The title of this post comes from something that Phil Kingston, Community and Education Manager at the Abbey Theatre, the national theatre of Ireland, said during his facilitation today. As part of an exploration of applied theatre practices in Ireland, Phil hosted a three-hour session with the students, and he invited five of his facilitators and staff to join him in the presentation.

Very busy today with the applied theatre course. Morning session focused on continuing our discussion of community with Declan Gorman and Jenny Macdonald. Each facilitator provided a short session on how s/he might begin work with a new group of community participants. Declan also shared a statement that he wrote about reflecting on what applied and community-engaged theatre might be, and I’ve included his words below as part of this blog post.

First day of course work on the applied theatre experience in Dublin. Some quick thoughts and observations:

1. “Applied theatre” is an academic term according to Helen Nicholson in her text Applied Drama. Theatre in communities has been happening for many years prior to the emergence of applied theatre as an academic discipline. Like so many things in the academy, people gain stature through the naming process. Terms come into existence so that phenomena can be named and categorized. I appreciate the term, but I don’t always find that it’s necessary to categorize the work that I make.

This evening marked the official social kick off of the Community-Engaged Theatre program in Ireland. We had a reception pulled together by the graduate assistant on the course, Simone Burns, and we were joined by some of the Irish/UK teaching staff and guests: Joanna Parkes, Jenny Macdonald, Orla Hasson, Declan Gorman, and Chrissie Poulter. It was a great evening, complete with a well-traveled story cloak, food, and fellowship.

So the picture above is of Houth, one of the many beautiful places in and around Dublin and the Irish Sea. Houth is the land off in the distance. My colleague Anne Marie took me there today for coffee and scones as we discussed all of the logistics that she planned for the upcoming three weeks. Anne Marie has been working with us in Dublin since the first year of the course in 2004, and it’s always a joy to return to her.