Performance can be Ritual. Enactment can be Ceremony. Theater can be Spirituality. This sacred form of enactment educates and entertains.
Enactment=process of enacting: the act or process of enacting something
Synonyms: performing, acting out, portrayal, representation, presentation, acting, depiction, play-acting, performance
Last October (2012) The Institute for the Shamanic Arts hosted a Shamanically inspired performance called The Plasmic Portal. For it, Alison Torba, musician, actress/comedian and independent paralegal, came up with a hilarious and ‘over the top’ character named Flaming Rainbow Lightsurfer Unicorn. Her 15 minute stand up comedy routine hit on many popular spiritual issues, such as having a bad childhood, what it takes to be a sha-man, yoga, raw food, magical feathers, permanent sweat lodges, her ‘relationship’ with her ‘Guru’, and receiving messages from the future, cause she is so spiritually special. Her routine offered something for everyone to laugh at. It was brilliant!
For the same show, Elisabeth Black, shamanic intuitive, Director of the Institute for the Shamanic Arts, and Waldorf kindergarten teacher, wanted to share her psychic talents with the audience, so she presented The Shamanic Seer. She recruited questions from the audience, and in a live and beautiful format, consulted her Spirit Guides regarding the answers to offer each questioner. It was brilliant!
Their segments, and the whole show, was a success!
When the application process came around for the 2013 Tucson Fringe Festival, Alison signed up for Flaming Rainbow to participate. Elisabeth had the idea “what if these two characters have a reason to get together on stage? What in the world would happen?” They met, threw around some in-character improv, and wham! FLAMING RAINBOW SPIRITUAL HEALER was born!
The show happened on March 3rd at the Club Congress in downtown Tucson. These two talented, and brave, women, created a one hour show. The first segment was Flaming Rainbow’s comedy routine. Then The Shamanic Seer came on stage. She read all the questions written out before this show, drummed for guidance, and then told a beautiful story that spoke to the questions of all.
Then we found out how they were to meet. Each were invited (for different reasons) to participate in a reality tv show audition. What happened when they met was funny, and educational. They shared, in an entertaining and very lighthearted way, many important messages that spirituality shares, such as how to use energy, how our childhoods can affect us as adults, the concept of ‘soul retrieval’, how we each have our own power, and the use of spiritual tools. People laughed, people learned, and we all saw a bit of ourselves in these characters.
Theater, performance, play acting and enactments have always helped humans work out problems, understand concepts, laugh at ourselves, and learn new things. This performance was brilliantly lighthearted, which allowed many important messages to come through, without people even realizing it. It takes a lot to get up in front of an audience.
Congratulations to Alison and Elisabeth for being bold enough to share this with our community! ISA is proud to have supported, and offered a reason, for this show to be born. We can’t wait to see what Flaming Rainbow and the Shamanic Seer will do next!!!
