Dear Friends and Supporters of Tapestry,
Xin Nian Kuai Le (translated in English - it means Happy New Year!) We believe that you will be blessed in many ways during your CNY visits to the homes of your relatives, colleagues and friends. May you experience an abundance of love and peace, the renewal of friendship bonds and the meaningful sharing of significant moments/stories in the past year!
Playback Cambodia Dec Trip 2006
- On our Dec'06 trip to Phnom Penh, Michael, Jerry, Renee and I had the honour of being part of a playback practice process with our Cambodian friends from Mercy Teams International who have embraced PT in the last year. We shared with them a proposed structure for PT practices that Tapestry would often do to get ready for our performances and taught them how to evaluate and do feedback sessions with members for practices and post-performance debriefs.
- We were very happy to be a part of the MTI Playback Team performing in a community performance where MTI invited their local staff members, clients and their families to come and share their stories. Despite the difficulty of not having a common language, I believe hearts were touched and tears were shed when the local Cambodian audience experienced PT for the very first time.
- We also worked closely with MTI to conduct a 2-day sharing session working alongside a local Non-Government Organisation known as "The Health Centre for Children". This is a shelter for girls who have experienced personal traumas despite their young ages. All of us were humbled by the openness and trust that were given to us by the girls during the two days. We felt very blessed as we have received more than what we have given to them. My personal joy was to see them enjoy the drama games that we shared with them on the first day, there was always a request to play their favourite game in the transitions between the programmes. Their genuine stories, tears and smiles touched our hearts and all of us want to return to share PT with them in the near future!
- For further information, you can read about our trip in either of the articles that were published in the Straits Times on 30 Dec 2006 andLian He Zao Bao on 28 Jan 2007. We were very fortunate to have two reporters coming along to document some of the significant highlights of our last trip.
NUS Exxon Mobil Campus Concerts Performance "It's My Life"
- We were invited by the organiser of the NUS Exxon Mobil Campus Concerts to share a special presentation of PT with NUS students and staff, and members of the public. In spite of our crazy work/study schedules, Jerry, Renee, Michael, Ee Mien and I were able to be involved in this special evening performance. Many meaningful moments were shared and I had a significant moment when I invited a member of the NUS stage crew to come up to the stage to share a significant moment that changed herlife. It was definitely a first for me as the "invisible" crew member became visible for once. Tapestry hopes that the NUS performance is the start of many opportunities to share PT in our specific community groups. *hint hint to those of you who may have an idea of wanting to share PT in your community or workplace, do give us an email at tapestry.sg@gmail.com*
The Playback Experience (Intro PT Workshop)
- Tapestry is holding two introductory workshops for PT in March and October 2007. So for those of you who are still considering whether to invest in learning PT, I suggest you write in to me and we can continue to dialogue over emails.
- Personally, I have gained tremendously from learning playback skills, reflecting the learning process, building PT network and having new friendships from travelling to meet playbackers all over the world. I have come to appreciate the community ties that have been built over the past few years especially with Asian playbackers in Cambodia, Taiwan, Japan, India and Hongkong.
- By doing more introductory playback theatre workshops, Tapestry is part of the Asian network of Playback practitioners who wants to promote a deep interest for PT through the teaching of basic PT skills, to add on knowledge in the areas where PT is used specifically with Asian communities through regular PT jamming sessions, and to assist in providing advanced PT training for those who cannot afford to go for PT courses in New York, Japan or New Zealand.
Playback Jamming Sessions
- For those of you who have already received the notice about Playback Jamming Sessions. Yes, it is true, we are having more regular playback jamming sessions for the months of April and November. This is for thosewho are curious about PT and watched two performances and feel that they would like to learn a little PT. It is also for those who want to retain the skills picked up in the last Intro PT workshop that they have attended. Lastly, it is for those who say they don't have time to join a playback group but would like to continue using PT in their work. Find out more about what to expect from a Playback Jamming Session in our latest notice about this event. Please write to us if you wish to be included in Tapestry's mailing list!
Tapestry's Website to be ready in 2007!
- For those of you who are wondering if we are going to have a website, the answer is a resounding yes! We are in the midst of getting the nitty-gritty details of the website's contents and hopefully by May 2007 *that is my hope, cross my fingers and toes*, you will be notified to visit our newly launched website with information about us, our latest projects and performances.
Till the next update! Keep telling your story and keep us in your prayers!
~ From the desk of Anne Chua aka the Long-Winded Editor ~
