REPORT ON 6TH INTERNATIONAL WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS' CONFERENCE
- MANILA, PHILIPPINES, NOVEMBER 2003 by Helen Shay

INTRODUCTION

The conference was held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, 14th to 20th November 2003. The Conference Director was Malou Jacob. The organising committee comprised seven volunteer female playwrights of different nationalities, chaired by Meena Natarajan, who all did a wonderful job.

BACKGROUND

The conference is held every three years. It was originally started in Buffalo, New York in 1988. The idea for the gathering originated with Anglo-American playwright Kathleen Betsko. Women dramatists met to discuss their profession, their playwrighting craft, their position as women in theatre and in society, their perceptions of social and political realities and their visions for the future. The International Center for Women Playwrights was then set up in Buffalo. A second conference was held in Toronto, Canada, a third in Adelaide, Australia, a fourth in Galway, Ireland and the fifth in Athens. (The next will be in Indonesia in 2006.) Women Playwrights International Inc was also set up, to further the work of women playwrights around the world and to preserve the convening of triennial conferences.

FORMAT

The conference opened - quite dramatically - at the Cultural Center of the Philippines amidst a typhoon. Most conference events took place either at the Center or the nearby Traders Hotel. Mornings began with early workshops, followed by one or sometimes two keynote speakers, before moving on to a panel discussion. In the afternoon, drama sessions took place, with several evening performances by delegates or local artists.

CONTENT

THE THEME of the conference was Women Making Theatre in a Changing World. Sub-themes et for drama sessions were: writing or making theatre in a period of war and political turmoil; shifting borders; gender and sexuality; loss and legacy; racism and justice; and spirituality and tradition.

SPEAKERS

The conference was addressed by several notable speakers, beginning with Ellen Stewart of La Mama Theatre Company, which was founded in the sixties, based in New York, but has worked and toured globally. She called upon women playwrights to think constantly of communication with the world, beyond our immediate environs. She also urged us to stop being dependent on a director and to make the playwright’s voice be heard, by thinking as a director, with every idea becoming a picture – ‘Appeal to the senses, rather than to the brain’. Ellen advocated use of music in plays, and felt that women writers should not be so concentrated on women’s issues, but think in terms of humanity.

Jessica Hagedorn, a renowned playwright and novelist, was born in the Philippines but is now based in Manhatten. In her address, she spoke lovingly on Manila – ‘the place is one big drama’ – and her Filipino childhood. Her work often uses Filipino characters, and looks at the position of the immigrant. She has adapted her best-selling novel, Dogeaters (the title being from American soldiers’ slang for Filipinos) for the stage and it is now being turned into a screenplay. Her overall message to women playwrights was, ‘The theatre is about a relationship with the audience. The theatre is not about passivity.’

Virginia Morenco, also of the Philippines, told us of her eighteen years working with UNESCO, after going into exile because her writing offended an earlier regime and the church.

Mangai, a playwright from India, told how she uses her work to address social issues in her country, such as misuse of amniocentesis to predict gender in order to abort the female foetus. She also explained how Indian theatre lives more in performance tradition, than text, with forms of mythical origin used to inform the imagination. However, such forms have a feudal basis in the caste system, with women not often allowed to perform certain traditional forms. Women have recently reacted by exploring the more neglected and less ‘heroic’ minor characters of myth, who are often women, or by looking to myths of other cultures. Brecht’s Antigone has recently been adapted by an Indian woman playwright to address contemporary issues.

Fathia El Assal of Egypt was the first woman to have a play produced there, and told us of her struggle to become accepted as a playwright. In particular, she has been instrumental in a campaign against female circumcision. She is now recognised as a leading playwright in Egypt.

Dijana Milosevic of Yugoslavia gave a moving account of her efforts to continue theatre work in Serbia, particularly during the NATO bombings. Living in a geographic area which had changed its name five times in one century, she felt identity was an inevitable problem, together with general confusion during turbulent times. However, she had found there was a strength in working when you’re prepared to say, ‘I don’t know’, and see what generated from ideas and use of actors. She also felt that to be personal in your work is to be political. Her company’s first performance was Babylonian Confusion, based upon poems by Brecht. At a time when questioning of the government’s activities was dangerous, they were lucky not be arrested. Despite this, Dijana felt herself to be ‘hugely privileged’, because there was a need for such work to help create sense amidst desolation, and it had power to oppose the violence and help towards change. Their production, The Legend of the End of the World was performed literally amongst ruins and asked whether it was possible to create a life amongst this. She and her group managed to continue their work in the harshest conditions, and were an inspirational example to all at the conference.

PANEL DISCUSSIONS

The first of these gave an overview of Feminist Theatre, and whether it was dead or merely dormant. Whilst there is less activity in the US, where much of it began, it was clear from speakers from Korea and Mexico that it is a much-needed force in other countries, where traditionally most playwrights and practically all directors have been men. Another subject discussed was The Transformative Qualities of Theatre, with speakers from India, Indonesia, Greece, Philippines and the US giving examples of such qualities at work in their countries, particularly with regard to social issues. The final panel discussion was on Globalisation and the Survival of Culture, a topic very relevant to the Philippine delegates. A sociologist from amongst them argued that globalisation brought cultural and economic imperialism, exploitation of cheap labour and displacement of women, with such as traditional food production threatened by genetic crop-growing. Other speakers, such as from Latin-America, saw globalisation bringing good and bad. The Kenyan delegate reported on a reactionary movement by the young in her country, to reassert national culture, following liberalisation of the airways in the 1990s. The position of the English language was also discussed, with the paradox that, as a common language, it enables communication between nations, but also helps destroy other languages.

WORKSHOPS AND SEMINARS

Several were presented throughout the conference, such as Moments of Being by Sandra Shotlander of Australia, Theatre of the Oppressed by Sushama Deshpande of India, and Entertainment-Education Training by representatives of Population Media Center.

DRAMA SESSIONS

Many interesting works were presented during the conference, giving opportunity to learn about styles, use of form and trends in theatre around the world. Lie Ying Ning of China, presented a work which dealt with the age-old generation gap, but with the new twist given to it in China, where parents who grew up in the cultural revolution feel that they are loosing their children to Western influence and a new culture within their own. Sushama Deshpande of India performed part of her monologue of a woman working in Tamasha Theatre, a tradition that effectively makes flirtation into an art form. The drama sessions were well organised and used professional performers. (My own play, Smoke, benefited from two excellent Filipino actors, Rolando Inocencio and Divina Cavestany, and was described by a New Zealand reporter as ‘a real winner with a cutting edge’. The play was previously performed in Harrogate Theatre’s New Writing Fest 2002.) The drama sessions were extremely useful for both writers and audience, allowing work to be shown to those from other cultural backgrounds and giving rise to an exchange of ideas from different perspectives.

PERFORMANCES

These were also diverse and fascinating. Some were musical, others featured dance, such as Kaniku with Hanaarashi and Furukawa On from Japan, Bandh with Ananya Chatterjea and her daughter Srija Sen from India, and Dancing in the Blood with Ivete de Oliviere from East Timor. There was dramatic irony in seeing a section from Dogeaters, by Jessica Hagedorn -a play which satirises the Marcos era and includes the character of Imelda herself to great comic effect - at the Cultural Center, founded by the Marcos regime. Sheela Langeberg gave a performance of her one-woman show, Maija of Chaggaland, based on the life of her inspirational mother in Tanzania, a strong character prepared to challenge traditions, such as female circumcision, and who made a successful business and good life for her children against all odds. Delegates were also treated to a performance introduced by the Minister for Tourism, at Manila’s historic and atmospheric Intramuros, and which was given by Filipino street children (some disabled, but many nevertheless amazingly acrobatic), who are now being helped with performing art careers.

OVERALL EVALUATION

The growing prestige of this triennial conference was marked by an audience given to its delegation, by the President of the host country. The conference provided learning opportunities and scope to develop work, to network and to form contacts. It also acted as a force to promote women's playwrighting, particularly as a vehicle for change in relation to social issues. The conference gave a valuable chance to gain feedback on work from theatre practitioners from all parts of the world. Bonds were formed between delegates and new working relationships engendered. Topical matters, such as the effect of globalisation on culture, could be debated in a unique forum, where women playwrights pooled experience upon their concerns. I personally can vouch for great benefit derived, as a woman dramatist, from the conference, together with the opportunity to present work to an international and discerning audience.