The book charts the development of collaboratively-created performances from the 1950s to the present day. Companies discussed include the Living... Theatre, Open Theatre, Australian Performing Group, People Show, Teatro Campesino, Théâtre de Complicité, Legs on the Wall, Forced Entertainment and Third Angel. Against this background of enormous variety, fundamental questions are posed: "What is devised theatre?"; "Why have theatre-makers chosen to devise performances since the 1950s?" and "How has devised performance changed over the last fifty years?"

Devising Theatre is a practical handbook that combines a critical analysis of contemporary devised theatre practice with descriptions of selected... companies, and suggestions for any group devising theatre from scratch. It is the first book to propose a general theory of devised theatre. After identifying the unique nature of this type of performance, the author examines how devised theatre is perceived by professional practitioners, and provides an historical overview illustrating how it has evolved since the 1960s. Alison Oddey examines the particular working practices and products of a number of professional companies, including a Reminiscence theatre for the elderly and a theatre-in-education group, and offers ideas and exercises for exploration and experimentation.

¡De viva voz! is an exciting new Spanish conversation text that focuses on the development of oral communication while providing a review of key... grammatical structures in a very approachable and "non-threatening" manner. Intermediate students have generally had the equivalent of a first-year overview of the language and in many cases are in transition to third-year culture/literature courses. They have a lot of information "in their heads," but they often still have the need for conversational practice that actively uses structures and vocabulary they have already studied. Through creative exercises, brief summaries of grammar, and a carefully sequenced chapter structure, ¡De viva voz! helps instructors realize their principal goal in a conversation course: to see their students engaged in conversation in Spanish and improving their level of oral proficiency on a daily basis.

¡De viva voz! is an exciting new Spanish conversation text that focuses on the development of oral communication while providing a review of key... grammatical structures in a very approachable and "non-threatening" manner. Intermediate students have generally had the equivalent of a first-year overview of the language and in many cases are in transition to third-year culture/literature courses. They have a lot of information "in their heads," but they often still have the need for conversational practice that actively uses structures and vocabulary they have already studied. Through creative exercises, brief summaries of grammar, and a carefully sequenced chapter structure, ¡De viva voz! helps instructors realize their principal goal in a conversation course: to see their students engaged in conversation in Spanish and improving their level of oral proficiency on a daily basis.

The remarkable story of a father’s devotion to his wheelchair-bound son and how their bond inspired millions of people worldwide. Born a spastic... quadraplegic, Rick Hoyt was written off by numerous doctors. They advised his parents, Dick and Judy, to put their firstborn son in an institution. But Rick’s parents refused. Determined to give their son every opportunity that “normal” kids had, they made sure to include Rick in everything they did, especially with their other two sons, Rob and Russ. But home was one thing, the world at large, another. Repeatedly rebuffed by school administrators who resisted their attempts to enroll Rick in school, Rick’s mother worked tirelessly to help pass a landmark bill, Chapter 766, the first special-education reform law in the country. As a result, Rick and other physically disabled kids were able to attend public school in Massachusetts. But how would Rick communicate when he couldn’t talk? To overcome this daunting obstacle, Dick and Judy worked with Dr. William Crochetiere, then chairman of the engineering department at Tufts University, and several enterprising graduate students, including Rick Foulds, to create the Tufts Interactive Communication device (TCI). In the Hoyt household, it became known as the “Hope machine,” as it enabled Rick to create sentences by pressing his head against a metal bar. For the first time ever, Rick was able to communicate. Then one day Rick asked his dad to enter a charity race, but there was a twist. Rick wanted to run too. Dick had never run a race before, but more challenging still, he would have to push his son’s wheelchair at the same time. But once again, the Hoyts were determined to overcome whatever obstacle was put in their way. Now, over one thousand races later, including numerous marathons and triathlons, Dick Hoyt continues to push Rick’s wheelchair. Affectionately known worldwide as Team Hoyt, they are as devoted as ever, continuing to inspire millions and embodying their trademark motto of “Yes, you can.”

R. Andrew Chesnut offers a fascinating portrayal of Santa Muerte, a skeleton saint whose cult has attracted millions of devotees over the past decade.... Although condemned by mainstream churches, this folk saint's supernatural powers appeal to millions of Latin Americans and immigrants in the U.S. Devotees believe the Bony Lady (as she is affectionately called) to be the fastest and most effective miracle worker, and as such, her statuettes and paraphernalia now outsell those of the Virgin of Guadalupe and Saint Jude, two other giants of Mexican religiosity. In particular, Chesnut shows Santa Muerte has become the patron saint of drug traffickers, playing an important role as protector of peddlers of crystal meth and marijuana; DEA agents and Mexican police often find her altars in the safe houses of drug smugglers. Yet Saint Death plays other important roles: she is a supernatural healer, love doctor, money-maker, lawyer, and angel of death. She has become without doubt one of the most popular and powerful saints on both the Mexican and American religious landscapes.

Cultural Writing. Second, Revised Edition. Offered here in Spr/Summer 2004, new text has been added based on the new availability of Yasujiro Ozu's... extand works. "I felt inspired to improve the description of The Only Son and deepen my thoughts about Ozu in general," (from the Preface) Nathaniel Dorsky has been making and exhibiting films within the avant-garde tradition since 1964. From the text: "For film to have a devotional quality both absolute and relative time must be active and present -not only present but functioning simultaneously and invigorating one another. Transformative film rests in the present and respects the delicate details of its own unfolding."

A New, Expanded Edition of Renovaré's Classic Companion to the Devotional Life Updated to incorporate all six traditions, or "streams," that comprise a... healthy and holistic life of faith, these fifty–two selections have been organized to introduce the reader to the great devotional writers over the course of one year. Edited by James Bryan Smith, each reading is accompanied by an introduction and meditation by Richard J. Foster. In addition, each entry includes a related biblical passage, discussion questions, and individual and group exercises. With devotional readings in 1. The Prayer–Filled Life 2. The Virtuous Life 3. The Spirit–Empowered Life 4. The Compassionate Life 5. The Word–Centered Life 6. The Sacramental Life Foster and Smith sift through works from the great spiritual writers of the past as well as readings from contemporary spiritual leaders to create a guide that is indispensable for those looking for a deeper and more balanced spiritual life.

The New Moody Atlas of the Bible integrates the geography of Bible lands with the teachings of the Bible.  Dr. Beitzel has blended the topographical... and historical in 118 full color, detailed and digitized maps of Palestine, the Mediterranean, the Near East, the Sinai, and Turkey. Learn of God's protection and guidance by following Israel's forty-year sojourn in the wilderness and appreciate the results of the Great Commission to 'teach all nations' by seeing the scope of Paul's three missionary journeys. All of the graphics are brand new, and every page was substantially rewritten, updated, and expanded to bring you more than one hundred thousand words that provide useful commentary throughout.  Superior photography, comprehensive geographic detail, award winning maps, distinctive theological discussion of geographical matters, and thorough documentation in the form of new indexes and 800+ endnotes set this atlas apart from the field. The New Moody Atlas of Bible Lands is an invaluable asset to Sunday school and home school teachers as well as seminary and Bible college students. Now the maps and pictures for this award winning atlas in digital format, are available for free, to all owners of the atlas. Each copy of the atlas ships with a code, redeemable for a software download on the internet. The software allows the maps and pictures to be displayed on screen for personal, classroom or congregational use.

In the hands of Bruce Smith, devotions are momentary stops to listen to the motor of history. They are meditations and provocations. They are messages... received from the chatter of the street and from transmissions as distant as Memphis and al-Mansur. Bulletins and interruptions come from brutal elsewheres and from the interior where music puts electrodes on the body to take an EKG. These poems visit high schools, laundromats, motels, films, and dreams in order to measure the American hunger and thirst. They are interested in the things we profess to hold most dear as well as what’s unspoken and unbidden. While we’re driving, while riding a bus, while receiving a call, while passing through an X-ray machine, the personal is intersected—sometimes violently, sometimes tenderly—with the hum and buzz of the culture. The culture, whether New York or Tuscaloosa, Seattle or Philadelphia, past or present, carries the burden of race and “someone’s idea of beauty.” The poems fluctuate between the two poles of “lullaby and homicide” before taking a vow to remain on earth, to look right and left, to wait and to witness.

John Donne (1572-1631) is best known as the greatest English metaphysical poet. But there was another dimension to Donne's life and writing that, if... less well known, is no less profound and beautiful. Born into an aristocratic Catholic family, Donne joined the Church of England at the age of twenty-one out of fear of persecution. At the age of forty-three, he gave up his preoccupations with secular prestige and devoted himself utterly to religion. It was eight years later when, battered with fever, the deaths of his beloved wife, several of his children, and many dear lifelong friends, he composed Devotions upon Emergent Occasions. There is both trauma and great drama in this extended meditation on the meaning of mortality, the possibility of salvation, and the true nature of the passage of eternal life. With a new introduction by poet and biographer Andrew Motion, one of the most revered books of Christian devotion speaks to us again of the higher aspirations of man and the always-present possibility of a relationship with God. This long out of print edition also contains Donne's last sermon, "Death's Duel" as well as the short colorful biography of him written by his contemporary Izaak Walton.