The four-day festival features performances, workshops, and presentations from many of the 80 playback theatre companies and performing artists across the United States and Canada, including Sidwell’s Upper School Playback Troupe, Friendly Rewinders. To register and for more information on the festival, including a 90-second video on PNA, go to: www.playbackfestival.org .

Playback Theatre is a unique form of improvisational theatre in which audience members share important moments from their lives and actors instantly reflect back the heart of the stories using movement, music, metaphor, and the spoken word. No matter how ordinary, extraordinary, hidden, or difficult, a story can be a powerful tool to honor each voice and help build understanding across all kinds of communities and cultures. Created more than 35 years ago, Playback is now practiced in more than 50 countries. Sidwell Friends School boasts the only student Playback troupe in the world. Read more about the connection between Playback Theatre and Quakerism in an article from Friends Journal by Middle School drama teacher Tim Reagan (August 2012, http://www.friendsjournal.org/the-incredible-misters-fox/).

Participants in the upcoming weekend conference include elders from the Oglala Lakota tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation, who will share ancient stories, traditions, and wisdom from their rich culture. The performance features drummers, singers, and dancers in full regalia. Other participants include Synergy Playback of Silver Spring, Maryland; Village Playback of New York City; and Memphis Playback of Tennessee.

Featured workshops at the festival include:

• Setting the Stories Free: Playback in Prison
• Starting from Home: Racial and Cultural Boundaries in Playback Practice
• No More Bullying: Using Playback Theatre to Address School Bullying
• Theatre Approaches for Youth—A panel moderated by SFS parent Roberta Gasbarre, director of Discovery Theatre at the Smithsonian
• It Takes Two: A Playback Conducting Model for Teens—Presented by members of the SFS Upper School troupe, Friendly Rewinders Playback
• Clowning Around: Your Inner Clown Teaches Playback Fundamentals