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Theatre For Living: The Art and Science of Community-Based Dialogue

by David Diamond; Foreword by Fritjof Capra

336 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #06-3181; ISBN 1-4251-2458-5; US$26.04, C$29.95, EUR20.31, £13.46

Theatre for Living is an essential resource for anyone interested in healthy communities.

About the Book

Theatre is a primal language that used to be spoken by everyone; everyone included the "living community".

Weaving together Systems Theory and the groundbreaking work of Fritjof Capra , Theatre of the Oppressed and the revolutionary work of Augusto Boal , and his own 25 years of practical experience in community-based popular theatre, David Diamond creates a silo-busting book that embraces the complexity of real life.

Some of the questions Theatre for Living asks and attempts to answer: From a perspective of biology and sociology, how is a community a living thing? How do we design a theatre practice to consciously work with living communities to help them tell their stories? How do we accomplish this without demonizing those characters with whom we disagree? Must we constantly do battle to defeat an endless stream of oppressors, or can we imagine a world in which we stop creating them? Why is this important? What should we be on the look-out for (both positive and negative) when doing this work? What practical games and exercises can we use to awaken group consciousness?

Who will be interested in Theatre for Living? Artists; community development workers; educators; activists; people working in social services, mediation and conflict resolution; health care professionals; anyone with an interest in finding new ways to approach the intersection of culture and social justice.

About the Author

David Diamond is a 1975 graduate of the University of Alberta with a BFA in acting. He worked as a professional actor in theatre, television and film throughout Western Canada until 1981 when he co-founded Headlines Theatre. He became the Artistic Director in 1984. He is the originator of Headlines' Theatre for Living work, which has evolved from Brazilian Director Augusto Boal's ground-breaking Theatre of the Oppressed. In 1996 David was the first individual recipient of the City of Vancouver's Cultural Harmony Award. In 2001 he received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University College of the Fraser Valley.

Fritjof Capra: World renowned systems theorist and author of The Tao of Physics, The Turning Point, The Hidden Connections and many other books. Capra has written the foreword for Theatre for Living.

Augusto Boal: Founder of the worldwide movement known as "Theatre of the Oppressed" and author of Theatre of the Oppressed, Rainbow of Desire and many other books.

Visit the author's website:
www.headlinestheatre.com

Reviews

"I greatly admire the achievements of David Diamond and his Headlines Theatre. He is following his own path, doing extraordinary and groundbreaking work in several fields, like his work with many First Nations communities in Canada and the US, and his adaptation of Forum Theatre on TV and on the Internet. This book relates the experiences of his life in theatre. For what he has already done, is doing, and certainly will do, David Diamond deserves all our support."

Augusto Boal
founder of Theatre of the Oppressed
author of Theatre of the Oppressed, Rainbow of Desire, and Legislative Theatre

"This book can be inspiring to anyone concerned about the future of humanity, both inside and outside the theatre."

Fritjof Capra
physicist and systems theorist
author of The Tao of Physics, The Web of Life, and The Hidden Connections

"David Diamond's work has been an inspiration to performers, artists, community leaders throughout Canada and beyond. The ideas in Theatre for Living are large, daring, challenging; but the steps by which Diamond follows and implements the ideas are precise and accessible. As I read I found myself being taken further and further into the life that is both theatre and the making of theatre, which is to say I was led into how life can be given its meaning."

Hugh Brody
anthropologist and film-maker
author of Maps And Dreams, Living Arctic and The Other Side of Eden

"Theatre for Living is an essential resource for anyone interested in the power of theatre to evoke community healing. The book has much to offer to theatre practitioners, social justice advocates, community cultural workers, educators and activists who are looking for ways to both improve and engage in a visceral and performative dialogue around community empowerment."

Dr. Michelle La Flamme
Instructor
First Nations Studies Program and Department of English, University Of British Columbia

"Theatre for Living by David Diamond (Trafford). Diamond, who has been creating activist theatre in Vancouver for decades, writes about the evolution of his approach to playmaking -- from studies with Brazilian theatre pioneer Augusto Boal to his latest work, which lets communities create and alter their own stories on responding to the environmental crisis. Sounds a bit earnest, but the book, like Diamond's work with Vancouver's Headlines Theatre, is lively and challenging -- especially his quarrel with left-wing orthodoxies about the nature of oppression and the oppressor."

Tom Sandborn
Tyee's Guide to Book Giving

"5.0 out of 5 stars Magical ride through the world of community-based theatre, November 6, 2007"

"Finally David Diamond has found the time and inspiration to write a book about his groundbreaking theatre work with communities in Canada and around the world. Combining thoughts about systems theory and theatre, Diamond manages to shine a refreshingly new light on what is perhaps the most transformative form of theatre. In addition, several case studies as well as countless theatre games and exercises make this book a highly practical guide for all those interested in the art that is 'Theatre for Living'."

Hjalmar, in Kabul, Afghanistan