I’ll keep this short and sweet, as I already shared information about my participation in the updated show in anticipation of, Premiere of “Spiel mit der Zeit” at Friedrichstadt-Palast Berlin on 25 November – Intercultural Cooperation & Positive Change. 

View their website and all information about the show, which is open through January 2024, and how to get your tickets. (LINK)

I was cultural consultant on North American Native American material, and helped write the new dialogue for the main 1800s Old American West characters, and the solo song by “White Dove”. Striking the completely false but widely still believed/taught lie that C*lumbus discovered America was critical. Showing how easy and simple it is to explain why Ind*ander is inappropriate, and never was appropriate, (this isn’t new information or a new complaint), is especially important for young audiences and people, to BREAK the cycle of Eurocentricism and European interpretation of “Others” and actually learn intercultural respect and humility.

This was done is a very tasteful way that fit well into the overall theme I wanted to convey: there were always ones who wished to have peace with Natives or others, who were against slavery also, for example, but it was their largely European peers who insisted on genocide and dehumanization, and which continues around the world….exactly as we see now. We and they MUST correct these deadly, disempowering and dehumanizing behaviors still being normalized.

One of the suggestions I made that wasn’t accepted was updating the type of “Native inspired” song, rhymes and beats used. I provided wonderful examples of “modern” Native music that still incorporated traditional ideas, themes and beliefs, but they stayed with the melody from before. Their choice, of course. Another was regarding the Native costumes, which were changed from the original, more mascot (and objectionable) appearance, very true, but my suggestion of universally recognized, natural based motifs were not. The colors were nice, but….

It’s a good thing the Old West historic scene was first. It would have been very underwhelming if it followed the complex dances, the lighting, the acrobatics, the costumes and personalities presented in the other “historic” scenes, which DID recognizably combine modern beats and costumes with historic accents. I still don’t get where “Neanderthals” are included with “bones in their hair and noses” when this is a stereotype still far more commonly seen in “comic” depictions of Africans or other non-European peoples considered primitive, but…

It is an unforgettable, enjoyable show I would recommend, especially as someone who does not believe in political correctness (a practice created by yt people, especially men anyway), but instead use events, films, books, shows, for discussion and dialogues on how to improve, change and correct. Exactly as Friedrichstadt-Palast made the momentous decision to do, in a Germany in the middle of making bad decisions, repeating very flawed reasonings of the past. Many of us still have hope…

As my companion for the event remarked, however, looking around at the packed house and an audience full of excited children, that at that and this very moment, Germany and much of the west not only are watching, but supporting the deaths of innocent children. And this reminds me of my original purpose, my main purpose in beginning the series of education on stereotypes, racism, colonialism and Indigenous peoples, which in film version started in “Forget Winnetou! Loving in the Wrong Way”. I want to help change the world, to create a better world for ALL children, not just certain children. I’m open to working with anyone, whatever their heredity, background, nationality or belief system, to achieve such a critically important goal any real human being should respect.

To see the cast taking a bow at the end of the show, please visit the short video on YouTube. (LINK)