T.O. Philly News: Summer 2016

2016 has a been a good year so far, kicking off with our second Unpacking Race workshop series at the Rotunda in West Philadelphia. We've since led several trainings around dis/ability, gender,  and race, as well as facilitation trainings and game-playing session. This spring and summer we partnered with Asian Arts Initiative, Camp Common Ground, Cornell University, Outward Bound, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, UPenn's Disability Advocates, among others.

As summer rounds out, we'd like to update you on a few things:

1. A new South Asian festival in Philly
2. Another South Asian festival in India
3. Upcoming T.O. Philly events this fall

1. Mustard Seed Film Festival

In July we held a joint benefit for Mustard Seed, a South Asian film festival for its Philly premiere on August 19 and 20. August 19's opening features food, music and dancing in tandem with films under the Reading Viaduct, hosted by Asian Arts Initiative. August 20 offers a full day of exciting screenings at three locations around the city. For a full schedule and more info, please visit www.mustardseedfilmfest.org.

2. Muktadhara VII

At our benefit with Mustard Seed, we showed a film about Jana Sanskriti (Bengali for "people's culture"), the largest Theatre of the Oppressed movement in the world. Every two years, Jana Sanskriti hosts a festival called Muktadhara (meaning "free flow") in the Indian province of West Bengal. The festival starts with a week-long intensive in which participants make pieces of Forum Theatre in preparation for the following week's travels into Kolkata and the countryside. Muktadhara makes clear connections between politics and theatre, activism and art, positioning Theatre of the Oppressed with folk performance and direct action.

Jana Sanskriti wants you to come to Muktadhara VII, Decmber 5-20, 2016, and they've sent us this video to pique your interest:

For more info, write muktadhara.janasanskriti@gmail.com
and visit www.janasanskriti.org.

3. T.O. Philly Events for Fall 2016

Mark your calendar for the following:

• Saturday, Sept 17, 10:30AM: "Neighborhood Games". free workshop at Asiana Arts Initiative
• Thursday, Sept 29, 4:30PM: "CONES", free performance at the Rotunda
• Tuesday, Oct 4, 7PM: "Intro to Theatre of the Oppressed" workshop at the Rotunda
• Tuesdays, Oct 11-25, 7:00PM: "What Does Democracy Look Like?" workshop series

We'll have info on these soon. To learn more about our work, please visit our archive.

Big Thanks!

This summer Sarah Schieffelin worked as T.O. Philly's first ever official intern. The list of things Sarah did for us would be too long for this post to hold. Suffice to say that all of it was outstanding—Thank you Sarah!

How to Facilitate & Difficultate: A One-Day Training

Saturday August 6, 2016 • 10AM-4PM

Led by Morgan FitzPatrick Andrews

at Studio 34 • 4522 Baltimore Ave. West Philly

Tuition sliding-scale, $15-$55

Write "tophilly@gmail.com" to RSVP

With summer wrapping up and the school year about to begin, T.O. Philly presents an open rehearsal for anyone who works with groups. Teachers, trainers, facilitators, organizers and educators of every sort are invited to come to this action-oriented think-tank with three critical components:

FIRST we will warm up by sharing and playing some great icebreakers and group games that we can use in our work.

SECOND we will reenact challenging situations that arise in our work, then use techniques from Theatre of the Oppressed to devise ways to surmount those challenges.

THIRD we will discuss overall design and flow of whatever we do, be it a workshop, event, ongoing class, or direct action.

You will leave this training with useful tools to make group work more productive and fun, as well as handy strategies for turning problems into solutions.

Session begins at 10AM and runs till 4PM with a 60-minute break for lunch around noon. Wear comfy clothes suitable for movement and expect to work without shoes. To reserve your spot, email "tophilly@gmail.com" or call 267-282-1057.  All experiences welcome, none required!