Masterclass with Diane Roberts

Master Class with Diana Roberts: Arrivals Legacy Process

Part of the National Institute for Directing & Ensemble Creation Virtual Series

Co-presented by Pangea World Theater & Art2Action

Livestreamed by HowlRound Theater Commons

In these times of transformation and recovery we turn to the following questions: What are the legacies we carry and what do we leave behind? How do colonial legacies continue to impact our ability to listen to the stories that need to be told? What are the legacies we carry in our bodies and, what do we leave behind? How do colonial legacies continue to impact our ability to listen to the stories that need to be told and sense what cannot be fully known? In this lecture/demonstration, Diane navigates between her voice as an artist and researcher to construct a profile of The Arrivals Legacy Project as a viable tool for unraveling new epistemologies. The process itself demands a level of engagement that contradicts the traditional role of the artist or researcher as knowledge producer by asking them to step into a state of unknowing and to grapple with what is potentially unknowable. In a shared exploration of Ancestral subjectivities, we seek to inspire a future imaginary that is rooted in the past but not bound by it.

Through this offering you will be invited to enter into an embodied self-reflexive moment to consider the following questions: What if I could be the presence in this world that this tumultuous time has called me to? How can we invite the past to transform our future in these present and altering moments of unknowing? The Arrivals Legacy Process (​ALP) is a transformational exploration of ancestry, ceremony and root cultural practices for artists and creators of change—enacting an approach to collaborative responsibility that is geared toward particular centres of gravity rooted in the body and infused by the spirit. This lecture and workshop invite a level of engagement that contradicts the traditional role of the researcher as knowledge producer by asking you to step into a state of unknowing and to grapple with what is potentially unknowable.

Diane Roberts is an accomplished director, dramaturge, writer, scholar and cultural animator, who has collaborated with innovative theatre visionaries and interdisciplinary artists for the past 30 years. Her directorial and dramaturgical work has been seen on stages across Canada and her reputation as a mentor, teacher and community collaborator is nationally and internationally recognized. The roots of storytelling and multi-disciplinary art forms (mixing of ritual song, dance, storytelling, live art and theatre) drive her arts practice as a director dramaturg and cultural animator. Her intuitive style of facilitation draws on specifically crafted creative engagement tools that inspire artists of all disciplines and cultural backgrounds to unearth their authentic creative impulses. Diane’s celebrated Arrivals Personal Legacy Project, developed during her 7-year tenure as Artistic Director of Urban Ink productions, has birthed new Interdisciplinary works across Canada, throughout the Americas, in the UK, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. This work has allowed her to articulate, cultivate and realise a vision for theatre that encourages Indigenous ways of knowing as a steppingstone to creative expression. She is a founding member of Obsidian Theatre and backforward collective, Founder of The Arrivals Legacy Project and co-founder and Artistic Director of Boldskool Productions with playwright Omari Newton. Alongside her professional career, Diane is a PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies, Fine Arts Humanities at Concordia University in Montreal; a 2019 Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar; and a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship award holder.

Lopa Sircar (Arrivals Co-facilitator) is a Canadian actor, voice and speech coach, and Yin yoga teacher who lives in Leiden, the Netherlands. After many years of acting professionally in Canada, Ireland and India, she now focuses her performance interests on coaching the human speaking voice in a holistic, integrated manner. Lopa knows that to pay the human voice attention, to unpack it, and to reveal its power is a courageous and political act. She is passionate about bringing life to contemporary and new works that showcase non-traditional perspectives, storylines and characters. In addition to coaching award-winning shows and many film and stage actors privately through her company Lopa Sircar Voice, she combines her experience of Yin yoga with her approach to voice to create Radiant Vocal Yin, a pre-performance practice that enhances the actor’s mind-body-voice connection. Having been both Participant and Associate at the Intensive, she is over the moon to work with her mentor, Diane Roberts on her extraordinary Arrivals Legacy Project.