Developing Communities: Practicing Theater for Transformation
9 December through 11 December 2005, The Grail Women's Institute for Social Transformation, The Grail in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York


The Grail Women's Institute for Social Transformation invites you to a new, exciting and energizing workshop where passion for social justice meets the arts:A workshop for women who are social activists, union organizers, teachers, faith-based workers, artists and performers, community builders, concerned citizens--any woman committed to creating a world of justice and peace.

In this interactive, experiential workshop you will learn how theater techniques can be applied to the process of engaging groups in:

** identifying community issues;
** exploring creative, action-producing solutions;
** inspiring individuals to work together for social change; and
** developing bonds of solidarity

This workshop integrates the experience and expertise of its facilitators--both of them long-time practitioners of community-based theater--with the popular education models of Paolo Freire and Augusto
Boal.

Facilitated by:
Mariette Sluyter--Actor, Writer, Joker and all-round theater artist, recently appointed Artistic Director for All Nations Theatre in Calgary, Alberta, whose company focuses on using theater for social change. She
has been working with Theater of the Oppressed techniques nationally and internationally since the mid-1980s. Ms. Sluyter is also the founder of Spinstergirl Productions, which has been creating dynamic feminist theater for over a decade. She has toured her work internationally to critical acclaim.

Sharon Thomson, MFA--published poet, Grail member. She has been living in Grail communities and working with poetry, theater, and community development for more than twenty five years. She has also been facilitating poetry retreats all around the USA. She is founder and artistic director of the Poetry Ritual Theater.

Location: The Phoenix at the Grail in Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY 12520

For more information, please go to http://www.thegrailatcornwall.org

Registration: begins at 4:00 pm on Friday, December 9.

Program Schedule:

From: Friday, December 9 at 7:30 PM
To: Sunday, December 11 at 4:00 PM

Cost: $300 (includes room and board from Friday dinner to Sunday lunch)

Partial scholarships, depending on need, are available.

For more information or registration contact:
Simonetta Romano at sromano.poped@grail-us.org

or call (845) 534-2031

A non-refundable deposit of $50 is requested to reserve your space.

Deadline for registration: November 28, 2005

*****

The Women's Institute for Social Transformation engages in popular education to train, support and collaborate with women working for social change locally and globally.
The Institute is a project of The USA Grail.

The U.S.A. Grail empowers women to work for world transformation by:

** building bridges among diverse faith traditions and spiritual paths;
** advancing peace, justice and demilitarization throughout the world;
** fostering international exchange and solidarity; and
** challenging economic systems that put at risk the most vulnerable, especially women and children.

For more information please go to http://www.grail-us.org