DOCUMENTARY
ACTING TOGETHER ON THE WORLD STAGE 
is a multi-media educational initiative intended to document and strengthen the contributions of performance and ritual to social justice and conflict transformation.

THE INITIATIVE CONSISTS OF:
Feature documentary
Two-volume anthology
Short documentary videos
PDF resources for learning and teaching
element_settings.Image_30621876.default
FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
Picture
VIDEO SHORTS
Picture
TRAINING RESOURCES
Picture
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
Picture
CONTACT US
Picture
ARTS & PEACEBUILDING LINKS
Picture
ABOUT

The Acting Together initiative documents how divided communities in more than a dozen conflict regions across the globe draw on the power of performance to transform conflict. 

The Acting Together DOCUMENTARY tells the stories of performances enacted to build peace. The highlighted artists and peacebuilders offer vivid firsthand accounts and analyses of peacebuilding performances that  speak truths in the face of denial, restore dignity in the face of violation, and build bridges of respect where relationships have been broken. 

The VIDEO SHORTS and TRAINING RESOURCES feature expanded video stories and concepts, and practical guidelines and templates for action. The tools offer many different frameworks for combining resources.

The ANTHOLOGY in two volumes features chapters written by scholars, conflict transformation practitioners and artists who offer direct experience and analyses of key issues.

Taken together, these resources yield rich case studies, theoretical frameworks and recommendations to help practitioners, educators, students and policymakers understand and strengthen the emerging field of peacebuilding performance.

ACTING TOGETHER ON THE WORLD STAGE

Performance and the Creative Transformation of Conflict

​
2015 Screenings  

November & December 2015:Theatre Mandala
December 14, 5:00pm
Kathmandu, Nepal
Theatre Mandala will host a screening of the Acting Together documentary, followed by a small workshop. Open to the public with special invitations for the different theatre groups in Kathmandu, Mandala's social theatre-department and other interested individuals and organizations working in the area of arts and/or conflict transformation in the region.

PHOTO CREDIT: JULIA SCHARINGER

Creative Camp for Peacebuilding
Theatre Mandala
November 4
Kathmandu, Nepal
After a week working on Rainbow of Desire/Theatre of the Oppressed, participants from across Nepal viewed and discussed the Acting Together documentary. The discussions and reflections continued into the next day of the camp to shape the future work of those involved. Read more about the Creative Camp for Peacebuilding and about Theatre Mandala's receipt of a Small Grant for Course Development in Performance and the Creative Transformation of Conflict including Acting Together resources. 

April 2015:World Summit on Art and Culture for Peace
District Institute of the Arts
April 12
Bogotá, Colombia
In April, the District Institute of the Arts of the mayor’s office in Bogotá convened a World Summit on Art and Culture for Peace in Colombia. Over 10,000 artists, activists and educators registered for the event, witnessing concerts and performances, participating in panel discussions, watching films, marching in demonstrations, and meeting up with old and new friends and colleagues. The Acting Together on the World Stage documentary was screed curing the Summit.

May 2015:
Screening at "Art in Conflict"
May 26
Zurich University of the Arts
Switzerland
Screening at "Art in Conflict," a practitioners' forum on potential and limitations of arts initiatives in processes of social transformation and peace building, hosted by Zurich University of the Arts in cooperation with Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Discussion following screening hosted by Cynthia Cohen, Co-Chair of the Faculty Committee of the CAST minor and Director of the Program of Peacebuilding and the Arts at Brandeis University. Learn more.

April 2015:
Songs of My Neighbours, Closing Symposium
April 25, 7:00pm
Old Vinegar Factory
Limassol, Cyprus

Screening open to attendees of Songs of my Neighbours. "Acting Together on the World Stage" will be screened at 7:45pm. Dr. Lee Perlman, researcher at the Tami Steinmetz Peace Center of the University of Tel Aviv, will introduce the documentary. The screening will follow the first screening of the "Songs of My Neighbours" documentary (CY, 2015) at 7:00pm.

PARTICIPANTS AT
SONGS OF MY NEIGHBORS 
PHOTO CREDIT: PAVLOS VRYONIDES
Songs of my Neighbours is a collaborative initiative aiming to use the arts, and theatre in particular, to encourage dialogue and social justice between communities that share conflict.
The project of the Center of Performing Arts MITOS is co-coordinated by Elena Agathokleous and Diomedes Koufteros (MFA '05, Acting). It is partly funded by the Culture Program of the European Union and takes place in Poland, Italy and Cyprus between Autumn 2013 and Summer 2015. Closing performance will include live music and narrations with actors, musicians, and artists from partner organizations.

10am to 2:30pm at the Cyprus Theatre Museum: Presentations of activities and conclusions of project by partners from Italy, Poland and Cyprus. Guest Dijana Milosevic of Dah Teatar, Serbia, will give insights on what the Arts can do to promote dialogue and conflict transformation.

Visit the Songs of my Neighbours Facebook page, view the Closing Symposium summary and webpage.


March 2015:
Forum on Peacebuilding and Traditional Arts
March 21, 2:30 - 5:00pm
The Performance Garage
1515 Brandywine Street, Philadelphia, PA
Please RSVP online or by calling the Philadelphia Folklore Project at 215-726-1106
View parking information
Please join us as we explore the relationship between traditional/folk arts and historical memory, reconciliation, anti-violence, immigration rights and other justice work through a screening of the documentary, Acting Together on the World Stage, and a panel discussion featuring artists, activists and scholars. The Philadelphia Folklore Project is proud to be collaborating on this program with Professor Cynthia Cohen of Brandeis University’s Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts, and local artists and activists Germaine Ingram, Yared Portillo, Ximena Violante and the Liberian Women’s Chorus for Change, featuring Fatu Gayflor, Marie Nyenabo, Tokay Tomah and Zaye Tete. Read more.


International Research Workshop of The Israel Science Foundation on Rethinking Political Theatre in Western Culture
March 4, 2015
Tel Aviv University
Lee Perlman will chair and present, along with Acting Together contributor Dr. Aida Nasrallah at a workshop session "Performance and Peacebuilding in Israel: The Politics of Identity, Representation and Power-Relations" at an International Research Workshop of The Israel Science Foundation on Rethinking Political Theatre in Western Culture at Tel Aviv University. Stage Director, Sinai Peter shares his experiences directing many joint Jewish/Palestinian productions and actors Mahmoud Abu Jazi and Einat Weizman performs an excerpt from Oved Shabbat (Quieter Days) by Hanna Eady and Edward Mast, directed by Sinai Peter at the Palestinian Al-Midan Theatre in Haifa. Session supported by the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research at Tel Aviv University.


February 2015:4th Fanatika International Theatre Documentary Festival
February 7, 2015  
Ahmedabad, India


Annual Israeli Theater Researchers’ Association Conference
February 9, 2015
Kibbutzim College of Education
Tel Aviv, Israel
Acting Together contributor Lee Perlman will present his paper "Actors as Change Agents in Joint Productions of Jews and Palestinians in Israel" at a panel entitled “Acting, Actor, Society” at the Annual Israeli Theater Researchers’ Association Conference “On Acting in Theater: Aesthetics, History and Culture” in Tel Aviv at the Kibbutzim College of Education.


January 2015:Acting Together Screening & Discussion
January 2015
Asociación Libre Expresión
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Screening to be followed by a discussion. Free and open to the public. The mission of Libre Expresión or Free Expression is to promote expression and youth leadership by providing training opportunities, using photography in conjunction with othe rartistic media to educate, inform and encourage social engagement. The organizational connection was facilitated by Lisette Anzoategui, a graduate student at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management who is working with Peacebuilding and the Arts to support the inauguration and launch of the minor in Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation (CAST).

2014 ScreeningsOctober 2014:Acting Together Screening
October 22, 12:15 - 2:00 pm
Heller School for Social Policy & Management, Room G3
Brandeis University
Screening to be followed by a discussion led by the film’s director Professor Cynthia Cohen, a member of the Music Department, and Judith Eissenberg. Lunch will be served. 
Come engage in conversation and learn about Brandeis University’s new minor – Creativity, the Arts and Social Transformation (CAST).

August 2014:Workshop and Film Screening
August 12, 6:00 pm
Istanbul, Turkey
Kadir Has University Theatre Department 
In conjunction with 25th IPRA General Conference
Free and open to all artists and activists interested in creativity, peacebuilding, social transformation and international exchange, in conjunction with the 25th IPRA General Conference. Introduction and film screening at 6:00 pm, conversation and resource sharing at 7:15 pm, and snacks and International Artists’ Exchange at 8:30 pm. Presented by ReCAST, Inc. in partnership with the Art and Peace Commission of the IPRA; Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts; Kadir Has University Theatre Department; and Theatre Without Borders. View the flyer.

March & April 2014:Workshop & Film Screening:
"Acting Together on the World Stage"
Metropolitan Arts Centre (MAC)
Belfast, Northern Ireland

March 31, 5:00 pm
Screening and Discussion of ‘Acting Together on the World Stage’ 
April 1 & 2
Workshop: Exploring the ‘Acting Together’ Toolkit
Free and open to the public, registration required. Film screening and workshop with and by Cynthia Cohen, PhD,  Director of the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts, Brandeis University and the Brandeis/Theatre Without Borders collaboration ‘Acting Together.’ For tickets, please contact the MAC Box Office at www.themaclive.com.


Screening of "Acting Together on The World Stage"
at Peace Building Residency with Polly O. Walker
April 15, 8:00pm
The Playhouse, Derry-Londonderry
Free and open to the public, tickets required. A feature documentary highlighting courageous and creative artists and peace-builders working in Conflict regions and describes exemplary peace-building performances and offers tools for the creative transformation of violence.  The screening will be followed by a discussion with Polly O. Walker, Assistant Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, Juniata College, USA.
2013 Screenings  November 2013:Synergy: Women, Creativity & Peacebuilding
November 21, 2:45pm

Mount Mary University, Milwaukee, WI
Free and open to the public. Screening on Thursday, November 21 at 2:45pm. The Keynote Panel at 7:00pm is also free and open to the public, and explores how women leaders can use writing and theater arts to address and resolve conflict, featuring two national peacebuilding leaders – Cynthia Cohen, Ph.D., from Brandeis University and Jennifer Freeman, M.A., Director of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice, Women PeaceMakers Program at University of San Diego – who will share their insight and experience. The event continues through November 22 for registered participants with a Workshop for Community Leaders, "Transforming Violent Conflict Using the Creative Arts"  led by Cynthia Cohen. Read more about the event.

October 2013:International Symposium/ Workshop on Political Discourse: Philosophy, Performance, Literature and Theater
October 24
National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)
Mexico City
Screening open to symposium participants. "Acting Together" Project contributor Roberto Gutiérrez Varea will hosting the screening of the documentary on Thursday of this week-long symposium. 
September 2013:

Heller School for Social Policy and Management
September 4, 12:15-1:50pm
Room G3
Heller School, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Screening open to members of the Brandeis community, including the students of the MA Program in Coexistence and Conflict at the Heller School at Brandeis. Conversation following the film will focus on ways that students in the MA program can get involved with the various initiatives of the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts. Food will be provided by the Coexistence and Conflict program.
August 2013:

"Project Social Impact" Summer Institute
August 20
Kingston, Massachusetts
Cynthia Cohen will be screening Acting Together, leading a discussion, and offering a workshop for international artists, college students and activists participating in a 2-week long institute co-sponsored by "Peace in Focus," La Poderosa Media Project, and Teatrotaller. Read more about the "Project Social Impact" Summer Institute and visit their Facebook page.

June 2013:Community Arts Lab - Arts Festival and Conference
June 20-21
Utrecht, Netherlands
The Community Arts Lab (CAL) is a festival and two-day symposium aimed at uniting people through art and continuing to develop community arts in the of Utrecht in the Netherlands in June 2013. It will feature a dialogue component with themes including theatre for development, theatre in prisons, theatre with refugees, youth theatre community opera and dance. Cynthia Cohen, Roberto Varea, and Dijana Milošević will be presenting at the event, numerous other ReCAST, Inc. contributors will be attending the festival, and there will be a screening of the "Acting Together" documentary. Read more about the program and festival events.

April 2013:"Acting Together on the World Stage" Film Screening
April 3, 7:30pm 
The Fletcher School, Tufts University, Room: Mulgar 200
Free and open to the public. Dr. Cynthia Cohen will give a lecture and discussion to examine the film through a gendered lens. The event is co-sponsored by Fletcher Global Women, The Tufts International Communications Club, and the Fletcher Performing Arts Club. 

February 2013:9th Orlando Latin American Film & Heritage Festival (OLA FEST)
February 8, 2013, 6:30pm
Hope CommUnity Center
1016 N. Park Ave., Apopka, Florida
Festival dates: February 8-10, February 15-17
The opening night for the OLA FEST includes Flamenco music concert and a screening of the “Acting Together on the World Stage,” followed by Q & A with Roberto Varea. The documentary “Acting Together on the World Stage” is also receiving the “Spirit of Place” award the presented by the Awakening/Art & Culture Ola Fest. The "Spirit of Place" Award is an award that was established two years ago for excellence in social realism and activism in the arts. More information.


Learning Peace and Democracy through Film (Japanese subtitles)
February 11, 2:00 -  5:00pm
Tokyo, Japan  
Sponsored by the Global Campaign for Peace Education (GCPE) & AGEnT: Global English Teaching. Lecture and film screening of “Acting Together on the World Stage” (subtitled). More information. For additional information, contact [email protected]

CREATIVE PARTNERS
Political and social failures begin and end in failures of imagination. Acting Together invites a major renewal of the dramatic  imagination for the sake of social healing and understanding. 
JAMES CARROLL
​Author, Journalist, Filmmaker