On December 17th, 2024, the Open Theater Workshop convened for the first time in the Louis Bluver Theatre at The Drake in Center City, Philadelphia. During this workshop, we began an exploration of the play “The Dybbuk, or, Between Two Worlds” by S. Ansky.
Sixteen artists and community members gathered throughout the day to participate in a two-part workshop facilitated by Open Theater Workshop founder Sarah Billings, organized by Daniel Korn and featuring dramaturgical presentations by Sophie Koester. The workshop consisted of a full reading of the play in the morning with an introduction by Sophie, followed by exploration through experimental scene work, music, and visual art (shadow puppet-making and projected scenery) in the evening.
Work Share
At the end of the night, we presented work in four sections: scene work led by Sean Begane with text from Act I, text work led by Sarah Billings using a speech from Act II, shadow puppets by Madeline Shuron, and scene work with text from Act IV led by Asia Mieleszko and Max Temnogorod. Music and projected scenery created for the workshop were incorporated throughout.
More photos and video from the workshop can be found on our Instagram @opentheaterworkshop!
Reflection
What questions emerged during our first exploration of The Dybbuk? Why read and perform The Dybbuk at this moment?
The Dybbuk is a play that deals with the relationship between good and evil, tradition and self-determination, class differences and tension between the rich and the poor. One idea the play explores is that each one of us has the capacity for both good and evil at every moment of our lives. Actually, it contains the idea that every single one of us has the power to destroy the world if we choose evil actions or even evil thoughts.
Bearing those ideas in mind, the play invites us to work through questions like:
- What is my personal relationship to good and evil?
- To whom or what do I have a responsibility to do good?
- What happens when I push the boundaries of what’s accepted in my community and seek knowledge on my own terms?
- Can I recognize my own power in the world and act accordingly?
- What happens when I act against the desires of my elders or my community’s leaders?
- How will I define what is “good” and what is “evil” in the first place? Whose judgments will I accept, and which judgments will I protest?
These are big, human questions that have the potential to shape our values and guide our actions if we make the time to explore them. And intertwined with these big questions is a love story and a story of mysticism and magic.
This workshop was a tremendous beginning for our project–both our investigation of The Dybbuk and the Open Theater Workshop as a whole. Thanks to all who participated in this first workshop, we are on our way to establishing a community-grounded, collaborative, interdisciplinary theater practice that is open to all who are interested, regardless of their prior theater experience and training. Theater is one of our ancient, human art forms, and there is no end to the ways we can learn, change, and develop through its practice.
Sarah Billings
Founder and Director,
Open Theater Workshop
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