Call & Response: (Sacred) Family Stories // Call & Response: (Heilige) Familie-Geschichten

with Jacob K. Langford

 

 

"Die Welt ist eine… Frage, keine Antwort …[und] jede von uns wird gerufen, um zu antworten."

(Abraham Joshua Heschel)
  

"Wir erzählen Geschichten nicht. Sie erzählen uns. Wenn wir genau genug hinein lauschen."

(Rebecca Schneider)
  

Welche Geschichten sind uns gegeben worden? Welche Geschichte/n geben wir weiter?

In diesem zwei-teiligen Workshop werden Fragen nach Geschichte/n, 'Familie' und Weitergeben unser Stoff sein. So befinden wir uns u.a. bei Verhältnissen zwischen Generationen. Oder, in der Sprache der Musik und (ihrer) Bewegungen: bei "call and response".

Teil I

Jedes Jahr fragt das 'böse' Kind den/die erwachsene/n GeschichtserzählerIn beim Pesach: "Was bedeutet Dir/ Ihnen dieses avodah?" Eine Frage nach Verantwortung und Liebe an der Schnittstelle von (Familie) Geschichte/n, Gewalt und Widerstand. Was wird in der 'Familie' an dieser Schnittstelle von Gestern und Heute weitergegeben? Da fangen wir an. Und mit dem Lied "Strange Fruit" (Abel Meeropol/Billie Holiday).

 

September 7th, 2013

15.15-16.45 Uhr

Konferenzraum 1

Teil II
Wir kneten weiter zusammen, jetzt an Caryl Churchill's 7-seitige Theaterstück Seven Jewish Children:A Play for Gaza. Churchill's Antwort auf die Zerstörung in Gaza 2008/9 erntete intensive Reaktionen: Vorwürfe des Antisemitismus wie auch starke (jüdische) Befürwortung. Ohne Angaben, ausser, dass die RednerInnen Erwachsene sind, besteht das Stück aus sieben kurze Monologe/Dialoge in unterschiedlichen historischen Momenten, die sich um den Satz "(Don't) tell her" drehen. Wir schauen, wir wir ggf. eine Performance inszenieren würden.

**WICHTIG **: Kein 'Theater-Druck' -- nur zusammen kreativ kneten, jede, wie es für sie stimmig ist (kann auch z.B. Bild, Musik, Bewegung, Text oder Feedback sein). Das Stück ist auf Englisch. Übersetzungen können im Rahmen des Workhops gemacht werden.

Quellen (werden auch nach Bedarf im Workshop verteilt):

• Caryl Churchill, Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/files/downloads/SevenJewishChildren.pdf
• Tony Kushner & Alisa Solomon, "Tell Her the Truth" (The Nation: March 26, 2009) http://www.thenation.com/article/tell-her-truth
• Caryl Phillips, "Blood at the Root" (The Guardian: 18.August, 2007) http://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/aug/18/jazz.urban

September 8th, 2013

15.15 – 16.45 Uhr

Großer Saal 2

 

 

Call & Response: (Sacred) Family Stories i & II
with Jacob K. Langford

 
"The world is a... question, not an answer... [and] everyone of us is called upon to answer. "

 (Abraham Joshua Heschel)

 
"We don't tell stories. They tell us. If we listen closely enough."

 (Rebecca Schneider)

 
Call & Response: (Sacred) Family Stories I

What stories were passed on to us? What stories do we pass on? And what do our answers to these questions have to do with (our) concepts of 'family' ? Are there 'family stories' which we are not permitted to question – and where does it lead us, when we do indeed question, there where it is forbidden?

Questions about stories/histories, 'family' and what is passed on is the 'stuff' of this 2-part workshop. And thus we find ourselves, amongst other things, at relationships between generations. Or, in the language of music and (her) movements: at 'call and response'.

Our warm-up will be a Jewish antizionist perspective. Specifically, the 'wicked' child's question to the adult story/history teller every year at Pesach: "What does this avodah mean to you?" A question about responsibility, service and love – avodah she ba'lev – at the intersection of (family) stories, violence and resistance, which is asked every year. What, the 'wicked' child asks, is passed on precisely there where Yesterday and Today face each other?

We'll start there. And with the song, "Strange Fruit" (Abel Meerepol/Billie Holiday).

 

September 7th, 2013

15.15-16.45 Uhr

Konferenzraum 1

Call & Response: (Sacred) Family Stories II
In response to the destruction in Gaza in 2008/9, the British playwright Caryl Churchill wrote Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza. The piece is unusual: seven pages, seven monologues/dialogues in different historical moments about what the girl should (not) be told. Each scene revolves in different ways around the sentence: "(Don't) tell her." Churchill gives no directions concerning number, background or identity of the speakers. Only: they are all adults. The original production in London provoked strong reactions: accusations of antisemitism (although most of the actors/actresses were Jewish) as well as strong support (for example, "Tell Her the Truth" by Tony Kushner & Alisa Solomon).

After we've set up a shared framework in Part I , we'll work in Part II with Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza and explore together how we might stage a performance of the piece, were we to do so. Don't worry – this isn't about putting on a performance (unless we want to), but rather about a creative shared kneading of questions the piece touches. Everyone participates in whatever way they feel comfortable with (for example, it can also be with photography, music, movement, written word, feedback, silent appreciation -- whatever feels right ).

Sources  (printouts will also be available at the workshop):

• Caryl Churchill, Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/files/downloads/SevenJewishChildren.pdf
• Tony Kushner & Alisa Solomon, "Tell Her the Truth" (The Nation: March 26, 2009) http://www.thenation.com/article/tell-her-truth
• Caryl Phillips, "Blood at the Root" (The Guardian: 18.August, 2007) http://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/aug/18/jazz.urban

 

September 8th, 2013

15.15 – 16.45 Uhr

Großer Saal 2

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