| By Keriann O'Rourke |

What are we willing to hold, protect, and carry for one another?

At our recent ISTA Symposium in Prem Tinsulanonda International School, this question became the heartbeat of a powerful shared experience. Students gathered not simply to perform, but to explore what it means to belong to something larger than themselves.

Drawing inspiration from The Flood That Logged Him Out and the ancient myth of the Serpent King, participants stepped into a creative process that asked more than technical skill. It asked for presence, responsibility, and care.

Through chorus work, physical storytelling, and collaborative devising, the ensemble began to take shape. Voices merged. Movements echoed. Ideas were built together, rather than owned individually.

And something shifted.

Students began to understand that ensemble is not about being seen.

It is about:

  • lifting others when they hesitate
  • listening deeply when stories are shared
  • holding the space so something collective can emerge

This was not abstract. It was lived.

Working alongside students from International School of Beijing and American International School Dhaka, participants navigated difference, built trust, and discovered common ground through making.

Guided by ISTA artists Ian Johnstone, Mark Worth, and Alessandra Pauri, the process remained rooted in inquiry rather than outcome. The question was never “What will we show?” but “What are we learning to hold together?”

A defining element of the symposium was its connection to place. Time spent on a local organic farm grounded the work in lived, real-world experience. Students engaged directly with the land, its rhythms, and its challenges. This wasn’t simply a setting. It became part of the narrative.

The stories they created began to reflect something deeper:

  • our relationship with the environment
  • the weight of responsibility
  • the impact of human action
  • the possibility of collective change

The work that emerged was not about polished performance. It was about perspective.

About recognising that theatre can be a space where:

  • stories are carried together
  • responsibility is shared
  • and change begins in how we listen, respond, and act

As the symposium came to a close, what remained was not just a series of performances, but a stronger sense of connection — to each other, to the land, and to the role we each play within a wider world.

Because perhaps the real question was never just what are we willing to carry.

But who are we willing to carry it with.