Thomas Leabhart, Professor of Theatre, Pomona College, California

TO: Arts Council of Wales
FROM: Thomas Leabhart, Professor of Theatre, Pomona College, California, USA
RE: Letter of Support for Centre for Performance Research


The Centre for Performance Research, directed by Judie Christie and Richard Gough, fills an essential niche in the international theatre landscape. The cutting-edge work they produce and sponsor, through festivals, workshops, conferences, and publications, is among the most provocative, thought-provoking, and important in the world today. They are part of a network which extends throughout Europe, with strong connections to Eugenio Barba’s Odin Teatret and International School of Theatre Anthropology (ISTA); to well-known theatre makers and teachers in the United States (Richard Schechner, Giermo Gomez-Pena); and leading figures in the UK and Australia.

Certainly their work is not to everyone’s taste (thank goodness!). But it is essential work, and if they were not to do it for any reason, it would have to be taken up by workers less qualified and less experienced.

They have successfully established a model symbiosis with the University of Aberstwyth, and have, over the years, developed what Eugenio Barba calls “an island of liberty” in which to create and encourage creation.

From my side of the Atlantic(in Los Angeles, California), organizations like CPR are the ideal to which one aspires. While our country invests billions in bombs, we spend not a cent on subsidy for theatre. We need to preserve our illusion that civilization is intact somewhere. From where I sit, I can’t imagine an organization better deserving of your support than CPR. We have a saying in the States