight of her son, whom she discovers listed among citizens who
mysteriously “disappeared” but were generally known to have been
tortured and killed by official goon squads. © Photo by Ana Muñoz
of several countries within a short period of time. But
nothing can quite match a theatre tour abroad, where an
adventurous theatergoer can see the theatrical creativity
of another culture in its own setting and with its own,
intended audience. Seeing kabuki in Tokyo, with the
audience shouting kakegoe (cries of approval) at climactic
moments, or attending an Igbo mmonwu (masquerade)
under the Nigerian sun, with the audience sitting
and standing around the performers, cheering them on
and swaying to the beat of their drums, is an experience
that cannot be equaled.
Admittedly, few Americans are able or willing to
devote the time and resources to travel to Asia or Africa