There are five established walls of theater. The Center for Healing Arts aims to remove all of them.
The wall between the actor and themself The actor, of which the performance can be of any type, especially that of healing, must bring themself to themself in preparation for the work required to transform and commit.
The wall between the actor and the role The actor must consume and commit to the role, which may be verbal, nonverbal, or only based on movement. They must understand their motivations and the relationship between themself as they are today and the role they wish to play.
The wall between the actor and other actors The actor, as healer, does not perform in isolation. Removal of the third wall reveals the essential connection between actors, vital to the spirit of transformation with and through co-creation.
The wall between the actor and the audience The fourth wall is best known when it is broken. It is the line between the audience and actors, invisible or visible, like a curtain. But who is the audience when healing? When we break the fourth wall, when we open the curtain and allow all to enter through, there is no singular gaze from the audience to the actor. But rather all become actor, all become audience, and all are engaged in co-creation. This is the relationship between visitors at the Center of Healing Arts.
The wall between the audience and the world When the audience, a word fractured when we break the fourth wall, leave through parted curtains, they are changed to some degree by their time in the theater. To what degree and for how long is determined by the actor. The Center’s role, as theater, is to provide a loving, safe environment for holistic healing that can transform the actor, audience, healer, and community.
