Ich ermutige Menschen mit all ihren Facetten auf der Bühne oder im
Klassenzimmer ihre Spuren zu hinterlassen.
Theater und Tanz ist für alle da:
Profis und Laien, Erfahrene und Unerfahrene, Junge und Alte.
Für Ängstliche und Mutige, Schüchterne und Aufgestellte.
Theaterspielen können alle!
Teaching theatre, drama and movement to children and youth in the schools keeps me in touch with the wonder, the juicy playfulness of each moment being fresh and new. Children teach me what it is to play, and how serious a thing it is; my love of play, of being in the moment, of not knowing what is going to happen next, and what to make of that not-knowing. Children keep me grounded, remind me to stay concrete and clear and to keep it all fun. I consider my productions with children just as collaborative as my productions with adults, since I rely and thrive on the material we find together. At the primary school level, students still experience the world primarily physically, and through their senses most of all. They rarely look or think too far ahead of themselves and are constantly engaged in testing themselves and each other. What is interesting about working with the primary grades is that this sense of being “in the moment”, the “right now”, can be felt as excruciatingly vital. Their freshness, receptivity and willingness to plunge into the unknown is a constant lesson for me. The times when I am right down on the floor with them, looking into their eyes, and can sense what it is they are
feeling or experiencing – a wave passes between us – and such intangible,
nonverbal moments are not unlike what passes between professional actors on the stage. Such intangible moments can often bring the most concrete results
between teacher and student.
It remains, however, a constant challenge, with all my students, whether they be 5 years, 15 years or 50 years of age, to move away from the impulse to “show” and into the realm of “being”, “sensing” and “experiencing”.
What I aim for in my teaching of drama and theater, is to enable each person to discover, connect with and nurture their own unique self. And that is what I look for when I go to the theatre as a member of the audience, and what I strive for as a director or performer as well: the creation of a drama out of a vital need to connect with another human being, so that one cannot help but be touched and be moved to change the world – at least a little bit, one moment at a time.
Lisa Mamis Theater 