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Faculty Interviews |
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Interview with Ariel GoldbergerRecent Teaching History Subject Areas of Interest Interdisciplinary applications of Theatre, Jungian Studies, Myth, Archetypes, Latin American Theatre, Jewish Studies, Civil Rights, Queer Culture, Dance.
I have a constellation of interests that orbit around each
other and are seen through the filter of my career bias, which
is theater. If we could call that a center, then perhaps theater
is my center - but more specifically the poetics of the stage.
Poetics is one of my deep interests. I am very interested
in live performance as well - real time live performance.
Nowadays, with the advent of digital worlds and film, all
the definitions of theater which are at least three thousand
years old may need to be reassessed, but not in a major way
because the changes that have been happening are not really
that dramatic in essence. There are new media, rather than
theater itself being changed. The question that is crucial
may be what will the theater of the 21st century be like?
How does theater serve the community or serve us as artists?
Does it express new meanings, ideas or new ways of being human?
What else could it do? This exploration is very interesting to me. Archetypically I see the theater as one of the few places nowadays where people share activities with others. I call it collective dreaming. And there is a meta-pattern in a performance and in the connection between the audience and the performer. My main interest is less as a critic and more as a practitioner. I think theater is one of those human endeavors where theory and practice blend seamlessly. To be a good artist in the theater you have to be informed about where you stand in the whole weave of ideas and your community. You need to think about who you are, what you are actually doing, who you are trying to reach. I am also interested in the idea of metaphor and how that transpires in theater. I am intrigued with how powerful it is as a communication device. Because rather than address things in a literal and direct way it allows you to open you imagination and allow you to go into areas where you wouldn’t go other wise. This is the place for the poetic aspect of theatre. The conditions that allow that to happen are worth exploring as an artist. I am also interested, and this is something I have become more aware of since I have come to Evergreen, in the cultural patterns that are underlying our behaviors, our world views, and our daily interactions. Theater as a cultural artifact is also a form of representation that is very much influenced by those underlying patterns of seeing the world. One of my deep interests in looking at the theater is to look at it as representation of society. I am presently very curious about theater in Spanish. I look at all Theater as a representation that explores a particular political view. I was a member of a political theater company in New York. I am interested in theater that is both political and poetic, not just agit-prop, or something that eschews the poetics of the stage for making a political statement. There are many levels at which this can be looked at. Does the political framework of a play take for granted the existing political structures or does it throw a new light on it? Western theater from its beginning was a political device. Greek theater was used during a festival celebrating the Athenian Polis. The Greek theater combines the personal and political and asks those critical questions about how a person is going to survive as an individual and as a member of a community. I try to pose those questions to my students in my classes. I try to facilitate the connection of my student’s personal experience to their theatrical tradition. Some people have very limited view of political theater and think of it as only stuff that has been done since the 60’s. You can start looking at Brecht, Ionesco, Genet, and Beckett if you want to think about political theater in the 20th century. You need to look at the varied theatrical expressions of Latinos, Asians, African Americans, Caucasians and others in this light. Are there particular authors/artists/thinkers whose work you interested and which you often ask students to examine? Aside from the folks I have mentioned above, two people whose
work has been influential for me have been the American Director
Robert Wilson and the German choreographer Pina Bausch. Wilson’s
work is theater for the rich, really, and his aesthetic is
breathtaking. Pina Bausch’s work is astonishingly beautiful
as well. Every time I go to see their work I fall into a dreamy
state of reverie. I think theater should do that. Another
person is Peter Brook, despite his purportedly patriarchal
approach to theater. There is that existential emptiness pervading
his stage. Beckett, Ionesco, and Brecht are the names that
come to mind when I think of Twentieth Century theater and
Edward Gordon Craig. The Spaniard Garcia Lorca has been influential
in my landscape with his relentlessly poetic plays. There
is something powerful about the feelings that his poems and
plays invoke in me. Are there specific areas of interest or issues you want to work with students on in the current year? I am interested in a continuous exploration of the self as
it relates to others, investigating what makes community and
the underlying patterns of a dialogue. I think theater is
great for that. Puppets are great for that, too. I am interested
in learning about the ways of making theater in different
ways, in exploration. The contracts I have consistently supported in the past three years despite my enormously heavy work-load have been related to work in puppetry and theater. I go into contracts with people that show they can deliver what they plan and who have previous experience that shows they can do work beyond an intermediate level. I tend to favor people who persevere in finding me, who present a very worthwhile, feasible and ambitious program of study and work, who take the trouble to present that in an organized and clear way. Specific Skills, Competence, Techniques: Discipline: Discipline is the first one. Partly because that
is what I study the most. Communication skills and collaboration skills: We tend to do things in groups, as humans. Negotiation skills and self-expression are skills that are very important for any human endeavor. I believe in building collaborative skills all the time. For example, I constantly make students repeat what they are saying if they mumble. During the first few classes they are horrified, but then they realize that I am teaching them skills they will use all their lives. Learning: I believe that education is your primary goal as you come through Evergreen. I try to teach you how to set your learning goals and take charge of your learning. I encourage you to plan your learning, to look at your life and see where your spots of potential learning are. If I manage to do that with you and put you in a spot of empowerment, anything I teach you after that will be more useful to you. Students come to my classes following one path and many times they end up doing something else. One of my gifts as a teacher is that I put students in touch with what they really want to learn. They go off later to make a film or write poetry when they never expected it. I am proud of that. The gifts that I received from my teachers are useful to me to this day. I have learned that we all need discipline to develop the talents we have. Hard work is needed to support any vision. Then you need to develop courage and skills to look at your work critically. If you don’t develop vision, however small it is, it remains undeveloped and it won’t be worth anything. Once your realize what you voice is and what your vision is as a human being, then it is important that your realize you have the power to implement it. Then learning becomes a mission and not a chore. I try to help people teach themselves how to find a personal way of participating and contributing to the world. As citizens of this world, we need to be well rounded individuals with all sorts of skills, ranging from arts to the sciences. I am learning on my own how life is a creative endeavor and I try to teach that as well. I have to say that I have learned as much from my students as they have learned from me. It is always an exchange. What are key qualities you look for in student work? What techniques do you use to assess their work? How do you help students assess their work? I see myself as a facilitator rather than a deliverer. I
firmly believe that every person has a vision and a gift.
I find it very satisfying to help people realize theirs. I
have had fabulous teachers and this is a way of giving back
what my teachers have done for me. What I look for in students who come to me is a commitment to learning. I look for someone who is open to other people’s opinions, someone who tries to listen and knows how to disagree when necessary; someone who wants to think more. I look for students who are willing to work towards creating and maintaining a learning community. What I try to foster is a willingness to take a few more risks and take a look at more ideas than when they crossed the threshold of my classroom. I don’t mind fear as long as it is accompanied by a little courage Teaching Style:How would you characterize yourself as a teacher? I am compassionate, generous and flexible. I am quite idiosyncratic.
I am daunting at the beginning. I can be a confusing teacher
for students who are not open to the unexpected. I am demanding
in an undercover sort of way because I have high expectations.
I see myself as a facilitator and a co-learner. I am also
a working artist. I think that is important for me as a teacher.
What types of students tend to do well with you? I work well with hard workers and people with a willingness
to do their own hard work; people that come to class and have
strong attendance. In my classes, if you miss a week you are
in deep trouble. Willingness to exchange ideas with fellow
students and faculty is one of the most important qualities.
Willingness to open your own boundaries and cross them is
crucial. Willingness to develop courage; willingness to learn.
I like students who come to the work with a passion to learn.
What types of students have a hard time with you? I provide structure at first, but then I remove it, so people
who need a lot of structure from outside find it hard. I do
provide a subtle framework, but it depends on you taking charge
of your education. I throw people into their own work. Someone asked me what I feel about students with strong ideas. I love people with ideas! Students with strong ideas are welcome in my classes especially when they are willing to respect other people’s points of view, put their strong ideas to a test and listen to other ideas in consideration of their value. What do your student evaluations say about the way you come across to students? Student evaluations say that I really care about them. They
say I listen and push them into areas where they really need
to go. They usually realize at the end of the program what
all of the work was about. I do have students who don’t
relate to the way I teach, and find it frustrating. There
are students who want more structure. Expectations about Contracts, Internships, and Evaluations
Gumption, old fashioned gumption!! Documented background
in the field they are attempting independent study. Demonstrated
skills to do the work. More gumption. Imagination, passion
and intellectual curiosity are critical. I only take contracts
from Juniors or Seniors that have taken at least a year of
coordinated studies. What information do you want to see when a person comes to look for a contract? Before I even discuss the possibility, I ask students to
prepare a contract proposal. I only take contracts from Juniors
or Seniors that have had at least a year of coordinated studies.
GOALS: What you are hoping to learn? A description of the
educational goals of whatever activity you undertake. Interviewer: Matt Smith |
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