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If ‘The World Was Ruled by Artists’: The 1967 International Theatre Institute World Congress and Cold War Leadership

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 November 2018

CHARLOTTE M. CANNING
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Abstract

The Twelfth International Theatre Institute (ITI) World Congress met in New York City over 4–10 June 1967 at the same time as the Arab–Israeli War was taking place. This context very much framed the delegates’ debates over the idea of artists as national leaders. One panel in particular, The Responsibility of Theatre to the Progress of Society, on Friday 8 June, offered an opportunity for the delegates to wrestle with the concept. The participants focused on three key questions: how audiences were witnesses to national reinvention, how theatre could serve as a pedagogical form, and how the intersection of these two allowed audiences to see themselves as citizens. This article focuses first on ITI's place in the geopolitical moment and then on the contributions during the conference and after by a specific set of artists from diverse countries, including the US, India, France, Morocco and Nigeria. The conversations represented a profound articulation of how theatre was influencing the complex ways in which nations were identifying and defining themselves and their citizens.

Type
Articles
Information
Theatre Research International , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , July 2018 , pp. 130 - 146
Copyright
Copyright © International Federation for Theatre Research 2018 

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Footnotes

I want to thank Dr Hanna Korsberg and the Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies at the University of Helsinki for their comments on an earlier version of this article. Additionally, I want to thank Dr Dotun Ayobade and Dr Khalid Amine for their help with my research.

References

NOTES

2 Louis, Wm. Roger and Shlaim, Avi, ‘Introduction’, in Louis and Shlaim, eds., The 1967 Arab–Israeli War: Origins and Consequences (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), p. 6Google Scholar.

3 Rosamond Gilder, Report to the Advisory Panel of the United States Centre of ITI, to the Board of the American National Theatre and Academy, to the United States National Commission for UNESCO, and to the Donors to the XIIth Congress Fund, n.d. International Theatre Institute/Martha W. Coigney Collection, *T-Mss 2002-032, Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Subsequent references abbreviated as ITI/NYPLPA.

4 Georgy Tovstonogov, Grand Panel, ‘The Theatre Tomorrow’, International Theatre Institute 12th World Congress, 9 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

5 Radu Beligan, ‘The Responsibility of the Theatre to Society’, ‘The Theatre Tomorrow’, International Theatre Institute 12th World Congress, 8 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

6 Coigney, Martha, Memories of the Future (New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2006)Google Scholar, at www.tcg.org/publications/at/2002/future.cfm, accessed 27 October 2015.

7 John O'Neal, ‘The Responsibility of the Theatre to Society’, ‘The Theatre Tomorrow’, 8 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

8 Arthur Miller, address, International Theatre Institute 12th World Congress, 8 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

9 International Theatre Institute Executive Committee minutes, 9th session, 31 May 1951, ITI/NYPLPA.

10 President Eisenhower's remarks at the People-to-People Conference, 11 September 1956, at www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/online_documents/people_to_people.html, accessed 15 June 2018.

11 Craig, Campbell and Logevall, Fredrik, America's Cold War: The Politics of Insecurity (Cambridge, MA: Belknap/Harvard University Press, 2009), p. 242Google Scholar.

12 Delegates and Guests, International Theatre Institute 12th World Congress, 4 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

13 The Ford Foundation donated US$90,000, the two Rockefeller foundations jointly provided US$20,000 and the NEA contributed US$35,000. All information about funding comes from Rosamond Gilder, Report to the Advisory Panel of the United States Centre of ITI, to the Board of the American National Theatre and Academy, to the United States National Commission for UNESCO, and to the Donors to the XIIth Congress Fund, n.d., ITI/NYPLPA.

14 Kennedy, Paul, The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present, and Future of the United Nations (New York: Random House, 2006), pp. 145–6Google Scholar.

15 Maurel, Chloé, ‘L'UNESCO face aux enjeux de politique internationale (1945–1974)’, in Boel, Jens, ed., 60 ans d'histoire de l'UNESCO: Actes du colloque international, Paris, 16–18 novembre 2005 (Paris: UNESCO: 2007), p. 299Google Scholar. ‘A partir de 1960 l'entrée massive d'Etats africains nouvellement indépendants à l'UNESCO change complètement la donne. L'UNESCO opère un virage idéologique, se faisant le défenseur des pays Tiers Monde … Ce virage, impulsé par les Etats membres, a été mené à bien principalment par René Maheu, qui fait alors l'objet de beaucoup d'espoir et d'admiration de la part des dirigeants des pays du Tiers Monde’. Trans. Charlotte Canning.

16 Kennedy, The Parliament of Man, p. 172.

17 Maurel, ‘L'UNESCO’, p. 299. ‘Tout au long des années 1960, les pays du Tiers Monde expriment de vives revendications afin de transformer l'UNESCO en ‘un instrument de décolonisation cultrelle’. Trans. Charlotte Canning.

18 Kennedy, The Parliament of Man, p. 173.

19 Mikhail Tsarev, ‘The Responsibility of the Theatre to Society’, ‘The Theatre Tomorrow’, 8 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

20 Mayakovsky was believed to have committed suicide in 1930; however, there are many contradictory details that suggest he may have been murdered. Meyerhold was tortured and then executed by the NKVD (a forerunner to the KGB) in 1940. Mikhoels was killed by the KGB in 1948.

21 Alan Schneider, ‘The Responsibility of the Theatre to Society’, ‘The Theatre Tomorrow’, 8 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

22 Ibid.

23 Tayeb Saddiki, ‘The Responsibility of the Theatre to Society’, ‘The Theatre Tomorrow’, 8 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

24 Amine, Khalid and Carlson, Marvin, The Theatres of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia: Performance Traditions of the Maghreb (London: Palgrave, 2012), p. 139CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

25 As quoted in ibid., p. 140.

26 Leah Porath, ‘The Responsibility of the Theatre to Society’, ‘The Theatre Tomorrow’, 8 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

27 Avigal, Shosh, ‘Patterns and Trends in Israeli Drama and Theater, 1948 to the Present’, in Ben-Zvi, Linda, ed., Theater in Israel (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996), p. 18Google Scholar.

28 Omanut Laam, at http://archive.is/DFuHD, accessed 14 November 2015.

29 Douglas Turner Ward, ‘American Theater: For Whites Only?’, New York Times, 14 August 1966, pp. 93, 95.

30 Douglas Turner Ward, ‘The Responsibility of the Theatre to Society’, ‘The Theatre Tomorrow’, 8 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

31 ‘A General Prospectus for the Establishment of a Free Southern Theater’, in Dent, Thomas C., Schechner, Richard and Moses, Gilbert, eds., The Free Southern Theater by the Free Southern Theater: A Documentary of the South's Radical Black Theater, with Journals, Letters, Poetry, Essays and a Play Written by Those Who Built It (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1969), p. 4Google Scholar.

32 John O'Neal, ‘The Responsibility of the Theatre to Society’, ‘The Theatre Tomorrow’, 8 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

33 Fanon, Franz, The Wretched of the Earth, trans. Philcox, Richard (New York: Grove Press, 2004; first published 1961), p. 148Google Scholar.

34 Ibid., pp. 176–7.

35 Ibid., p. 167.

36 The congress documents cite her name incorrectly. They reference her as ‘Carneiro de Mendonça’. Her full name was Barbara Heliodora Carneiro de Mendonça and she often published under Barbara Heliodora but was also referred to as Heliodora Carneiro de Mendonça. ‘Barbara Heliodora’, in Enciclopédia Itaú Cultural, at http://enciclopedia.itaucultural.org.br/pessoa8215/barbara-heliodora, accessed 6 April 2016.

37 ‘Morre a crítica teatral Barbara Heliodora, aos 91 anos’, O Globo, at http://oglobo.globo.com/cultura/teatro/morre-critica-teatral-barbara-heliodora-aos-91-anos-15832475, accessed 1 April 2016.

38 Carneiro de Mendonca, ‘The Responsibility of the Theatre to Society’, ‘The Theatre Tomorrow’, 8 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

39 Chakrabarty, Dipesh, ‘The Legacies of Bandung: Decolonization and the Politics of Culture’, in Lee, Christopher J., ed., Making a World after Empire: The Bandung Moment and Its Afterlives (Columbus: Ohio University Research in International Studies, 2010), p. 47Google Scholar.

40 Som Benegal, ‘The Responsibility of the Theatre to Society’, ‘The Theatre Tomorrow’, 8 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

41 Madan, G. R., Co-operative Movement in India (New Delhi: Mittal Publications, 2007), p. 425Google Scholar.

42 Benegal, ‘The Responsibility of the Theatre to Society’, 8 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

43 Roger Planchon, ‘The Responsibility of the Theatre to Society’, ‘The Theatre Tomorrow’, International Theatre Institute 12th World Congress, 8 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

44 Richard Schechner, ‘The Responsibility of the Theatre to Society’, ‘The Theatre Tomorrow’, 8 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

45 Okot p'Bitek, ‘The Responsibility of the Theatre to Society’, ‘The Theatre Tomorrow’, International Theatre Institute 12th World Congress, 8 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

46 Ibid.

47 Joel Adedeji, ‘The Responsibility of the Theatre to Society’, ‘The Theatre Tomorrow’, International Theatre Institute 12th World Congress, 8 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

48 Chakrabarty, ‘The Legacies of Bandung’, p. 54. Italics in the original.

49 Ibid., p. 55.

50 Peter Frey, ‘The Open Stage: Aesthetic and Technical Problems Facing the Playwright, Director, Designer, Actor’, ‘The Theatre Tomorrow’, International Theatre Institute 12th World Congress, 8 June 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.

51 Amine and Carlson, The Theatres of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, p. 141. The premiere date was confirmed by Khalid Amine in an email to the author on 9 November 2015.

52 Rosenthal, Cindy, ‘Free Southern Theater: Historical Overview’, in Harding, James M. and Rosenthal, Cindy, eds., Restaging the Sixties: Radical Theaters and Their Legacies (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006), p. 265Google Scholar.

53 As quoted in Bradby, David and Sparks, Annie, Mise en Scène: French Theatre Now (London: Methuen, 1997), p. 20Google Scholar. Italics in the original.

54 Dan Sullivan, ‘A Clambake Ends Theatre Conference’, New York Times, 12 June 1967, p. 56.

55 Som Benegal, letter to Rosamond Gilder, 25 July 1967, ITI/NYPLPA.