Training Exchanges: Investment in the Future.

Theater; Training; Scholars; Performing arts

Europe; United States

This article focuses on a recent development in theater training programs in the U.S. as of March 1990. American theater scholars have long benefited from the wealth of the rest of the world. Whether studying the theaters of other cultures or the scholarship of other countries, these exchanges have sometimes been the only links between countries that were otherwise hidden from each other. This policy of open exchange, however, had not benefited the theater training programs responsible for preparing the next generation of theater artists. Not, that is, until recently. There is now a wonderful new development in theater training which brings the international treasury of theater into the learning process. Whether one moves the students or moves the teachers, the internationalizing of theater training and preparation is inevitable. The U.S. is no longer an island and the theater that will be created in the next century will be world-informed. Not only is Europe moving toward a future without boundaries, but the other continents are speaking with more and more authority in their own particular voices. The demands made on future theater artists will be global, involving many tongues and many songs. Whether students are introduced to another theater culture for a week, a month, or an entire year, introductions must be made. As we learn the vocabularies of other cultures, our own voices become more resonant.