All the world’s a stage and the political world is no exception.
Two speakers, Dr. Arben Kumbaro and Dr. Michael Devine, joined two Loyola professors, Dr. Roger White and Dr. Behrooz Moazami in a discussion of the relationship between theatre and politics in the Balkan states in Nunemaker Hall Feb. 16.
Kumbaro, a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence who is directing “Trojan Women” in March, was born and raised in Albania, a small country within the former Yugoslavia.
The area is broken up into large states, which have many ethnically unique regions within each. These tribes of people have remained in each area while disputing borders with other groups for centuries.
His recount of growing up in the area was a tale of segregation and secrecy under the USSR and Yugoslavia. Movement within the country, such as crossing state borders, and even communicating across borders, was strictly monitored, and even today it remains a serious problem to the region.
“It is the strongest and worst isolation, both in history and in today’s westernized world,” said Kumbaro.
About today’s infrastructure, Kumbaro cites selfish politics and short-term thinkers as keeping the area in its current condition, as well as extreme nationalism within each ethnic group.
Devine focused mainly on theatre productions in the region before and after the cold war.
Subsidized budgets carried pro-Soviet themed productions in large, sometimes national theatres, while small theatres ran historically cultural plays.
After the fall of the iron curtain and exposure to western influence, impoverished governments supported large and national theatres, while the smaller theatres, which are popular in each Balkan city, were introduced to contemporary production ideas.
Classically trained actors remained at the national theatres while poorer actors continued their traveling productions, moving from city to city as they have for generations. Many actors remain true to culturally important plays but a new group of young actors are becoming more involved in the alternative theatre that questions the status quo of the region.
Experimental forms of theatre are slowly making an impact on the region as they question the nationalist views that have put a strain on the region throughout history.
New playwrights and young actors are coming together to promote peace, instead of simply trying to point fingers or apologize for the atrocities of the past.
“The opportunity to create rich theatre in a poor economy is promising and great, especially when using actors of different backgrounds,” said Devine.
Younger generations are having to decide whether they will remain strong nationalists in an unstable co-existence or hold impartial, peaceful views while still holding onto their culture (which is a struggle in itself).
The biggest threat to theatre productions in the area is the lack of funds, in which many sets, props and costumes are having to be recycled, and even more important, actors are being paid extremely low wages, deferring them from joining the business. Even national theatres run on shockingly low budgets and have to innovate methods.
Everywhere it seems, the economy is limiting, and even though the productions make little revenue, the shows still go on.
Facing the region is a struggle for peace while a history of war has ruined the region’s innocence. Each culture must re-evaluate its place in the area’s future and a group of young adults are paving that way through the theatre. At the moment, the outlook is unsteady, but increasingly hopeful.
Garrett Cleland can be reached at [email protected].
