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St. Mark's Welcomes Artist-in-Residence
South African playwright Peter Krummeck arrived on August 26 to spend nine weeks with us as our first Artist in Residence. While here, he will direct a theater workshop along the lines of those he has been conducting in South Africa for some fifteen years under the sponsorship of ACTS, the African Community Theatre Service.
In South Africa, Peter is a licensed Anglican Lay Preacher as well as a theatrical personality. At his church he served in a role roughly equivalent to "interim rector" during a hiatus between ordained clergy. His development of "ACTS workshops," aimed at racial reconciliation, began well before the end of the Apartheid era, and has been highly praised by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. In 1999 he did such a workshop at the Parliament of World Religions, which met that year in Cape Town.
Peter came to our attention through Eliza Getman, a former St. Mark's parishioner who attended his church during the years she was living in Cape Town. Peter is paying for his travel to Washington, but his ACTS project at St. Mark's is being underwritten by a generous donation from Betty Foster to the Arts Council for this specific purpose.
To prepare for Peter's arrival and support his residency with us, an Advisory Committee was formed earlier this year. The committee members are: Greg Gay, Chair; Jack Burton, Treasurer, Doris Burton, Pete Eveleth, Betty Foster, Emily Guthrie, Virginia Hoptman, and Kevin Sockwell.
Workshop Process
For each ACTS workshop, Peter assembles a diverse group of people from the community through an open "casting call" and audition process. Previous acting experience is not a prerequisite. Once he has selected a group of 18 to 25 committed individuals, Peter uses a series of exercises and discussions to help them identify and expose the tensions and conflicts that underlie their diversity. From these insights, the group works on story lines, which Peter then writes up in script form. This script becomes the basis rehearsing and performing a play. The group also makes or assembles its own costumes and props.
In preparation for Peter's arrival, the Advisory Group has had preliminary conversations with the Calvary Players at Calvary Episcopal Church at 6th and "I" Streets NE about collaborating on some aspects of the ACTS workshop project. Participation is not limited, however, to members of St. Mark's and Calvary. Instead, the casting call is being distributed widely, to those who live, work, or worship on Capitol Hill and beyond. Our hope is to arrive at a workshop group (cast) that is diverse and representative of our community.
Bonhoeffer Performance
In addition to his ACTS workshop project, Peter is prepared to perform his one-man play about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who was executed by the Nazis for his involvement in a plot to assassinate Hitler. The play was first presented in July this year at the University of Cape Town, to standing ovations and laudatory newspaper reviews.
In addition to performing the play at St. Mark's, Peter would welcome the opportunity to present it at other venues in the greater Washington area while he is here this fall. Overtures are being made to a variety of other churches and institutions, including the Virginia Theological Seminary, the Holocaust Museum, and the German Embassy. If you know of other possible sponsors, please contact Peter directly at 202-306-5072.
Opportunity for St. Mark's
A number of parishioners have already stepped forward to serve as hosts for Peter through the end of October. Without
over-burdening him, we also hope to find opportunities for him to preach at St. Mark's, to participate in the life of our
parish, and to meet members of the congregation through our programs and in informal settings such as pub lunch. Contact
Greg Gay at ggay634@aol.com with your suggestions.
Peter's time with us is an opportunity to break some new ground artistically, to reach out to a wider and more diverse community here in Washington, to learn from the South African struggle for justice and reconciliation, and to look at ourselves through the eyes of someone who has lived through that struggle. In the best St. Mark's tradition, lets embrace these possibilities!
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