For over ten years, Diane has been traveling to remote villages in the mountains of Southeastern Turkey to document the last generation of Kurdish storytellers. Over the course of her travels she has documented fairytales, legends and animal fables as well as hero legends like Rusteme Zal and stories of the Shahmaran ~ half snake, half woman. Her story collecting project has resulted in the publication of A Fire In My Heart: Kurdish folktales the first collection of Kurdish stories in English.
The visual symbol for Living Myth is a Turtle being flown across the mountains on the wings of Birds. We need to keep ancient truths and wisdoms found in the old mythologies and carry them with us into this new century. Living Myth Events bring together ancient myths and modern landscapes to create new and vital intersections of Myth and Life. Events have taken place in such unexpected locations as the Boston subway system (Millennium LabyrinTh (page coming soon) – co-created with Mari Novotny-Jones and with Ean White), and the groves of the Arnold Arboretum In the Groves (page coming soon) created with Celtic Harper Margot Chamberlain.)
Diane’s involvement in Alternative Theatre has spanned over thirty years. She has trained extensively in expressive movement and voice, working with companies influenced by the Polish Laboratory Theatre as well as actors associated with that theatre especially Zbigniew Cynkutis. Recently she developed a solo work that stretches the boundaries of normal theatre relying on juxtapositions and images to tell the story as opposed to traditional narration. She is also completing a writing on a workshop taken with Zbigniew Cynkutis in 1984 which will soon be released.
