A Celebration of the Human Spirit

editorial A Celebration of the Human Spirit In PAJ 17 we take pleasure in celebrating the 20th anniversary of the founding of La Mama by Ellen Stewart. Over the years La Mama has presented an astonishing amount of work from here and abroad. Many of the earliest experiments in theatre writing, acting, and staging grew from the open artistic environment the theatre fostered, as did the first European and Asian tours for American work. Understanding better than anyone else that the shared knowledge and experience of artists and audiences in the international community of theatre is what nourishes artistic expression and sensitivity to all cultural values, La Mama has consistently invited artists from all over the world to perform there. La Mama's gifts to the national and international cultural scene not only contribute to the life of the theatre but ultimately to the quality of spirit that has always kept it more human than institutional. La Mama is about people, and their possibilities of achievement. We salute the La Mama way of life and its extraordinary generator, Ellen Stewart, whose courage, generosity, and great fountains of spirit have brought a special grace to world theatre. We have taken the unusual step of publishing three dramatic texts in this issue, two more than we generally run. However, since it seemed important now, and not later, to run all three, we have done so-they form a kind of trilogy on the theme of the spirit in exile. Marguerite Yourcenar's The Little Mermaid was written during the war years when the author came from France to live in Maine; Eugene lonesco's first opera libretto, Maximilian Kolbe, honors the Polish priest who took a fellow prisoner's place in line on the way to death in an Auschwitz cell; Janusz Glowacki's Journeyto Gdansk presents one of the most difficult of human problems: whether in extreme situations to follow moral and ethical principles or to censure oneself in order to survive physically. 4 One modern author who thrived on pointing up the ambiguities and contradictions involved in political choices is Bertolt Brecht, who has been dead now for twenty-five years. Yet he remains a controversial figure in theatre, his reputation repeatedly evaluated. Austrian writer Martin Walser asks, "Can one learn something from this beautiful life?" In her Remarks on Realism, Colette Brooks wonders if indeed the modern world can "know" itself when technology and our evolving consciousness of reality have transformed knowledge into "information." Suzanne Lacy's Made for TV-California Performance in Mass Media examines ways in which artists can subvert the media and the cultural attitude it reflects to reach out to the public with alternative messages. Also working to transform cultural suppositions is Tadashi Suzuki who has been called the "Japanese Grotowski." Suzuki's anthropological interest in theatre links him to the growing chain of artists and scholars in the field of interculturalism . In an interview with anthropologist William 0. Beeman, he explains his assimilation of Oriental and Western techniques in a more universal vision. And, finally, in our Backtalk section is a statement by Florence Falk, President of Performing Artists for Nuclear Disarmament, detailing the organization 's plans and proposals for nationwide performances and political responses in support of nuclear disarmament. The arts community can help to publicize this issue which cuts across all class, racial, economic, geographic, and party lines: help build a grassroots network, organize performances , initiate arts programs in the community, volunteer to assist P.A.N.D. As one of the speakers at the P.A.N.D. April 5th New York rally, a young choreographer who questioned his own careerism, stated so simply: nuclear disarmament is the arts issue. The Editors 5 ...