PI 50 Editorial

When Bonnie and I first put together our proposal for a new UNIMA-USA publication, 31 years ago (after 5 years of producing A Propos), we couldn’t have foreseen how the magazine would evolve, thanks to the efforts of a handful of dedicated colleagues and our wonderfully supportive board members. We had planned to feature the efforts of our core staff in this issue, which has, however, become so chock- a-block with interesting articles, that we have decided instead to highlight their contributions (to both PI and the field) in a series of profiles in the next several UNIMA-USA newsletters.

In addition to the unflagging support of our General Secretary, Vince Anthony, our Historian and Book Review Editor John Bell has worked with us since our first planning meeting for issue #1. Dassia Posner began writing for us in 2002 and eventually became our Peer Review Editor.. These two have helped us plan our upcoming issues for many years now, with a generosity of time and spirit that have helped make PI what it is today.

And then there is my wife and creative partner for nearly 40 years, the incandescent Bonnie Periale, who not only creates the look of each issue of PI through long days and into the wee hours for weeks on end, but deals with the unending minutiae that printers require of manuscripts to make them look good.

Our theme in this issue is “the epic,”which is to say, grand tales that help us understand our history, culture and, indeed, our very existence. John Bell does an exemplary job of explaining “the epic” in his essay on page 4, so I don’t need to say much here, only that it is a form of storytelling that has been with us since prehistoric times wherever human culture has thrived, and it is still with us today. One of my contemporary favorites is the remake of Battlestar Galactica – a made- for-TV odyssey in six seasons that is almost biblical in scope, beginning in the far reaches of space and ending in Africa.

An epic that begins in Africa is seen in the puppet production Sounjata. The story dates back to the 13th century and tells the story of Sundiata Keita, a prince and the founder of Mali, which became the largest empire on that great continent. We didn’t have room in PI for this story, but we wanted to include it here, both to have Africa represented and to highlight a recent collaboration that included Compagnie Sogolon (Mali), Awaln’art (Morocco) and Nouveau Théâtre Expérimental (Québec). Their production points up the relationship between East and West, between the Colonial powers and the nations they colonized. Sogolon (the Malian company headed by Yaya Coulibaly) is actually named for Sogolon Konté, mother of the hero Sundiata. She is portrayed as ugly, with a humped back, but is also the subject of a prophecy, namely that she would give birth to a great leader.

The king at that time agreed to marry her, after being tricked into accepting a bride, sight unseen. He went through with the marriage because he had heard of the prophecy. His son Sundiata was crippled from birth, but through sheer determination (and some magical intervention?) got up and walked one day. There are many episodes in this story, which spans several decades (as befits a proper epic), and I urge you to look it up.

Otherwise we look at puppet traditions (and a few modern productions) that breathe life into the epical tales of Germany, Italy, India, Indonesia and China. Please enjoy this EPIC issue and a look at the new magazine, too!

–Andrew Periale