First year Arts High School theater students use movement as a visual metaphor to portray the journey a dying soul takes in Buddhist beliefs.
I've never been in a Buddhist monastery, but I imagine the sounds of chirping birds, tinkling bells, rushing water and bounding drums are all heard there. I imagine so because of the few things I learned about the Tibetan Book of the Dead in Perpich Arts High School's current rendition of a play by the same name. You could hardly call it a play—an interpretation might be a better name. There were no main characters and not even a plot. It was more of a cultural guide through a 2000-year-old book and a visual interpretation of its purpose. It could even be likened to an interpretive dance, yet these students were not, at some points obviously, dancers. The movements were the visual explanation of the lines the actors were reciting. Honestly…
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Perpich Center for Arts Education
6125 Olson Memorial Hwy, Golden Valley, MN
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Perpich Arts High School theater students learn the importance of movement and unity on stage through the classical play, Tibetan Book of the Dead, which they will perform this week.
Glasses perched on her nose, Bonnie Bottoms, Associate Director and Choreographer for theater at Perpich Arts High School, squinted at the notes she'd taken during Monday's dress rehearsal for the student play, Tibetan Book of the Dead. Instructions followed. "Everyone more intense freezes," she said. "Duncan rise as Cecilia comes down from back bend." With only two dress rehearsals left, Bottoms wanted to make sure everything was perfect. Beginning tonight, students in Barbara Morin's theater class at Perpich Arts High School will be performing a play based on a 2000-year-old Buddhist text of the same name. The play is an ensemble written by Jean-Claude van Itallie and features ethereal choreography as students recite lines from the …
44.984224
-93.360032
Perpich Center for Arts Education
6125 Olson Memorial Hwy, Golden Valley, MN
/articles/arts-high-school-students-to-perform-play-based-on-ancient-text
1583378
/locations/2660749
