Together by Heart

June 23

As the young participants introduced themselves at the beginning of this current two-week summer program I am working on, one young woman described herself as, “Fijian by birth, but Marshallese by heart.” Born and raised in the Marshall Islands, she unsurprisingly identifies closely with the culture and community of these islands.  This summer program, offered at the University of the South Pacific in the Marshall Islands, has brought together thirty-plus youth of various ethnicities, languages, island homes and experience.  What they share in common is that, at present, each calls the Marshall Islands home.

This is the third (at least) international project incorporating drama I have worked on that included participants from a mix of places and backgrounds.  What I have noticed with these projects, and which the young woman described so succinctly, is that we may be varied in our languages, religions, ethnicities, and/or experiences upon gathering, but we come together ‘by heart’ during the program.  This is not to say that such programs are challenge-free.  Goodness, no.  Challenges most certainly exist, both expected and not (some amazingly ridiculous).  However, such challenges seem to motivate coming together, even motivate great laughter, rather than initiate divides.

Theater provides a point of intersection, a place where we can build from the multiplicity of our humanness.  The creative experience is shared rather than owned, is full of welcome rather than exclusivity.  Theater equalizes our involvement, encouraging us to open ourselves to others.  All who participate need be vulnerable ‘by heart.’ And that vulnerability requires trust; trust in each other as much as trust in ourselves. No matter who we are ‘by birth,’ we become a single community. And when we succeed as a community, then we triumph as individuals.

It is always lovely for me to witness how the individuality of each participant enriches the program and is respected by the others.  At the same time, I love the kind of fluidity of self.  How participants reach beyond their individuality to welcome each other into our shared experiences.  For that moment in time, in the right here and right now, we are ‘at heart’ one and can walk away, I hope, with a deeper sense of humanness.