Improv That Makes a Difference
Richard Mansbach takes his act on the road—to bring it on home, when Tucson's Playback Theatre comes to Silver City March 17.
For months on end last year, Silver City resident Richard Mansbach commuted to Tucson every Monday to participate in an improvisational theater company called Tucson Playback Theatre. Though he whiled away the six-hour roundtrip drive by listening to lecture tapes and music, and enjoying the scenery and long conversations with his partner Ruth Santamaria, he'll doubtless be happy to skip the trip to perform with the group right here at home this month when Playback Theatre makes its Silver City debut at the Silco Theater on March 17.
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Members of the Tucson Playback Theatre troupe. |
"I'm excited about bringing Playback to the area and sharing the love I have for this type of improv, as the audience is usually blown away and touched by what is 'played back,'" Mansbach says. He adds that the theatric form often surprises audiences, being somewhat edgy and different from what they may expect, but quickly adds that productions are also at times quite humorous—and always entertaining.
He's delighted to be performing with his Tucson group before a Silver City audience, hoping to not only entertain a hometown crowd, but maybe also to stimulate interest in Playback's "possible use through a workshop mode in the healing, educational and organizational arenas."
There are no plans at this time to create a Silver City Playback Troupe, but he says he's open to the possibility. Actually, Silver City got a tiny taste of Playback-style improvisation when Mansbach and a couple of friends performed at Dos Baristas coffeehouse late last summer as part of Wally Lawder's Acoustic Cafe series. In one memorable segment, the actors took an audience member's description of having to spend time with his difficult in-laws and created a poignant but also funny vignette.
Mansbach first came across the Playback improvisational theater art form in 1995. "I was directing teens and elders in improvisational performance in New York when one of the elders approached me and said, 'If you like improv, I think you will love something called Playback Theatre, which is improv that makes a difference,'" he recalls. He looked into it and was instantly enchanted. "I subsequently took the training, and since then founded two small Playback companies back East and used Playback in workshop mode with men's groups, marriage enrichment groups, student and faculty in school settings, and with work inside prisons."
During a Playback performance, the stage is bare, save for boxes for the performers to sit on. No props are used except swaths of colorful fabric to signify character changes or, sometimes, images. The performers, all wearing black pants and different-colored shirts, share the role of musician as well, typically performing on saxophone, violin, drums, ocarina and vocals. Performances usually run 90 minutes to two hours and are geared for the 12-and-older crowd.
In Playback, audience or group members tell stories from their lives, and watch them enacted on the spot. The impromptu "storytellers" speak up from their seats, or are invited on stage, to tell short stories from their own life experience. A player in the role of "conductor" asks questions—perhaps prompting the storyteller by asking, "How did that situation end?" or "If you could, what would you tell that person today?"—to facilitate the storytelling. Once the story is told, the conductor may make a summary comment or two, and then typically invites the audience to shift gears into the experience, by saying, "Let's watch."
The music begins, and the actors move to one side of the stage. One at a time, performers take their places and spontaneously create the first scene.
First created in 1975, the improvisational theatric form was developed by Jonathan Fox and Jo Salas and the original Playback Theatre Company in the Hudson Valley of New York. The art form is practiced in a variety of settings—public theaters, workshops, educational and even clinical settings. Having their personal experiences acted out enables people to view their lives in a new way, enthusiasts say, and builds unity as individuals see their common humanity.
The Playback Theatre movement is now international, with groups in locations such as Australia, Uruguay and China. The annual International Playback Theatre Conference will be held in Brazil this year. In last year's conference, held in November 2006, more than 70 companies on six continents enacted true stories in more than 30 languages, focusing on a "Day of Kindness" theme.
The Tucson-based Playback Theatre, founded in 1997 by Pamela Gold, has 10 members, a versatile company of performers that allows the troupe to switch roles and offer bilingual performances. Mansbach says the group is taking a breather this year and has reduced to four permanent members, with the others participating as guest performers. Nearly the entire Tucson-based troupe will be in Silver City for the debut performance at the Silco, Mansbach says.
Charles Schnarr, a board member of the International Playback Theater Network and member of the Tucson troupe for five years, has also served in the role of conductor and director. "The energy at Tucson Playback Theatre performances has generated some amazing moments. There have been some very poignant stories," Schnarr says. "The beauty of Playback is that it honors everyone's story and invites people to be tellers.
"There's no rehearsal or planning. We just see it come to life."
—Donna Clayton Lawder
The Tucson Playback Theatre will perform at the Silco Theater, 311 N. Bullard St., Silver City, March 17 at 7:30 p.m. All seats $5. Tickets for sale at Alotta Gelato, The Curious Kumquat or by calling 534-1381.
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