PORT TOWNSEND — A free five-week class in social-change theater technique — to include an informal audition for the Poetic Justice Theatre Ensemble’s new season — starts in uptown Port Townsend on Tuesday.
In sessions from 3:15 p.m. until 6:15 p.m. each Tuesday through Nov. 11, Poetic Justice Theatre founder Marc Weinblatt and ensemble member Zhaleh Almaee Weinblatt will lead theater games and exercises, teach tools for social change and introduce Poetic Justice, whose motto is “Change the world and have fun doing it.”
Everyone is welcome to join the class, while this fall, the ensemble is especially looking to cast teens, elders and people of color, Marc Weinblatt said.
“The work is physical, emotional, a lot of fun, and it has the potential to change lives as well as society,” he added.
The Poetic Justice troupe, founded 15 years ago by Port Townsend’s Mandala Center for Change, seeks to stimulate community dialogue to promote a more just and joyous world for all people.
In the improvisational performances, audience members are not passive spectators but active “spect-actors,” invited onstage to explore solutions to their own questions and struggles.
Requirements to join Poetic Justice include a passion for social justice, the willingness for honesty and self-reflection in a group context and the ability to make a consistent weekly commitment to rehearsals every Tuesday from 3:15 p.m. until 6:15 p.m. through mid-June 2015 — with standard holidays off, plus an all-day retreat Sunday, Nov. 23.
Acting experience is helpful but not required.
To sign up for the five-week class and find out more about the Poetic Justice troupe, phone 360-344-3435, email info@mandalaforchange.com or visit www.mandalaforchange.com.
The location of the class will be provided upon sign-up.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
