The Traveling Folktale: Exploring Cross-Cultural Storytelling through Devised Theatre

The driving question for our senior thesis is “how can storytelling in today’s terror-ridden world provide a sense of hope and optimism to young people?” To answer this question, we researched folktales from all over the... [ view full abstract ]

The driving question for our senior thesis is “how can storytelling in today’s terror-ridden world provide a sense of hope and optimism to young people?” To answer this question, we researched folktales from all over the world until we found The Panchatantra, an ancient Indian collection of animal fables. From this selection we chose ‘The Brahman and the Mongoose,’ a story about the rash killing of a loyal animal. We learned that this tale had been reiterated in certain legends in the West. Despite its grounding in South Asia, the strong characters and heightened emotions of doubt, fear, abandonment and loyalty transcended cultures and was relatable and exciting source material that would drive our thesis. Nolan has now begun to frame this fable into a narrative that deals with bards telling a story to a sleepless young girl.  With a restless urge to run away from home, and her mother unaccountably absent, the kid wants answers, but the bards tell her the story of the ‘The Brahman and the Mongoose.’ The bards use live music, games and dance to  embody the morals of the folktale that become subject to a wild child’s eye for truth. Using classical Indian choreography and music as well as ensemble work inspired by Western interdisciplinary artists like Scott Graham, Pina Bausch and Anne Bogart Akhila has been directing moments that Nolan has been scripting and vice versa. Our collaboration will be presented as an hour-long production in the Hepburn Zoo from May 11th-May13th.