Editor's Comment

Editor's Comment It is an honor to continue to build upon the ground-breaking work of Theatre Topics' Founding Editor, Beverley Byers-Pevitts. I believe this journal fulfills a real need for a professional forum in which we as theatre artists and educators can share our concerns, our struggles, our discoveries, and our hopes for the future as we encounter the maelstrom of end-of-the-millennium transformations. In this issue, new voices such as that of psychological researcher Susana Bloch offer a challenge to traditional approaches to actor training. In an increasingly interdependent world, old disciplinary boundaries erode as we seek fresh perspectives and openly voice our concerns for the human as well as artistic dimensions of our educational processes. Interest aroused by Bloch's 1991 and 1992 ATHE Conference presentations stimulated publication of our mini-forum on ALBA EMOTING, including articles by Roxane Rix and Richard Owen Geer. We welcome letter-length Responses to continue the dialogue. Multi-cultural experiments, wherein theatre can serve as a laboratory for exploring cultural identity, constitute the subject of numerous submissions to Theatre Topics. In this issue, James Brandon reports from an American perspective the results of one such project at the University of Hawai'i, while Russian director Anatoly Efros provides an "outsider" view of American culture and theatrical practice. Efros' article also marks Theatre Topics' first publication of an insightful foreign theatrical document in translation. Catherine Schüler's Comment on Process encourages scholarly forays into Russian territory , with specific information on the cultural obstacles to be encountered in a country undergoing massive change. While the realm of contemporary critical theory seems foreign territory to some, Michael Vanden Heuvel argues that theory can help to bridge the gap between literature and performance. Since we believe in facilitating the entrance of new voices into our professional forum, we are in the process of initiating a mentorship program for potential contributors to Theatre Topics who have significant insights to share but would benefit from the guidance of experienced scholars. Further information will be forthcoming as the project develops. As Marilyn Ferguson points out in The American Conspiracy, "Synthesis and pattern-seeing are survival skills for the twenty-first century." Theatre Topics offers opportunities to look beyond particular areas of specialization to common concerns, to focus on the relationship between theory and practice, to learn from and with one another. I am thankful to be a part of this essential process. Suzanne Burgoyne Editor ...