Canvassing the Field

What Is Your Biggest Challenge in TYA?
Interviews collected by David Kilpatrick

“When I was young, I wanted to be a citizen of planet Earth. When I was a part of ASSITEJ, I felt like my childhood wish had come true.”

 – Joyce Doolittle, honorary president, ASSITEJ/Canada, at the recent World Congress in Montréal.

At a gathering that brings together TYA professionals worldwide, these sentiments are evident. Though artists come from around the world, the connecting link is the passion for TYA, a collected rejoice in the successes and shared frustration with the hurdles. Though the specific trials may be unique to individual cultures, more often it is the shared challenges and unifying hopes that bring artists around the world together.

The NEXT editors issued David Kilpatrick a challenge: talk to people from ten different countries. And to prove it – take a photo with each of the respondents. Here's his supposed proof, but you be the judge: is he really in every picture?

And does this qualify as his fifteen minutes of fame?

The quotes and pictures below were gathered from September 23-25, 2005 during ASSITEJ International’s World Congress in Montréal, Canada.  The participants were asked the following questions:

What is the biggest challenge you face doing theatre for young audiences in your country? How do you face that challenge with your own work? 

Here’s what they had to say:

"My biggest challenge is that there’s too many fabulous Australian stories to tell and that there’s no time in any one lifetime to share them all.  One challenge I set for myself is to tell those stories in a seamless blend of art forms.  It’s particularly nice to find a story that resonates with the times.  For example, we produced a piece called Bushfire, which was based on a local story.  We produced it on the 20th anniversary of what we call ‘Ash Wednesday,’ a time of horrible fires throughout the hills of Adelaide.”

Sally Chance,Festival Director, Come Out – Australian Festival for Young People, North Adelaide, South Australia

“Our biggest challenge is definitely not the kids themselves.  It’s getting them into theatres.  As an artist, you can go into the schools, but there’s not a tendency to take them out of their houses or schools.  And the kids don’t choose what they see; it’s often decided by parents or teachers.

We work with teachers and schools, boards and governments to ensure that artists stand together to show that theatre for young audiences is important.  But that’s not enough.  I think we need to work with the government to find a way to make theatre essential for our nation.  Since the government is in charge of schools, maybe they can provide money for schools to take students to theatres.”

Marie-Michelle Garon, Freelance Actress, Montréal, Canada (at right in photo)

“The biggest challenge is writing pieces for children and young artists because it has to be incorporated into the school’s curriculum.  If it’s not, that is looked upon as a negative from the parent’s and school’s point of view.  If a piece was not tied to a school’s curriculum it would not be supported.

This changed about a year ago when we were able to put theatre into Uganda’s school curriculum.  Now, we’re moving forward and exploring new possibilities.”

Jackson Ndawula, Chairman, Uganda National Association of Theatre for Children and Young People, Kampala, Uganda

“The biggest challenge is to make people understand that this is a professional job.  Artists in theatre for young audiences do not live in big, fancy towers.  We need to live on our own work.

I teach drama at the University of Mexico and I tell my students to be professional.  To be treated as a professional, you have to convince yourself that you are professional.  You have to have an ethic.  You’ve got to do whatever you do (actor, playwright, director, etc.) the best that you can do it.  Then, you can call yourself a professional.”

Marco Novelo, Director General, Teatro Imaginarte, Teatro Mexicano Paraninos, Tlalnepantia, Edomex, Mexico

“I have two different points of view.  Number one, and I think this is typical in many countries, is that money is taken away from schools so that they cannot buy theatrical programs for their students.  I’ve noticed that because of this, kids don’t see as much theatre as they used to.  But number two, as an artist, the world around us has changed.  Everything’s on screen and everybody wants to be the same all around the world.  There’s this western idea of success.  Different nations and cultures are losing their individuality.  Girls want to be Britney Spears and boys want to be 50 Cent.  It’s quite scary.

I have a [performance] piece about this last point, trying to discuss it through art.  That’s the reason for me to do theatre for young audiences: to equalize.  Also, my pieces talk to me; these are the issues I face.  Otherwise, without a reason or something to say, why should I stand up to share an artistic piece?  I guess it’s a personal and selfish choice, but I feel it’s the only way to perform.”

Satu Paavola, Freelance Actress / President, ASSITEJ-Finland, Helsinki, Finland

“Kids change so fast!  I get the ideas and by the time I get them down, the children have already moved on!  It’s the biggest challenge, but also the biggest happiness.  I can feel their curiosity and they make me feel alive.  I always talk with and play with children – to see what moves them.  I also enjoy playing games and sharing ideas.  I try to love what they love: food, vocabulary words, etc.  I love shocking them in a classroom or on stage by using their words!”

Julian Park, President, DALA Edutainment, Professor, Dept. of Film & Theatre, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea

“For me, it’s the fact that adults mediate the access a child has to the work.  If the parents and teachers don’t like the themes or messages of the piece, children ultimately won’t see it.  But what I don’t think adults realize is that the pieces are made for children and that once they’re there, watching a show, it’s wonderful.

I hate that because of these mediators everything has to have a happy ending.  As an artist, I will never compromise what I’m going to do for these young people so that I know the work will be seen.  It’s my choice as an artist and it’s a hard one.”

Bebê de Soares, Co-founder, Teatro 4Garoupas, Sao Paulo, Brazil

“For me, if you are an actor in a company, you have to work with schools.  But to have the pleasure to work with children n schools, you must get through France’s pedagogy.  Schoolteachers supposedly give the right lessons to children, but I think theatre is and should be a dimension of the ‘right lessons.’  Theatre is another way that one can teach.  With it, you can affect a child’s curiosity.  Teachers and artists have the same focus: children.  We just have two different ways that teaching happens.  So, artists should be even more active in the schools.”

Antonie Zettel, Manager of Cultural Project, Paris, France (at Left in photo)

“My biggest challenge is in making work that truly excites young people.  For me, I’m usually standing behind the theatre doors while a show goes on and when those doors pop open and I see blushed cheeks and twinkling eyes, that’s when I know that the piece worked.  But I stand outside those doors wondering what I’ll see.  It doesn’t matter if the work is professional or amateur, how you cast it or what artistic choices you make; what matters is if it worked for the children or not.

Sometimes I sit in the back of the theatre.  I don’t watch the stage; I watch the audience.  If the young people move or fidget, that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with the kids.  It means there’s a moment wrong on stage.  So, I examine that moment and ask why it happened, and I look at that moment for next time.”

Dr. Razi Amitai, Artistic and General Director, The Mediatheque, The Theatre Center for Young People, Holon, Israel

All photos by Kassie Misiewicz & Ruth Mercado.

David Kilpatrick is Education Outreach Coordinator at Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, PA.