What's in a Name?

So I'm putting this out there to start the nomination process. Here are some of the current suggestions for 'what we should call ourselves'. Please add to the comments section any of your ideas.
I think we should do it French election style. We vote once to narrow it down to 2 and then vote again to choose a winner.

Proposed 'Company' Names
The World Theatre
Zeitgeist
The Internationalists
Transnational
International Theatre Alliance (ITA)
United Nations of Theatre (UNT)
Nowhaus
Outpost
International Directors Collective
TransL/Nation
The Transnational Directors Collective
ANTIC (Artist's International Theatre Institute for Collaboration)

Deadlines

Due Friday, July 6th

1. Thoughts/ideas/comments about mission statement
2. Bios (long and short form)
3. Company Name proposals

At our second meeting, we discussed the difference between a vision statement and a mission statement. Essentially, the vision is the why (the dream, the plan, the goal, the statement of impossibility) and the mission is the how. As of right now, we divided our potential activities into three categories: 1. Community 2. Exchange 3. Collaboration. We are well on our way to accomplishing the first.

Here's another (by no means complete) list of things I heard.

Festivals
Home Sources
Union Issues
Reinvent the system
Find others who do this similar work
Think outside the box
By celebrating our diversity, we discover what unites us
Create a new global tradition
Destroy stereotypes
Shared audiences
'What's my culture now?'
Eliminate the 'other'
Theatre as a natural resource
Value - Trade
Cultivating a Global Community
Outposts
Satellites
Transnational
Theatrical Currency

What Theatre Means To Indy

Indy Lee (Hong Kong)

One day, I count what I get from my life, friendship, family, working partners, money, achievement, love, pain, enjoyment, suffering, learning, expression, connection, discovery, exploration, good time, bad time, loneliness, living overseas, struggle, surprise, realisation, awareness, self-esteem, care, ambitious, humble, respect, creativity, passion, openness, self-indulgent, myself....... all those things are from the 'place and space' - theatre, where I work/live/stay in.

I cannot deny, if there is no theatre, how come we could come together and make dream for the future? How come we could respect each others with those different point of views in one thing? Theatre is not only creating a better life for the future. It is a starting point for us to live for the future. We are not solving problem, we are creating problems here. You see, when we come together to talk about the 'collaboration', it is a problem. Why do those people have so much time and effort to do this 'less return but demanding' thing? Because we have not enough, all of us want to get more, know more and live more. I can use the lens of theatre to see the world. The world connected is not only by technology, but the life we live - theatre.

The most important point to me is if I only work in theatre for money, then this is not 'theatre' to me.

A few more questions...hoping to get to the root of our mission???

Esther Neff (New York)

Donald Kuspit argues that art has lost its aesthetic import and that "postart" (Alan Kaprow's term) values the banal over the enigmatic, the scatalogical over the sacred, and cleverness over creativity. Is this true? And if so, is this necessarily entropic? In terms of theatre, have we reached Blau's "vanishing point" where theatre and action are synonymous? Are we killing our own form by losing theatrical aesthetics?

Alexander Mitscherlich writes that art is "[a] scrap of critical freedom of thought against external pressure to conform and internal fear" to which Donald Kuspit adds "aesthetic experience is the momentary, personal, exhiliarating form of this fearless scrap[...]it transforms alienation into freedom and adversariness into criticality"

It is this last bit that perhaps speaks loudly to our mission: theatre must create an aesthetic "other space" from which we may view our own shared space with an analytic eye; International discourse provides us all additional political, cultural, and personal perspective and it makes immediate sense that a global theatre should emerge to make sure that theatre as an art form does not merge with didactic "postart" action and VANISH but instead evolve as an artistic study of human behavior and aesthetics...

Cooper Square

(Top Row L-R) Andy Vitolo, Karina Bes, Michel Van der Aa, Jeremy Lydic, Lauren Keating, Meghan Arnette (Middle Row L-R) Ashlet Kelly-Tata, Dina Keller, Doug Howe, Tess Jamias, Indy Lee (Bottom Row L-R) Esther Neff, Tamilla Woodard, Athina Kasiou

(not pictured) Ana Margineanu, Matteo Tarasco, Michel Melamed

It Begins

I know we were told in our playwriting workshops never to preface our comments, but screw it. I am going to do my best to recap what occurred today at the meeting. As I am not a professional stenographer, forgive me for paraphrasing (or totally missing) your points. Feel free to correct or comment on anything that you think needs to be clarified.

The List of What Doug Heard

COMMUNITY - EXCHANGE - COLLABORATION

New Digital Age
Back to Nostalgia
Moving, roaming community
Use technology to our advantage
Collaborate to investigate the individual
Publication
Centralized Organizer/Curator
Collect and compound information about influences
Time and Place for Shared Moment
Public and Private - History of Politeness
Exploration of/with language barriers
Spectacles that unify
Language
Commonality
Public vs. Private
Music is Language
Origins of Communication
Mythological Force
Same Theme, Different Countries
Music - unifying factor
Community Development
One play, different interpretations
Projects and Deadlines
Find/Share Communities
Exchange
Simultaneous Global Sharing
Commercial - think about the audience
Puppy Penguin
Artistic Feedback
Think Tank
Expansion of Audience (touring/interactive)
Collaboration after getting to know individuals and qualities
International Directors Lab - practical technique/styles
Simutaneous, same cast, digital
Gesture Investigation across cultures
Share Legends/Myths of Creation
Pick a story/play and explore different ways of telling it
Subjective vs. Social Identity
Myth - Religious Code
Icon, Index, Sign, Symbol
Commitments (own job, life, projects)
Common Resting Place/Retreat (once a year?)
Money
Combine Cultures
Multi-lingual medium - exploration of meaning itself
Apprentice/Assist/Co-Create with individuals
Expand audience
Simultaneous space/time - togetherness
Time - Rhythm of Life
Travel to other countries
Help each other to produce in our own countries
Info about each others shows - Knowledge
Specifics of Process
International Directors Community
Super Size - Insane Projects
Risk
EU Funding Program
Verschleppung (Telephone Game)
2 week retreat
Big Company flight miles
Monumental Ideas
Globalization of Theatre
Group Workshops (internal and external)
Web Cam Meetings
More questions than answers
Anne and Lab involvement
Touring model
Star Alliances
Promotional
Hopscotch

All State Cafe

Ana Margineanu

Doug Howe and Indy Lee

Michel Van der Aa and Athina Kasiou

One at a Time

Doug Howe (New York)

So to get things rolling, in an attempt to answer three of the most essential questions any theatre artists can ask, I will respond to them one by one, in as short and simple a way as possible. (Plus, it's already past midnight and I'm tired.)

#1 - What Theatre Means to Me

Simply put, theatre gives meaning to my life. I've never thought the question should be 'what is the meaning of life?', I think it should be 'what is the meaning in life?' I believe life itself is without meaning. It is us who bring meaning to it. Just being alive is the meaning. As Jung wrote, "Every carrier is charged with an individual destiny and destination, and the realization of this alone makes sense of life."

Theatre allows me to experience both life's pains and pleasures. It generates a sense of awe and wonder that propels us forward. Theatre turns spirit into matter, and in this communal act, these staged stories gives us clues that unite the forces within us. It builds a bridge between our intellectual consciousness and our intuitive subconscious. By creating theatre, I create myself.

Launch Pad

These are 3 questions posed by Indy Lee (Hong Kong) Sunday around 1 a.m. after a couple of beers at Bar Nine in Hell's Kitchen.

1. What does theatre mean to you?

2. Why do you use theatre to speak your voice?

3. What does theatre mean to your audience?

Hello

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