{"id":318,"date":"2020-04-30T09:28:52","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T09:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/?p=318"},"modified":"2022-02-05T13:07:43","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T13:07:43","slug":"the-spiritual-reformation-of-theatrical-practice-a-modern-times-stage-company-workshop-with-soheil-parsa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/21\/the-spiritual-reformation-of-theatrical-practice-a-modern-times-stage-company-workshop-with-soheil-parsa\/","title":{"rendered":"The Spiritual Reformation of Theatrical Practice: Interculturalism and the Modern Times Stage Company"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Peter Farbridge<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abstract<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

By examining the rehearsal strategies of Modern Times Stage Company of Toronto, co-founded and co-led by Iranian-Canadian director Soheil Parsa and Peter Farbridge, the author, this article explores the intra- and inter-personal communication that allows for interweaving of cultures within the complex social relationships of intercultural theatre. As a case study, it discusses Parsa\u2019s rehearsal process with a Francophone cast of different cultural backgrounds of Bahram Beyz\u2019aie\u2019s play Aurash<\/font> that took place in Montreal between 19 and 26 November 2019. The main focus is on how different histories and experiences position the artists in relation to each other in Modern Times\u2019 intercultural theatre practices.
Keywords: <\/strong>intercultural theatre, rehearsal practice, ethical relationality, Modern Times Stage Company, utopias<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a tiny shiver of messianic time for Shabbat:
imagine there were no oppression to produce our identities. no homophobia or compulsory cisheterosexuality to produce some of us as queer, no racism to produce some of us as racialized, just millions of forms of descriptive difference not essentialized & politicized by violence. when we said \u201ci\u201d in such a world we might mean almost nothing but a locus of desire<\/p>Daniel Karasik, \u201cmessianic time\u201d<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It is hard not to hear the refrain of John Lennon\u2019s \u201cImagine\u201d when reading this blog entry by Toronto writer and social activist Daniel Karasik. In fact, the title, \u201cmessianic time,\u201d seems like a wry apology for the utopic tone of its content. If there is one place, however, where utopian thinking tends to run unbridled, it is in theatre. The stage is a laboratory where possible worlds are created, where utopia is found \u201cin the performer\u2019s grace, in the audience\u2019s generosity, in the lucid power of intersubjective understanding, however fleeting\u201d (Dolan 479).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if we then imagine a creative space where theatre artists of different cultural backgrounds, physical\/mental abilities, and gender identities collaborate, not only within a framework of human rights equality, but also in an exploration of the aesthetic potential of their \u201cmillion forms of descriptive differences\u201d? (Karasik). What if the totality of these differences in bodies, languages, language accents, and gender identities become the primary matter of artistic creation? In addition to revising theatre\u2019s vertical hierarchies to \u201camplify voices formerly marginalized by systemic inequity\u201d (ADHOC), we can thus also challenge the very margin-centre binary. Messianic tones aside, I believe that exploring more empathetic and ethical ways of communicating in the rehearsal hall can occur in tandem with the ongoing social lobby for equitable political representation in theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we dare to imagine a rehearsal space in which this kind of theatre practice is possible, it would need to be an ethical one that promotes a \u201cdialogue between human communities\u201d (Ermine, \u201cThe Ethical\u201d 193). Or, in the words of Stephane Martelly, it would be a space where creation \u201cis necessarily ethical in its transgression of the norm and in its will to undo the control of power over the meaning\u201d (\u201cLe Prix\u201d). It might also need to be a state of \u201cethical relationality,\u201d which, according to M\u00e9tis writer Dwayne Donald, can help us \u201cunderstand more deeply how our different histories and experiences position us in relation to each other\u201d (535). It would certainly need to be an intercultural space where creative exchanges can take place with the confidence that hidden biases will be uncovered and communication will remain both frank and generative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Interculturalism of the Modern Times Stage Company<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Intercultural rehearsal halls are some of the best settings in which to study the characteristics of ethical spaces because their artists negotiate cultural differences within the empathetic experience of embodied practice (Albright). By examining rehearsal strategies, we might better understand the intra- and inter-personal communication that allows for cultural interweaving (Fischer-Lichte) inside complex social relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One such intercultural theatre is the Modern Times Stage Company of Toronto. Between 19 and 27 November 2019, I was a participant-observer in a six-day rehearsal exploration of the play Aurash<\/em>, by Bahram Beyz\u2019aie, which included four actors from different cultural horizons. Led by Soheil Parsa, co-artistic director of the Modern Times Stage Company (hereafter, Modern Times), the workshop took place in Montreal at Concordia University and Th\u00e9\u00e2tre Bouches d\u00e9cousues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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L-R: Soheil Parsa, Laura Gallo-Tapias, Roxanne de Bruyn, Ligia Borges, Benita Jacques, Maya Kuroki. Aurash <\/em>Workshop, Day 5. November 26, 2019, Concordia University, Montreal. Photo: Peter Farbridge<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

To clarify, I have been a participant-observer in Modern Times\u2019 rehearsal processes for the past thirty years, being involved in some creative capacity in most of the company\u2019s thirty-four productions as co-artistic director of the company. This position affords me easier access with respect to carrying out research on the company\u2019s practices, while likely adding a subjective bias to this narrative: my admiration for Parsa\u2019s work must be declared at the outset, both for the subtleties of his theatre aesthetics and for the strength of the ensemble that he seeks to create in rehearsals. My main objective has been to explore how relationships between the team members evolved in the rehearsal process, to understand how these relational dynamics interact within the context of Canadian identity politics, and to document how they assisted or impeded intercultural creative exchanges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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L-R: Tara Nicodemo, Arsin\u00e9e Khanjian, Keshia Palm, Aaron Willis, Cliff Saunders. The Cherry Orchard<\/em> by Anton Chekhov. Directed by Soheil Parsa. March 25, 2019, Crow\u2019s Theatre, Toronto. Photo: John Lauener<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Modern Times Stage Company was founded in 1989 by Parsa and me. He has directed all its productions, ranging from translating and adapting works of Iranian authors, such as Bahram Beyza\u2019ie and Abbas Na\u2019albandian, and revisiting canonical Western authors, including Anton Chekhov, Federico Garcia Lorca and Shakespeare, to devising or authoring original works with, for example, Guillermo Verdecchia, Parsa, and myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company has produced an average of one show every season and has favoured co-productions with artists from other countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Cuba, Denmark) over international touring circuits. It has gained considerable renown in the Toronto theatre community, having earned sixty Dora nominations and sixteen awards, among other accolades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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L-R: Peter Farbridge, Jannik Elkaer Nielsen, Kristoffer Louis Andrup Pedersen, Stavroula Logothettis. Forgiveness <\/em>by Peter Farbridge, Soheil Parsa and Barbara Simonsen. Directed by Soheil Parsa. March 12, 2014. The Theatre Centre. Photo: John Lauener<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Modern Times\u2019 mandate is to seek archetypes that \u201ctranscend cultural and political borders. . . to move away from ideology towards a human vocabulary that speaks across civilizations\u201d (\u201cMandate\u201d). To nuance this unapologetically universalist statement, one can find in the company\u2019s background material. Since its early work in the 1990s, the focus on \u201cexploring and taking inspiration from the uniqueness, commonality and differences of the human experience\u201d (Knowles, \u201cThe Modern\u201d 65) has engendered an approach to interculturalism that aims \u201cto see Canadian theatre audiences and theatre practitioners change their idea about what they need to see on stage in order to recognize themselves\u201d (\u201cPlanning Profile\u201d 3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modern Times does not put a spotlight on the cultural specificity of each of the actors with whom it collaborates, but \u201crepresents her\/his unique individuality as an artist and human being” (\u201cOrganizational Profile\u201d 1). Indeed, this seemingly universalist mandate expresses Modern Times\u2019 ultimate desire to equally represent the range of cultural diasporas in Toronto through the specific dimensions of human experience. In my view, it is Parsa\u2019s history of immigration to Canada that makes this possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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L-R: Costa Tarvanisky, John Ng, Peter Farbridge. Hallaj <\/em>by Peter Farbridge and Soheil Parsa. Directed by Soheil Parsa. November 12, 2011, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Toronto. Photo: John Lauener<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Modern Times and Western Interculturalists<\/strong><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

When Parsa arrived in Canada in 1984, he brought the cultural history of Iran in his suitcase. In his early explorations of Persian forms of theatre at Modern Times, such as ta\u2019ziyeh-khani<\/em>, pardeh-dari<\/em>, naghali<\/em>, among others, he examined his own cultural semiotics in the context of European theatre and North American artists and audiences. For example, in the one-thousand-year-old tradition of ta\u2019ziyeh<\/em>, a bowl of water can represent an ocean and a riderless horse can signify Death. To avoid a cultural echo chamber, however, Parsa invented his own theatre signs to evoke the idea of ta\u2019ziyeh<\/em> in his new home in Toronto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ta\u2019ziyeh<\/a> <\/em>during the Qajar Era 1789 to 1925. Photo: Iran Chamber Society<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Through productions such as Shakespeare\u2019s Macbeth<\/em> (1995), in which Parsa used ta\u2019ziyeh-khani <\/em>as a source of inspiration for his directorial approach, he began to recodify his own sign systems, testing it with his multicultural casts and through his Toronto audiences. This transculturation of the Persian theatrical tradition would become central to the physical dramaturgy of his productions, such as in the evocation of the whirling dervish in Hallaj<\/em> (2011) and the flamenco dance in Blood Wedding<\/em> (2016). By examining these culturally-specific dances, he developed new choreographic languages filtered through his actors\u2019 abilities and sensibilities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soheil Parsa<\/strong>: As a director, if I have a cast, I shouldn\u2019t just be thinking about myself\u2014’This is my style, this is my culture\u2019\u2014I need to have openness to keep a balance. It\u2019s not all about me now . . . my job is to help the actors tell the story clearly so that the audience doesn\u2019t get bored<\/p>(Farbridge, \u201cAurash <\/em>Workshop Audio Recordings Day 2\u201d 23:44\u201324:00)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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L-R: Steven Bush, Beatriz Pizano, Sebastian Marziali, Jani Lauzon, Bahareh Yaraghi, Carlos Gonzalez-Vio, Liz Peterson, Derek Kwan and Mina James. Blood Wedding<\/em> by Federico Garcia Lorca. Directed by Soheil Parsa. March 11, 2015, Buddies-in-Bad-Times Theatre, Toronto. Photo: John Lauener<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Parsa maintains the belief in the unifying role of his directorial vision and, at the same time, the understanding that the final product must emerge from the particular alchemy of the different individuals with whom he collaborates on each project. The application of that directorial approach in rehearsal with artists of many cultural backgrounds and trainings has been described by scholar and dramaturg Ric Knowles (who has written extensively on Modern Times), as \u201ca much more genuinely inclusive and re-appropriative modernism\u201d (\u201cThe Modern\u201d 65)\u2014which echoes Parsa\u2019s own admiration for modernist theatrical tradition and dramaturgy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parsa\u2019s directorial style and universalist leanings have been strongly influenced by British theatre director Peter Brook, whose internationalist productions (according to his critics) fall within the \u201cappropriative type practiced by western interculturalists\u201d\u2014such as Richard Schechner, Ariane Mnouchkine and Eugenio Barba\u2014because they use \u201cdecontextualized elements of othered cultures in their attempts to rejuvenate decadent western theatrical forms\u201d (Knowles, \u201cPerforming Interculturalism\u201d 1). Contrary to them, Parsa does not mine artists from a distant and mysterious \u201cth\u00e9\u00e2tre du monde.\u201d The difference could be grounded in the fact that his immigration to Canada in 1982 coincided with a major shift in Toronto\u2019s demographics, when visible minority groups grew from 13.6% in 1981 to 51.5% by 2016 (CERIS; Statistics Canada). Artists came to Modern Times from the cultural diasporas of Toronto itself, and many of them had experienced marginalization as recent immigrants to Canada. A member of one of those communities, Parsa was aware of and affected by exotification, exclusion, and racism in a theatre community dominated by a white Anglo-Saxon majority and therefore distanced himself from its practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But another distinction, according to Knowles, is the company\u2019s \u201cfocus on \u2018uniquenesses\u2019 and \u2018differences\u2019 within the human experience\u201d (\u201cThe Modern\u201d 65). Parsa does not attempt to corral humanity into one \u2018universal\u2019 theatre, but rather allows the aesthetic differences of the actors or of theatre performance styles to inform and emerge out of the tightly woven fabric of his stagings. As he states, most of this process of hybridization is unconscious, unplanned, and integral to the creative process (Parsa, \u201cPersonal Interview\u201d).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless, the emphasis on the totality of the actors\u2019 personal and cultural resources has become recognizable to Toronto audiences and critics as unique to Modern Times, \u201cone that isn\u2019t about a nebulous idea of diversity, but simply emphasizes the individuality of the performers” (Nestruck). This perspective on interculturalism eventually became the centre of the company\u2019s wide-ranging theatre studies project, Postmarginal<\/em>, which looks at cultural diversity as \u201ca creative opportunity in the theatre\u201d (Postmarginal website).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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L-R: Soleil Launi\u00e8re, Soykan Karayol, Azeem Nanthoo, Ahmed Moneka, Simon Casanova, Lavinia Salinas, Melanie Santos, Soheil Parsa, Maxime Pomerleau, Sepehr Reybod. Subject and Creation Workshop<\/em>. May 3, 2018, Toronto. Photo: Diana Manole<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Montreal vs Toronto, Ad Nauseum<\/strong><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Aurash<\/em> (Parsa et al<\/em>) is Modern Times\u2019 most frequently produced play. Originally staged by the company in 1998, it has been remounted eight times in five different countries and in four languages. It tells the story of a na\u00efve stable-hand who becomes an unwilling player in a post-war border treaty when he is chosen to determine his nation\u2019s border by shooting an arrow from the top of a mountain. Its roots are in a one-thousand-year-old Persian nationalist myth, which was revised in the 1970s by Beyza\u2019ie. In 1998, Parsa and dramaturg Brian Quirt adapted this poetic text into a mixture of storytelling, physical theatre, soundscape, and lighting (Modern Times, \u201cAurash<\/em> Program\u201d 3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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L-R: Mona Ketabian, Hanieh Borghei, Golshad Moradi. A production of Aurash <\/em>in Farsi, Directed by Soheil Parsa. July 28, 2017, <\/em>Tirgan Festival, Toronto. Photo: Saman Aghvami<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The workshop-rehearsal of Aurash<\/em> that this article addresses was slated for a French-language production in Montreal, Quebec in 2021. Actors Maya Kuroki (Japanese, she\/her), Ligia Borges (Brazilian, she\/her), Benita Jacques (Haitian, she\/her) and Roxanne de Bruyn (Belgian, she\/her) were present in the rehearsal hall, alongside Amir S\u00e1m Nakhjavani (Iranian, he\/him) and Laura Gallo-Tapias (Colombian, she\/her), who assisted with the research and translated for unilingual English or French speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2019 rehearsal process of Aurash<\/em> is unique because the intercultural practices of a Toronto-based theatre company are being introduced to a Francophone theatre community in Montreal. The identity politics of the rehearsal process are thus marked from the beginning by the differences in the social and political histories of these two cities. Before launching into a description of the Aurash<\/em> workshop, I would like to step back to give a short contextual explanation of the impact of these two different cities on the process. I hope that by contextualizing it within my own lived experiences in both Toronto and Montreal, I will be able to embrace the inherent limitations and biases of a shorthand account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am an English-speaking, white male of British, Irish and Scottish roots who grew up in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and have lived in Montreal over half my life. I have a perspective of Montreal as an immigrant to the city as well as an expat\u2019s view of Toronto as someone who has travelled back there to work for 30 years. I have a special relationship with my own identity in Montreal, linked to the political context of Quebec in Canada and its imperative to preserve its character and its language; the social positions of the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Persons of Colour) members of the Aurash<\/em> workshop are obviously far more complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my experience working for cultural equity in Montreal\u2019s Francophone theatre community, I have witnessed the impact of Quebec\u2019s ethnic nationalism on actors coming from diverse cultural horizons. Skin tones, language accents, and non-western theatrical training can be threatening to the narratives and working practices of a white Francophone theatre community that \u201c[perpetuate] an unequal relationship of power with respect to minority ethnocultural groups\u201d (Jeldi et al<\/em>. 6; translation mine). This malaise manifests itself as a lack of representation of diverse cultures on Montreal\u2019s Francophone stages (Pruneau).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This said, significant work has been done on closing the gap in ethnocultural representation in particular since the Conseil qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois du th\u00e9\u00e2tre (CQT) held its first conference on this theme in November 2014, and especially following the controversy surrounding Robert Lepage\u2019s SLAV<\/em> and Kanata<\/em> in the summer of 2018 (Dunlevy). There is a self-described (and oft-repeated) \u201cprise de conscience\u201d <\/em>(Labrecque) regarding the homogeneity of Montreal\u2019s stages, , and in many ways this ethereal idea of \u201cconsciousness\u201d is being solidified into structural, programming and casting changes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, Modern Times\u2019s hometown of Toronto has gone much further in integrating its diverse communities into the city\u2019s theatrical landscape. I witnessed these changes growing up with Modern Times over the past thirty years. Today, Toronto is a place where \u201cthe traditional hegemony of whiteness on the city\u2019s stages is actively being challenged \u2018from below\u2019 by an informal coalition of artists of color working in solidarity across difference to create a theatre scene that increasingly reflects and challenges the cultural makeup of the city\u201d (Knowles, \u201cPerforming the\u201d 2). The proof is in the pudding: there are a multitude of professional theatre companies in Toronto that feature BIPOC artists, as well as a significant presence of marginalized persons in decisional roles in major companies. For example, during the 2019\u201320 Toronto theatre season, the artistic directors of three of the city\u2019s five largest theatre companies were from marginalized populations: Marjorie Chan (Theatre Passe Muraille), Nina Lee Aquino (Factory Theatre) and Weyni Mengesha (Soulpepper Theatre). However, the battles to represent the city\u2019s cultural diasporas are not over, nor has the road to get to this point been without its traumas. The painful conflicts surrounding cultural identity in Toronto theatre in the 2010s\u2014questions of white privilege, Indigeneity, gender politics\u2014are still felt in the community today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aurash<\/em>, Revisited<\/strong><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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Roxanne de Bruyn improvising a monologue from Aurash. Aurash <\/em>Workshop.<\/em> Directed by Soheil Parsa. November 23, 2019, Concordia University, Montreal. Photo: Peter Farbridge<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Within this complex political context and with two languages in the room, the eight members of the Aurash<\/em> workshop met between four to six hours a day, for a total of 30 hours work. The objectives were twofold: 1. to introduce the play to the actors; 2. to develop a common physical vocabulary by exploring the actors\u2019 vocal and gestural subjectivities. From this perspective, the workshop was both a professional rehearsal period and a research inquiry as the research informed the rehearsal process, and vice versa. Nonetheless, the workshop\u2019s goal was to work towards a full-fledged, audience-ready production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vocal Subjectivities: Colonized by Language<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

On the first two days, we looked more closely at the text work of the actors. Their different cultural backgrounds stimulated discussions on the matter of language accents. We began by using the term \u2018accents\u2019 to describe the differences between Brazilian, Belgian, Japanese and Haitian French speakers, but we quickly realized the word\u2019s political weight for the actors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roxanne de Bruyn<\/strong>: In the Francophone community, we have a tendency to level everything . . . I was told that \u201cYour r\u2019s are too heavy,\u201d that I had to get rid of them. But I thought that my regional r\u2019s were great. . . . <\/p>(28:15\u201328:50)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Ligia Borges<\/strong>: Accents are political. Accents are a choice. Accents give status . . . it is very politically hierarchical.<\/p>(40:00\u201340:45)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Benita Jacques<\/strong>: Accents are a way of excluding.<\/p>Farbridge, \u201cAurash <\/em>Audio Recordings Day 2\u201d: 40:45\u201340:49, my translations<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In the end, we decided to use the term \u2018vocal subjectivities\u2019 as a way to diffuse the political stigma of \u2018accents.\u2019 Nonetheless, the prerequisite of speaking and understanding French and the respect of its structure and correct pronunciation seemed anchored in the actors. Language competence was a strong marker of identity in the group, and in that, I believe the colonizing effect of language was manifest:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benita Jacques<\/strong>: When I go into an audition, in fact I put on a costume. The costume which was formed for me by theatre school. We were deconstructed at school and we are reconstructed. They worked us in the norm for French . . . to bring us to the norm, to be like all actors.<\/p>(Farbridge, \u201cAurash<\/em> Workshop Video Day 6\u201d:12:22\u201313:30: my translation)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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