Torah Alive!
Community-based Trainings
ICM will work with you to develop a skills training in Bibliodrama or any of the other midrashic arts, tailored to the needs of your community. Ideally, such programs include an introductory experience, a 12 – 30 hour training, and follow-up clinics to support the participants’ work in the community. When appropriate, the visiting artist/trainer may also present a public program to build local enthusiasm and support for these methods.
We encourage synagogues, JCC’s and BJE’s to work collaboratively to make Torah Alive! opportunities available to a broad local constituency. ICM has even developed a sample grant proposal that is easily customized to your setting, in order to seek local foundation and Federation support.
For sample course descriptions, see below.
To bring customized trainings in Jewish or Christian Bibliodrama or any of the other arts to your community, seminary or school, contact Rivkah Walton at icmidrash@verizon.net or 215-438-6108, box 1.
Sample Training Course Descriptions
Essentials of Bibliodrama Directing
Amy Clarkson & Rivkah Walton
As evolved by Peter Pitzele, the foremost practitioner of this craft, Bibliodrama uses improvisational role-playing with untrained participants to create dynamic contemporary midrash. Groups of 5 to 350 can briefly enter just a line of text – or explore a weekly Torah portion together. Inviting participants to imagine the motivations and relationships, struggles and dreams of our ancestral family, Bibliodrama can transform the relationship of a community to biblical text.
ICM’s Bibliodrama training is the only one of its kind – carefully developed by Rivkah Walton, working hand-in-hand with Dr. Pitzele, over the course of six years. Here, you participate in demonstrations and lecture/discussions, and then cultivate your directorial skills through progressive exercises. You learn all of the essential tools to select appropriate texts, create a safe playing context, warm-up the group, guide the midrash, and achieve closure. You also discuss group dynamics and professional ethics. You have the option to “solo” in a small group at the end of the week.
This training is appropriate for educators, clergy, seminary students and members of havurot who wish to employ Bibliodrama in educational, liturgical, and community settings.
“What Rivkah Walton and Amy Clarkson provide in this training is the result of years of practice and refinement. I know their work, their dedication and their skills, and I know without a doubt that this training will help any fledgling to fly.”
Peter Pitzele, PhD
Author of Our Fathers’ Wells
Midrashic Writing
Alicia Suskin Ostriker
The role of midrash in Jewish tradition is both communal and personal. When we create a new midrash in response to our own spiritual and intuitive callings, we are also simultaneously adding to and transforming the tradition – growing new twigs on the Tree of Life, and helping to create the future of Judaism. This workshop is designed for both beginning and experienced writers who seek to explore Bible as a source for their creative projects, and for educators and therapists who want to learn how to help others write midrash. Expect excitement, surprise and insight.
The Midrashic “I”: First-Person Storytelling
Arthur Strimling
Step into the sandals of a Biblical figure, uncover and embellish their story, and find the voice, posture, and movement to create a convincing character. You will explore a text, find a character, and bring him or her to life by telling the untold tale. Theatre exercises will stimulate your imagination and develop your physical and vocal flexibility. You do not need any formal storytelling experience for this course, which will prepare you to tell first-person midrashic stories in both formal and informal settings.