Opening up the process of writing
Creating theater from places throughout the world is inherently an open and interactive event. As a playwright entering circumstances that are unfamiliar, the excitement of learning drives the writing forward. Writing becomes a means of discovery. In exchange for information, the playwright, in turn, offers the benefit of artistic perspective.
World Communities is about sharing this creative process with students and faculty. Because the plays are political and historic, there are many points of entre for students of all disciplines ranging from the research that is required to write the play, to the theatrical skills that are required to perform it
More than a play
World Communities is also about using the opportunity of the play to create related events and activities. These include seminars inspired by the subject matter of the play; oral history projects that are part of the research for the play; and study abroad opportunities that use the play and the play's creation to provide intimate access to a culture.
Basic tenants of human rights theater
The goal is to create compelling and accessible plays which in and of themselves constitute good theater. But in the choice of material, the process of play creation, and the focus of the writer, these plays allow for the following to occur -on some level:
  1) Illuminate: Recognize situations that would otherwise be unfamiliar to the audience, the telling of which on stage somehow helps the status of those depicted. Herein lies the primary human rights consideration -the choice of the subject matter.
  2) Humanize: Strive to reveal the underlying human component to broad social, historic or political issues.
  3) Empathize: Create an empathy through the realization of the universal themes that transcend the particulars of place and circumstance.
  4) Involve: Allow for broader involvement in the writing process itself both from individuals whose story is being told and from those with academic or other perspectives on the story. This can include students as well.
  5) Heal: Through involvement of others, through facing difficult issues on the stage, and through the cathartic effect of the presentation of the material, allow for healing to occur on some level.
These considerations are usually not explicitly stated in the presentation of the play, but they are fundamental to their writing and execution.
Historic figures/American presidents
World Communities can also focus its process on historic figures like President Jimmy Carter and offer intimate insight into their lives. We are particularly interested in developing a series of productions focusing on the lives of American presidents.
 
World Communities
World Communities is what happens when I base my writing process at a university and reach across disciplines to provide educational opportunities for students and teachers. Through the work that is created, a cultural legacy is left for the school and for its community which may continue for years after the residency. 

Click HERE to read the brochure
   Read more here about:

World Community's beginnings and the development of its broader mission
 
Professional theater
This is a model that allows for the infusion of compelling new works into the mainstream of American theater. Professional theaters have been limited in their ability to develop new plays. The educational mission of universities allows broader justification for these same efforts, especially when the process of play creation can reach into so many areas of academic endeavor.
Pre-existent works and classes
Each residency carries with it a body of developed work and classes surrounding those works, as well as associates from different parts of the world who can speak directly to the story being told. Associates include Cambodian poet Chath Pier Sath whose story of the Khmer Rouge and modern-day Cambodia are woven into his performance in "Searching for Innocence"; as well as noted Bulgarian actor and director Madelyn Tcholakova, whose brilliant articulations of the fall of Communism helped inspire the drama for which she is available to play the title role: "Stalinka."
Theater created
from lives and
circumstance
Because the work is rooted in historic or political issues, the study of theater associated with World Communities shows the arts as a relevant manifestation of the human condition. Students involved in a World Communities production have the unique opportunity to learn about theater through the creation of a new play, and they also have the opportunity to learn about culture and history from the very people who have lived that history.
Human rights theater
The central idea of World Communities is that theater can heal. The resources of the university extend the reach of World Communities through teachers who can provide information and insight into the potential subject matter, to theater departments who have the expertise to stage the final product. With this broader involvement, World Communities can pro-actively address important situations and issues throughout the world. As a human rights theater, World Communities uses both the process and the product of theater to create cultural healing and to promote understanding. It has the ability to address conflicts in the world and offer insight. By shining a light into dark places it brings people closer.
Site-specific productions
Locally, World Communities has the opportunity to serve the place in which the university is based through the creation of site-specific productions based on that area's history and relevant to its present day circumstances. Born out of a loose association with historic drama, World Communities productions are meant to be accessible yet challenging; populist yet innovative. Many have continued throughout the country as an ongoing means of communities articulating their culture and history.
World Communities
associates
World Communities carries with it a group of well-known American artists and scholars who are associates of World Communities and who can bring an array of talents to the productions or to related events. These include directors, actors, historians, and international partners who have worked on or who have inspired World Communities projects. We also make new associates with each new effort and these associates remain affiliated with the organization for future works.
Residences at theater companies,
non-profit organizations,
 or centers
World Communities can also achieve the same goals when in residence at a theater, cultural institution or non-profit. The ideal amount of time for a World Communities residency is three years.