Proposed Schedule
Friday, April 27
| 7:00–7:30 | Welcome and intros, John Calvi |
| 7:30–8:15 | Nightwind – Hector Aristizábal |
| 8:15–9:30 | Theatre workshop – Hector Aristizábal |
| 9:30 | Closing worship |
Saturday, April 28
| 9:00–9:30 | Reflective Silence |
| 9:30–10:45 | Panel on the Canadian and American Scene
|
| 10:45–11:00 | Refreshment break |
| 11:00–12:30 | Workshops
|
| 12:30–1:30 | Lunch |
| 1:30–3:00 | Interfaith roundtable
|
| 3:00–3:15 | Refreshment break |
| 3:15–4:30 | Workshops
|
| 4:30–5:30 | Full session
|
John Calvi is the founder and convenor of the Quaker Initiative to end Torture. He has been working with people surviving traumatic experience since 1982. A certified massage therapist, John began this work with women survivors of sexual abuse and then in the AIDS epidemic. Later, he worked with inmates, tortured refugees, ritual abuse survivors, addicts, and hospice. John’s spiritual gift as a Quaker healer is the release of physical and emotional pain following trauma. Making 24 trips each year to teach, John has taught in four countries, five prisons, and seven yearly meetings. Many of his workshops are attended by health care professionals and clergy working in crisis where pain is abundant and resources too few.
Nightwind is a 30-minute performance based on Hector Aristizábal's true story of being arrested and tortured by the US-supported military in Colombia, exploring cycles of violence and ideas on how to break them. Aristizábal's movement-based performance becomes a springboard for audience members to explore issues of importance in their own lives. Following the performance, there will be a workshop involving dynamic meditation and using the techniques of Theatre of the Oppressed.
Hector Aristizábal (performer, workshop leader) has more than twenty years experience as a community activist, in theatre as a director, actor, and drama teacher with both children and adults of diverse cultures, as well as psychotherapeutic work with individuals, families, organizations and communities, now utilizing Theatre of The Oppressed techniques, council circle, traditional myths and stories.
Theatre of the Oppressed (TO), developed by Brazilian artist and activist Augusto Boal, himself a victim of torture under Brazil’s military dictatorship, uses the techniques of theatre to create dialogue and encourage creative thinking and action about economic and social problems. His desire was to transform performance from a monologue presented into a dialogue exploring issues with and encouraging participation from audience members through physical gesture.