Dear Friends,

Season's greetings to  all of you from the Community Theatre Internationale! It is with much joy  that I share this moment of passing between 2003 and 2004 through our  first newsletter.

The Community Theatre Internationale's mission  to create community through performance has now come to life in a  large-scale collaboration spanning New York and Kenya. BrooKenya! is a  community-building international theatre project that utilizes video,  Internet, and live performance to inspire grassroots international  relations and communal art-making. 50 people from all walks of life in  Brooklyn, New York, and Kisumu, Kenya are simultaneously creating episodes  of an original soap opera, which addresses common concerns such as  HIV/AIDS while also revealing cultural and geographic disparities. The  groups are sharing their episodes as the soap develops, generating ongoing  dialogue as well as a unique plot that weaves between New York and Kenya.  

In Kenya, the team is led by Kitche Magak and Christine Ombaka of  Integrated Community Health Services, project coordinator Ben Obiero of  Jamaaz Arts Youth Theater, filmmaker Felix Otieno, and actor Omondi  Oketch. In addition to myself, the American team is anchored by  independent filmmaker Theresa Brown, artist/community organizer Carol  Morrison, associate director/cultural anthropologist Ximena Warnaars, and  head writer/financial analyst Donna Whiteman. The teams spent the summer  and fall brainstorming, crafting scenes and preparing scripts. In  November, a joint Kenyan-American cast and crew videotaped the project's first scenes during a New York visit by Mr. Magak and Ms. Ombaka. Both groups are currently filming in locales in their respective cities.  

In addition to viewing each other's videotaped performances, the two companies stay in touch via email and on-line discussions on the Internet. I will also be traveling to Kenya this winter to work with the Kenyan troupe.

In the coming months, you'll be able to see some of  our videos at special screenings. We are planning BrooKenya!  Live, a simultaneous celebration and performance event in Brooklyn  and Kisumu in June. In the meantime, please visit our new website www.communitytheatreintl.org for project information, photographs and video clips.

Peace and joy in the New Year,

Kate Gardner
Artistic  Director

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