Gita Pattison

Comedy, Classics, and Controlled Chaos

Born in Cologne, Germany, Gita Pattison discovered her theatrical calling in 1989, almost by accident. After seven years working in the music industry as a promotion manager, she was asked to accompany a musician who was touring with the Shakespeare Company from London. Watching the same production of Hamlet several times over the course of ten days became a life changing experience.

From the film The fisherman's wife

“It was the best Hamlet I had ever seen,” she recalls. “It was one of those rare moments where you think: this is exactly how theatre should be done.”

Inspired, she left the music business behind. Considered “too old” for a traditional acting school, she studied privately instead and immersed herself in the craft.

Her first steps were in stand up comedy, but after receiving her Self realization in 1991, her artistic focus changed. She realised that humour could serve a deeper purpose and gradually moved into dramatic roles, portraying characters such as Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Mephisto in Faust. Yet she never lost her love of making people laugh.

“It makes me happy when I get people to laugh,” she says. “That’s the moment when the heart opens and, for a little while, we forget that the world is in turmoil.”

In 1995, Gita travelled to Nagpur to study Indian classical music before returning to Europe to help establish the Theatre of Eternal Values (TEV). Once involved, she quickly became one of its driving forces, presumably because nobody managed to stop her once she got started.

She toured internationally as Toinette in TEV’s first production, The Imaginary Invalid, performing in seven countries. She also directed productions for the Vienna Boys’ Choir before moving to Canada, where her creative journey continued to expand through theatre, musicals, improvisation, voice acting, and teaching. For nearly twenty years she performed improvisational theatre and later taught improv at the Summer Arts Academy in Canajoharie, encouraging young performers to embrace one of theatre’s greatest lessons: the fine art of failing gracefully.

When asked about the most memorable moments of her artistic life, her answer comes without hesitation.

"I actually just wrote a whole book about it with a fellow TEVy, she laughs. Theatre of Eternal Values was definitely one of the highlights of my life."

Over the years, her creativity has continued to evolve. Like many artists, she was not always able to earn a living from her art, so she learned to move naturally between creativity and office jobs.

“Now that I’m older,” she reflects, “I feel a stronger need to leave something behind that younger artists might read, reflect on, and hopefully be inspired by.”

Summer Arts Academy in Canajoharie 2019

Today that creative energy is focused largely on writing and video production. She runs three YouTube channels:

I Meditate — a YouTube channel for intermediate seekers

Meditation Workbook — based on the book she co authored with Julie Mandal

From Cologne to Ontario — an entertaining look at everyday life in Canada.

She also just completed A Divine Vision for the Arts, a behind the scenes history of the Theatre of Eternal Values, tracing its beginnings through the inspirations, challenges, experiments, triumphs, and occasional chaos that shaped its remarkable journey. The book is expected to be released around Shri Ganesha Puja, assuming, of course, that divine timing and human editing eventually reach the same conclusion.

Asked what advice she would give younger artists and seekers, Gita’s answer reflects the spirit that has guided her own life.

“Determination,” she says simply.

"When we started a programme in a new city, or when we founded Theatre of Eternal Values, we didn’t spend much time asking ourselves how we would pay for the hall, whether we’d find jobs, or how everything would work out. Shri Mataji said, ‘Do it,’ and we did. There was a trust that if the intention was sincere, things would somehow be taken care of."

Looking back, she believes that spirit of wholehearted commitment made those pioneering years so extraordinary.

“Life wasn’t always easy,” she says, “but it was always supported. I hope younger artists can rediscover that courage, to step forward wholeheartedly, trust the process, and use their creativity in service of something greater than themselves.”