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DRAMA- a Way to Social Inclusion

Practical process descriptions for drama workers

Jouni Piekkari (ed.)

University of Turku,Centre for Extension Studies

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This handbook is one of the outputs of DramaWay project(107247 - JA - 1 2002 1 FI JOINT CALL-SITG, http://www.tkk.uty.fi/dramaway).The handbook has been done with European support.

Publications of the Centre for Extension Studies in Turku University A: 88

Cover Keijo ViljakainenCoverphotos Ulla Halkola and Titi LillqvistLayout Rivico Oy, Jouni VilhonenPublisher Centre for Extension Studies, University of TurkuPrint Dark OyPrinting year 2005ISBN 951-29-2882-5ISSN 0788-7906

Sales Centre for Extension StudiesTel. +358 2 3336280Fax. +358 2 333 6220kirjamyynti@utu.fi

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Contents

Drama – a Second Chance to Learn ............................................................. 5

1. Introduction ................................................................................ 9

What is Drama Way? ................................................................................ 9

2. Aims and Methods .................................................................... 12

Why to use drama as an alternative tool for learning? ....................... 12

Some Genres of Participatory and Interactive Drama ........................ 14

3. Projects in the Co-operation Countries .................................. 21

Estonia ...................................................................................................... 22

Social Theatre Festival “Spartacus” (VAT Forum group) ..............23

Visits at Tallinn’s Centre of Children at Risk (VAT Forum group) .....27

Forum Theatre in TV Youth Program “The Fist”(VAT Forum group) .............................................................................31

Using Improvisational Technique in Forum Theatre(VAT Forum group) ............................................................................. 35

Forum Theatre Workshops in Estonia (Jouni Piekkari) .................39

Spain (Catalonia) ..................................................................................... 44

Clowns for Clean Clothes -Campaign (David Martínez) ................ 45

Uncovering the Conflict. Exploring Our Decisions Through Drama(David Martínez) ................................................................................. 51

School for Parents (Jordi Forcadas) ..................................................61

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Theatre Project with Immigrant Children of Raval(Anna Caubet & Jordi Forcadas) ........................................................64

Session of Interactive Theatre (Anna Caubet) .................................69

Invisible Theatre with Immigrant Youth (Jordi Forcadas) .............71

Portugal ....................................................................................................74

Interactive Class. Learning about Drama Literature(Marco Ferreira) ..................................................................................75

Youth & Job – Equality of Rights (Marco Ferreira) ........................80

Sonho de Amanda - Amanda´s Dream (Baal 17) ............................89

Finland .................................................................................................... 100

Free fall – Project in Lohja (Titi Lillqvist) ....................................101

Photo as a Step to Drama (Ulla Halkola & Tarja Koffert) ............. 115

Arts, Educators, Communities – a Participatory Approach(Jouni Piekkari) ................................................................................. 119

Kullervo. Social Exclusion of Youth in Mythology(Titi Lillqvist & Jouni Piekkari) .......................................................130

New York, New York. Parents Making Choices ConcerningTheir Careers and Children (Jouni Piekkari) ................................142

Aleksi. How do I know someone is using drugs?(Jouni Piekkari) ................................................................................. 148

4. Literature on Different Genres of Drama ............................ 155

Information of the writers of the articles .................................................164

Appendix: Drama a Way to Social Inclusion CD .................................... 166

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Drama – a Second Chance to LearnIt is common to experience discomfort at Finnish schools and work places. Severalsurveys and public discussions show that such aspects as bullying, burn-outs,psychological violence and sexual harassment have become a significant issue inFinland. These phenomena seem to be common also in other European countries.The society is evidently increasingly emphasising competition, specialisation,technical knowledge, know-how and consumption. In such a society it is moreand more difficult for human beings to interact in positive, human ways. And thesame challenges are met in family life as well.

It is visible in public discussions that parents, people working with youngstersand educators often try to search for forums and methods to learn social skillsneeded to tackle these problems. However, where are these kind of forums inwhich people with various backgrounds could learn together through play: observetheir lives with open eyes; experience moments of sharing? Where could westrengthen our communities and learn the social skills needed in that process?

Drama a Way to Social Inclusion (Drama Way) was a project by the EuropeanUnion Socrates Joint actions program. The project was started in 2002 andconcluded in the end of February 2005. It was coordinated by the University ofTurku, Centre for Extension Studies from Finland. The project has studied andexplored the use of drama as forum-based tool in four countries in Europe;Spain, Portugal, Estonia and Finland. The basic idea of the project was to connectparticipatory drama and informal learning. Participatory drama methods wereseen in project as a way to social inclusion. The utmost intention was to promotethe equality of values and active citizenship among different minority groups ofyoung people.

We, the active participants of the project, have explored especially the use ofdrama in social exclusion of youngsters. We want to believe that drama could bethe “second chance to learn” for those who have lost their first chance in themainstream school system.

In Catalonia (Spain), young prisoners try to understand their decisions in lifethrough Shakespeare’s story of Hamlet. In Estonia, youngsters at a drugrehabilitation centre create constructive conflicts with their parents, relativesand drug dealers – in an imaginary drama. In Finland, 7th grade school childrenlearn critical awareness in drug questions - through an interactive forum theatre.In Portugal, children from isolated schools in the countryside are learning socialskills through allegoric drama stories and self-expression exercises. In Finland,the secrets of sexuality are revealed and shared through world-famous fairytales; the pre-Christian Finnish myth of Kullervo has been a tool for social workstudents for approaching and discussing cultural history concerning young people’smarginalisation and suicides.

In the city of Barcelona, second generation immigrant youngsters create invisibletheatre dealing with the rights of teen age girls. In the town of Turku, youngstersescaping their family problems to youth shelters get new perspectives to theirlives through cross-artistic methods, such as photographs, music and diaries.

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Catalonian clowns fool people of all ages to think about the injustice of theglobal trade and how to live ethically in a more sound way.

These projects and many others have been an unusual way of sharing. Youngand old, prisoners and non-prisoners, immigrants and non-immigrants, rural andurban, artists and non-artists have encountered each other on equal level. Everyonehas done something different from what they usually do; taken positive risks.

On the contrary to what one might expect, Drama Way did not produce alarge number of theatre performances. Instead of creating shows, the participatorydrama that we explored is an art form of a moment; creating and sharing meanings,process leading one towards understanding.

In our project we have explored and developed new combinations andadaptations of a wide range of applied and interactive drama, such as forumtheatre, live action role play (LARP), process drama / Drama-in Education (DIE),clownery, photo drama, cite-specific theatre, and education on theatre art. Theparticipants of Drama Way are mainly young professional, who want to broadentheir scope of work, for example, from conventional theatre work to interactiveprison drama.

Drama Way project has produced results beyond expectations. Some of theideas born in these projects have already received funding from local orinternational co-operation partners. The most delightful thing is to see howsome lonely people working with youngsters have made friends with other inspiredpeople in the field. Some of them have found completely new directions for theirlives and for their work with youngsters. Drama Way is not meant to be walkedalone, but together with other people, in a creative interaction.

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In this handbook our purpose is to introduce our work in a practical way, sothat anyone with some experience in applied drama can try to adapt theseprocesses in one’s own work. Even better, we hope that you could improve anddevelop our work: experiments presented here are “works-in-progress”. Someof the processes that did not function in first attempt in the best possible wayare also included in this handbook. We believe that we can learn a lot from ourmistakes as well. The great creativity and mercifulness of drama work lies in itsunpredictability: how we succeed depends on the methods, people, environment,expectations, mood, context – often even the lucky position of stars…

Only some of the projects that were borne due to the Drama Way arepresented in this handbook. Many of the project reports are to be found on theproject’s web site, which is updated regularly www.tkk.utu.fi/dramaway/. Projectreports are published in the internet as original versions and as English translations,when possible. Many of the stories are so multidimensional and fine, that theywill never be written down anywhere else but in our hearts. You have to go andexperience them by yourself.

We hope that you can also contribute to this sharing of experiences in ourDrama Way project in the future!

Behalf of the DramaWay project team

Jouni PiekkariEditor, drama trainer

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1. Introduction

What is Drama Way?

There is a need for alternative and more adaptable ways and means of learningfor the young people who are under a threat of social exclusion. This need hasbeen recognised throughout Europe. The demand for this project has becomeevident through the results of various previous educational programmes andprojects. Special ways of working, such as participatory and experiential methods,are often required to guide the groups in threat of exclusion towards socialinclusion. Drama in its various forms is one example of these tools.

The need for a new approach is perhaps most clearly recognised with thoseworking with youngsters who have various kinds of problems, such as school drop-outs, young substance abusers and immigrants. For example, European SocratesGrundtvig project Social inclusion through APEL made a research, which summarisedthat the informal ways and methods of learning are of crucial importance in theefforts against marginalisation. The need for networks of drama groups and individualdrama specialists with training institutions and various projects is clear. A continuousneed to develop the practice has become evident though the previous projectsand training programmes. Also drama as a tool has to be explored in new andapplied ways to ensure its applicability for various target groups.

General objectives of Drama Way

• To share practical tools and insights between the young/ beginningprofessional or semi-professional drama workers who are interested inworking with youngsters under a threat of social exclusion

• to improve local and international networks of drama workers, fundinginstances and social workers – to improve the visibility of the work

• to create practical, easily accessible material and project descriptions tohelp the development of practical and pedagogical drama work of youngprofessionals in the field

• to identify themes that are locally important • to initiate small-scale pilot drama projects with various youth groups in

need for social inclusion e.g. drug addicts in each partner country (Estonia,Spain (Catalonia), Portugal and Finland)

The main target of the project Drama – A Way to Social Inclusion (Drama Way)was to promote the opportunities of the young, especially 14-18 year old people;to adapt them to the larger society and to the community they are living in, aswell as, to the possibility to get education and to learn from the methods tailoredfor them. The learning methods used for these youngsters must be differentfrom the formal methods of education; the methods must provide a genuinesecond chance of learning in an informal way. The methods often include takingthe youngsters away from the conventional school context: into the nature, youthcentres or theatre schools. Many of the projects also integrate different age andsocial groups. For example, it has been important to bring “outsiders” to theprison environment in order to create a new kind of interaction in the drama.

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The aim of the project was to gather, apply and mix different pedagogicaldrama tools in order to utilise them in different local training contexts. Theproject aimed also to activate the target youngster groups to participate activelyin planning of the curricula and in developing the methods. These aims werereached mainly through pilot workshops, practical evaluations and feedbackdiscussions with the youngsters.

The project was realised locally in four countries: Finland, Spain (Catalonia),Estonia and Portugal. The local groups organised workshops and real life laboratoriesin each country. These experimental laboratories also produced material for internetbased data-bank of experiences (see www.tkk.utu.fi/dramaway) and for nationaldiscussion forums debating the use of drama methods in local context.

The local workshops were also important forums of networking: participantshad various backgrounds; teachers, youth workers, drama workers from the wholeregion, not only from the co-operation area. The workshops created co-operationon local and national levels. This promotes multi-disciplinary approaches and co-operation in the future. We often noticed how people working close to eachothers and struggling with similar kind of problems and target groups did notknow about each other. This tendency of segregation is seen everywhere: withoutan outsider input one rarely has time to look outside one’s own work field andprofessional specialisation.

In the end of the project, the European workshop in Turku (Finland) presentedsome of the results of the projects to the wider audience. The results of the localworkshops were presented though practical workshops and other suitable means,such as video and slide shows.

Locally adapted themes and working methods

All the four partner countries have their own specific focuses. In Finland themain theme was substance abuse. Finland used to have one of the lowest rates ofdrug abuse and crimes related to illegal drugs. Nowadays the figures areskyrocketing in the fastest rate in whole Europe. Furthermore, alcoholconsumption has increased due to suddenly sunk prices and increased availabilityof alcohol. Especially amongst the most vulnerable and marginalised groups it hasevidently caused a growing number of social problems and health risks. “We arefinally becoming European - is that what we wanted? How can we suddenly changethe cultural patterns of substance use that seem to be a result of decades of mal-planned policy and perhaps hundreds of years of colonised mentality?” These arequestion that many people ask in Finland. Therefore, the preventive work is the keyinterest area in the Finnish Drama Way project. However, we see the preventionwork in a broader perspective. Through drama work we want to support thewelfare and building of healthy social environment for the young people.

In Catalonia (Spain), the focus is on the work with young prisoners andimmigrant groups. Spain is one of the entrance countries of great numbers oflegal and illegal immigrants, especially from Africa. Massive anti-globalizationdemonstrations, Iraq war protests, terrorist attack to Madrid and the policy ofthe previous conservative government that paid less attention to the social welfareseem to draw more attention to the integration of the immigrants and to the

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Third World issues. During the project period these issues have been clear forthe drama workers and artists in Barcelona. This general atmosphere alsocontributed to the success of Drama Way seminars and networking in the area.

In the rural Portugal drama workers tackle with problems of the countrysideand small rural towns. Such issues as norms and sexuality, substance abuse, thepossibilities of the young people to develop and stay in their own region areconsidered. Portuguese partners claim that these problems are a result of“backwards mentality” that derives from the era of dictatorship, a short historyof democracy, neo-liberalisation and harmful and de-moralising effects of manyaspects of EU policies.

Estonia is a newcomer in the EU ”family”, and the country is characterised bythe rapid social change from Soviet system to an independent nation maintainingone of the most neo-liberal economical systems in the world. Estonian youngsterin the projects deal with their issues through a national debate in TV forum theatresessions, in schools, youth rehabilitation centres, festivals, live action role gameassociations etc. In Estonia the main focus is young people discussing with theirpeers through an interactive drama. The topics are handled in a participatory wayand consist of the topics that the young people themselves are concerned of.

Drama Way gathers people with various backgrounds and ways of working towork together. This has resulted in a tremendous range of working methods andcreative ideas.

Different approaches are utilised in Drama Way: some emphasise celebratoryaspects in their work: carnival, fun, wild imagination, mass approach, some prefermore issue-oriented and intimate approaches, using also sociological and qualitativeresearch methods along with the drama work.

In the first meeting in Finland our working tool was Finnish oral poetry, sincefrom there we could find same kind of stories of social exclusion of youngsters,which are visible in the lives of the modern refugees, victims of human trade oramongst the young people committing suicides. We chose a pre-medieval storyof Kullervo as a tool, and situated it in the forest of an island close to Nokiacellular phone -town Salo. In Finland forest and water are present practicallyeverywhere, and it is quite natural for people to use these natural settings forsummer theatre, pedagogical adventures or other celebrations. We developedthis process drama also to suite more simple processes that can be easily used inclassrooms and social or youth work training sessions aiming at focusing adiscussions in the lecture on certain social topics.

The new EU member state Estonia is another good example how the localculture can be used in drama. In the workshop, the Estonian actors and dramaworkers gave the other Drama Way partners a chance to explore how the liveaction role play (LARP) and traditional Estonian wedding games and dramascould be used to help the youngsters build their identity in the new and changingEurope. On the other hand, we explored these wedding traditions as a localform of interactive and participatory drama. Participatory drama is oftenconsidered as something modern, but we tend to forget that the local folk formshave used quite similar techniques. In the past, they were also ways to empower,educate and help people participate in the creation of the society. This is valuable,locally rooted, indigenous knowledge and know-how.

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2. Aims and Methods

Why to use drama as an alternative tool for learning?

Drama as a learning method is gaining increased interest throughout Europe andthe world. There is a wide range of different participatory drama techniqueswhich are developing rapidly. However, no methods should be used merely becauseof its popularity, but they should preferably be used when based on consciousarguments or clear evidence. British drama pedagogues Allan Owens and KeithBarber define their arguments with four categories: a) play as universal expression;b) practical experiences; c) empirical evidence and d) ideological reasons.

Firstly, play is an essential element in the life of a human being. This isapparent with children, but concealed and suffocated with adults and young people,who for several social reasons have stopped creative playing. Such reasons canbe fear of ridicule, finding safety in rigidity of values and standard behaviour anddisbelief in personal potential for creativity. By giving the children, youth andadults an opportunity to ”play seriously” through drama, we can offer them agenuine ”second chance” for learning through play. We can also offer them anopportunity to enjoy the learning process, an aspect that is all too often neglectedin formal education. In this way drama in a safe environment can lower thebarriers of learning, since negative attitudes often prevent learning in formalsettings.

Secondly, practical experience of drama workers show us that it is possibleto use drama as a learning method even in such situations which seem to be verydifficult for promoting learning. By offering a ”new start”, drama has functionedas a motivating impulse for people with learning difficulties or low motivation forlearning. Therefore, the use of drama in such situations has also opened doorsfor social inclusion by increasing self-esteem, personal and emotional skills andapprove creativity. Drama can also serve as a holistic therapeutic healing device(Koskela 1999; Blatner 1996). It can offer a safe environment to explore difficultpersonal issues through safely distanced allegories and symbols of drama. Theholistic group processes as such have also proved to have healing effects on thegroup members. For example, a group process can offer sense of belonging,opportunities to reflect oneself as a personality and enjoy mutual support(Jauhiainen 1999; Blatner 1996).

Thirdly, the empirical evidence shows that process drama has had aremarkable impact on learning of various groups in prisons, schools, youth sheltersetc. This evidence has been gathered in several countries that have practiseddrama as an alternative arena for learning for several decades. Effects of dramause have been researched, and the results showed that drama can promotequalitative learning, which considers the different individual learning styles.Participatory drama seems, for example, to use and combine practically all thedifferent learning channels and processes such as auditive, kinaesthetic, visual,tactile, multi-sensory, mathematical, interpersonal, intuitive. However, due to thecomplexity of these processes, it is difficult to measure this kind of quality learning.

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Fourthly, reasons for the use of drama can be ideological. Drama can be usedas a tool for empowerment and therefore it can promote social change andinclusion of marginalised groups, and create a chance based on their own priorities,not those dictated from above or through the formal education system.Participatory drama (not just any drama) is considered as a democratic andcritical device for learning, where both the ”teachers” and ”pupils” can learnfrom each other, and more precisely learn together. A teacher/educator ofparticipatory drama can never be a fully learnt specialist of the subcultures s/heis working with. To give an example; only the gypsies can truly understand whatthe life of a gypsy is like. However, both non-gypsy drama educators and thegypsy participants of drama process can get new perspectives into their livesfrom each other.

The so called constructivist paradigm in education emphasises that learnersare not empty vessels to pour information and ideologies into. They are ratherto be seen as radiating starting points of their own learning through their ownlife experiences and values that they have formed in the socio-cultural contextsthey live in both within and without the formal school system (von Wright & vonWright 2001). Drama as a multidisciplinary form of art can activate and bringforth these life experiences through the use of imagination, dreaming, use ofbody, symbol, imagery, visual arts, music, writing etc. and help to use them in theindividual learning process in a holistic manner. Drama is also a group processthat always activates and develops social learning, emotional intelligence, argumenton values, spiritual thinking, intuition and other meta-learning skills, that havebeen recognised as essential elements in learning process of a human being.These skills are still often neglected, or cannot fully be covered through theformal learning system, especially in the case of youngsters with learning difficulties,which are often based on socio-cultural background (see also Goleman 1997).

Blatner, Adam (1996): Acting-in. Practical application of psycho dramaticmethods.

Hannula, Aino (2000): Tiedostaminen ja muutos Paulo Freiren ajattelussa.Systemaattinen analyysi sorrettujen pedagogiikasta. Helsingin yliopistonkasvatustieteenlaitos, Helsinki.

Jauhiainen (1999): Ryhmäilmiö.Koskela, Virpi (1999): Elämäntehtävä Legioonateatterin opetukset – Kokemuksia

ja ajatuksia ohjaajan ja kouluttajan roolista. Kuikka, Suvi (toim.): Friikki.Nuorisoteatteritoiminnan opas. Vapaan Sivitystyön liitto.

Owens, Allan and Barber, Keith (1997): Drama Works.Rohd, Michael (1998): Theatre, Community and Conflict Resolution. Hope is

Vital Manual for educators and youth workers.

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Some Genres of Participatory and Interactive Drama

In the Drama Way project we use and mix various forms of participatory andapplied drama. These forms are borne in different cultures and contexts. Despitethe differences there are also a great number of similarities in these forms. Manyof these genres overlap each other, and the boundaries between them aretherefore rather blurred. However, each of them emphasises some aspects ofusing drama as the tool in the process.

A general feature in these different genres is that the process of making andcreation is an important aspect, even in some cases more important than the endproduct. For example performances are emphasised, since they are eulogises ofhuman interaction and create meanings through the symbolic form of drama in agroup process. In spite of these general features, the different genres have varyingideologies and philosophies. These approaches interpret the nature of human beingdifferently. Furthermore, the concept of good learning and the question how ahuman being learns may also be different in different genres. Therefore, it is essentialto be aware of these basic ideas and aims of different approaches, even if many ofthem can be applied together. Respectively, many of the different concepts developedin varying cultural contexts can actually refer to strikingly similar processes. Thebest way to understand the processes is to discuss them with people who usethese methods: what do the practitioners try to achieve by using them? Even moreimportant is to discuss the experience and empirical evidence: how do these differentforms actually work? Are the set goals achieved with these processes?

Drama-in-Education (DIE)

Drama-in-Education, and often simply the drama itself, refers to the use of dramaas a tool of education. This methodology of drama used in education is mostextensively developed in the British and Australian contexts. This form of drama ismainly used in a school context to supplement the curriculum. It can be used inany subject as a way to learn through experience. In the most typical situation it isused to learn, for example, history, but it can be applied to learn mathematics as well.

In the DIE method the emphasis is on the processes of exploring differenttopics through drama conventions (techniques). On the contrary to conventionalschool drama the DIE rarely aims at creating polished performances for theaudience, but instead the teachers or educators from outside try to offer ”safeenvironments to create meanings through pretence” in a learner-centred groupprocess. Therefore, these methods are also called as process drama or pedagogicaldrama. The new view emphasises the concept drama as an art form in its own right,instead of overemphasising its use as a tool of learning.

Theatre-in-Education (TIE)

The TIE method refers to the use of pre-written and rehearsed theatreperformance as a tool of learning. The plays in the TIE process are usuallyperformed by specialised and professional touring theatre companies. The playsare carefully designed to complement different subjects in the official school

JouniPiekkari

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curricula. These performances are often partly interactive. Furthermore, theymay include so called pre- or post-performance workshops, where the pupilscan be more actively involved in their own learning processes. Through variousexercises the pupils can further explore the themes of the play. Sometimes theseworkshops take place before the play, in order to prepare the pupils for thethemes that are discussed in the play. These kind of sessions can be organisedeither with the theatre group or separately with their own teacher. Therefore,many of the groups also produce complementary materials and teachers’information packs to integrate the theatrical intervention into the learning process.

Forum theatre

Forum theatre is a form of interactive theatre developed by a Brazilian directorAugusto Boal as part of his participatory theatre method system called ”Theatreof the Oppressed”. In the forum theatre method, the theatre group presents asocial problem – an injustice or ”oppression” - that is relevant to the audience.In a forum theatre performance there will be no end solution for the problem,but the conflict is left unsolved. The audience is activated to explore solutionsfor the problem by inviting the audience (“spect-actors”) on the stage to act thesolutions for the problems.

Julian Boal is directing Forum Theatre in Barcelona in March 2004.

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Forum theatre is also a workshop technique where there is no pre-determinedtime span for the play. The group, for example a group of mothers, creates theseplays entirely by themselves. These theatrical exercises are used to explore thesocial themes, problems and oppressions of the group. Forum theatre has beenused to tackle such issues as racism, substance abuse, sexual prejudice or bullyingin schools. It is also utilised in media education and interactive discussion forumson TV. According to Boal, it aims at empowerment of individuals and groups; it is”rehearsal for the reality”.

Invisible Theatre

Invisible theatre method was invented by Augusto Boal. It was born during thedictatorship of Brazil, when the politically critical play-making was forbidden.Invisible theatre is a form of theatre where the audience does not know thatthey are witnessing a play. These performances have a pre-written storyline thatportrays a social problem or oppression and the performance is taken into a reallife situation, it can be performed, for example, in a tram, bar, market place orshopping centre. The aim is to provoke people to participate in the ”play” whichthey believe is a real situation of oppression.

Legislative Theatre

Legislative theatre is a further elaboration of Theatre of the Oppressed or forumtheatre, where different techniques are used as a tool to discuss local or nationaldemocracy and public decision making. The solutions that the audiences draw inthe forum plays create a starting point for legislative level discussions. This methoduses also internet discussions, thematic festivals, political rallies etc. to help thedisadvantaged people to participate in politics.

Theatre-for-Awareness / Theatre-for-Development

These methods of touring theatre have been used especially in the Third WorldCountries as a tool for participatory development programmes and awarenessraising campaigns. Instead of telling people educationally what they should know– inform them - this form of theatre raises questions, for which the audiencesthemselves have a chance to answer through the organised post-performancediscussions. The plays are based on a field research on certain topic amongst thetarget groups, in order to identify what the local people themselves consider asthe most crucial problems of the area. The themes considered may be completelydifferent from the issues, that the “developers” or the authorities regard asimportant.

These theatre forms aim at a self-motivated social change of the communities.They can even aim at a very concrete completion of a local or regionaldevelopment programme, for example anti-poaching programme, agriculturaldevelopment, women’s rights etc. Other names used for these forms ofparticipatory drama are popular theatre and community theatre.

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Devised Theatre / “From Fact to Fiction”

Devised theatre refers to all processes of theatre making where there is no pre-written play text or where a play text is used only as a starting point for acompletely new piece of theatre. Devised theatre is created in a so calleddemocratic group process where the group explores a chosen theme throughmovement, theatrical improvisations, visual techniques, videos etc. From Fact toFiction is one form of devised theatre where the starting point of the performanceis factual material concerning the chosen theme: research reports, newspaperarticles, interviews, TV programmes, internet etc. This material is converted intoa dramatic form in a creative group process. Devised theatre techniques aremainly used in creating plays concerning the themes chosen by the youngstersthemselves.

Play Back Theatre

Play Back theatre is a form of interactive drama created in the United States. Themost famous developers of this genre is Jonathan Fox. The idea of play back theatreis that the participants of the workshop (or the audiences of a play back theatreperformance) tell short, real episodes of their lives where after the actors (orother workshop participants) improvise them on stage by following certain dramaconventions. Only a few aspects of the stories are emphasised in the scene,aspects such as specific emotions, personified objects presented in the story orsome selected sentences or meaningful interactions. These symbolic scenes areoften accompanied by improvised soundscapes or music.

Play back theatre is a form of sharing individual experiences in a community. Itcan be a purifying or healing experience, even though the creators of this genreemphasise it as a form of sharing real life experiences in an entertaining way.

Sociodrama

Sociodrama, based on the work of Jacob L. Moreno, is one of the earliest genres ofapplied drama. Sociodrama is not a simple drama technique; it is a complextheory and method of analysing, understanding and learning about the differentsocial phenomena of people’s everyday lives. The techniques used in sociodramaare similar to many of the above mentioned techniques, emphasis being on theanalytic understanding of social dynamics. Sociodrama is commonly used methodof training. Sociodrama is also a non-therapeutic sibling of Moreno’s psychodramaand has strongly influenced the development of Play Back theatre.

Celebratory Drama

Celebratory approach in theatre making often aims at identifying certainconcentrated settlements or groups of people that seem to be less involved inthe community. Typical example of these concentrated settlements are the urbanhousing areas. Celebratory drama emphasises aspects of carnival, the use andcreation of myth, creativity, visual theatre and street theatre style of expression.As such celebratory theatre can have a healing impact on the people that aretaken into the process of collective creation.

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The philosophy of celebratory drama emphasises that arts should bedemocratised: anyone can be an artist, and the responsibility of a professionalartist is to set this creativity free from the culturally learned inhibitions and fearsof ridicule. Celebratory artists believe in that opening up the in-born creativity isan almost necessary prerequisite for the human being’s capacity to solve personaland social problems. The British artist collection Welfare State International is oneof the best known examples of celebratory arts and drama.

Hospital Clownery

Hospital clownery, originally invented by Patch Adams in the United States, isincreasing its popularity also in Europe. Hospital clowns target their performancesto seriously ill children in hospitals. It is believed – and proved– that laughter cansupport the healing process even in serious cases of illness. Most importantly,the philosophy of hospital clownery emphasises the basic human need for laughterand joy. Laughter and joy should be taken into such places where it is mostunlikely to occur. Many of the hospital clowns have also worked e.g. in refugeecamps of Yugoslavia amongst the victims of war.

Site-specific theatre

Site-specific theatre refers to any kind of theatre that takes place in a non-theatre environment and uses the special features of different environmentstheatrically and symbolically. For example, a theatrical event or performance cantake place in a dumping area, old abandoned building or in nature. Performancesand their audiences may also wander from one place to another. In many casesthis kind of performance blurs the rigid distinction between the audience andthe performers: in a similar way as in rituals or ceremonies the spectators becomean integral part of the event.

Drama, myths and ritual forms of performance

Traditional forms of performing art can function as a inspiring starting point fora community theatre event. Myths and their modern applications can invokeallegories between the factual and fictional; past and future; concrete and imaginary;collective and private. The use of local myths and traditional forms, such as songsand dances, can be important for building the local identity by revitalising thecultural heritage.

Street theatre

As the name suggests, this theatre is performed on the streets or in publicplaces. Street theatre is probably one of the oldest forms of secular theatre.Street theatre often uses strongly visual and carnivalistic means to draw attentionto these often spontaneous performances.

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Live-Action Role Play (LARP)

LARP could be defined as a genuine cultural movement of young people, since itis mainly organised and run by the young people themselves. LARP is a series ofhighly interactive and imaginary dramatic events, where each participant takespart in an improvised drama by following their own pre-determined roles. Thegame is totally improvised and has no script. The role games take often place inan imaginary world of myths, sci-fi, prehistory or any other world created by theparticipants or the game leaders.

Sometimes a LARP session may continue for several days, or the same groupof people may explore the same theme for several years. LARP communities areoften partly virtual, as well. Internet sites and discussion lists form an importantforum for creation of characters, stories and reflection.

Community Theatre or Theatre/Drama in the Community is a looseumbrella term that can refer to almost any kind of theatre making which is insome relation to a community. It can be created with, for or by the community.This vague umbrella concept applies to any genre mentioned above in this list,therefore these concepts are avoided in the Drama Way project.

Draditional wedding serenomy in Estonia, June 2004

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3. Projects in theCo-operation Countries

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EstoniaEstoniaEstoniaEstoniaEstoniaEstoniaEstoniaEstoniaEstoniaEstoniaEstoniaEstoniaEstoniaEstoniaEstoniaEstoniaEstoniaEstoniaEstoniaEstonia

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Social Theatre Festival “Spartacus”

The background and participants of the festival

The project “Spartacus” was organised by Tartu Anne Youth Centre, and theevent took place in Miina Härma Gymnasium, 14th – 16th of November, year 2003.Altogether 135 youngsters from different schools from all over Estonia participatedin the three-day long Forum Theatre training session. The head-director andinstructor of the session was the director and “Joker” Margo Teder of the VATTheatre Forum Group. His assistants were Andres Kask (director of Kanuti YouthHouse’s theatre group), Kadi Jaanisoo and Piret Soosaar from VAT Theatre ForumGroup.

The participants were gathered from the following Estonian towns/areas: Tartu,Tallinn, Narva, Jõhvi, Viljandi, Kuressaare, Sindi, Ahja, Nõo, Luuja and Tarvastu.

Working process and phases

The work phases of the festival:1. On the first day, the head director explained the whole group, what is

forum theatre and how the forum scenes are built. After this people weredivided into groups and the groups continued individual work in separaterooms (class-rooms and gym-room, etc.). The group work consisted ofdefining and exploring problematic issues, thus the themes. Each groupwere given 2 words/themes, which functioned as a starting point for groupdiscussions. Group work was the working method. Youngsters preparedindependently one forum scene of some problem that concerns themselvesas youngsters. Firstly, the group had to find the themes based on theirdiscussions and then create still-images, so called stop-pictures. The stop-pictures were then dynamized, meaning that the people in the picturesstarted to move. The scenes of forum theatre were born.

2. On the second day, dramaturgical expressions of the problems underconsideration were created and put in practise. The problems were, inother words, transferred into theatrical language (the scenes weredeveloped based on the pictures prepared during the first day); thus shortforum-scenes, where the main character tries hopelessly to overcome thekind of oppression in his way, were borne. In other words, the main characterwas faced with some kind of conflict. The assistants helped the participantswith this process.

3. On the third day, the results of the work of the previous days wereperformed in form of a group work. This group work event turned into a 3hours long marathon-performance, where all groups one by one showedtheir vision of one issue/problem that concerns youngsters. After eachgroup had performed its scene, the head director introduced forum theatretechniques to the audience with the help of particular group scene. Heintroduced, for instance with the help of one story, the hot seat techniquewhere all characters sit one by one in a so called hot seat and the audienceis allowed to ask all kind of questions from them concerning the background

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of their behaviour. With another group he introduced how the characterscan say out loud their thoughts – the Joker (the leader of the show) canwhenever he wants say “stop” and ask the character to say out loud, whats/he is thinking at that particular moment. With the third group he usedforwarding and rewinding of the scene -technique. This means moving intime - the things that happened in the past, present and future were playedout. What happened before the conflict, what could happen afterwards?

Techniques used in the work process

In order to reach co-operation with this kind of large assembly of youngstersthe work processes had to have several clear steps.

The following methods/techniques were used during the festival:1) Ice-breaking, different warm-up games;2) Trust-games;3) Group Discussions (defining and exploring the problems);4) Creating the forum theatre story (through pictures/still-images,

conversations);5) Playing out the scene within the group (converting the created story into

theatrical language);6) Interactive discussions between the audience and the performers;7) Combining all the prepared forum scenes into one big performance;8) Interactive feedback circle with the participants.

Different techniques were used in different stages– some of them wereapplied to small group work, some to all participants. Sometimes it wasthe small group that had to be active, sometimes the head-director of thefestival or the leader of the happening/action.

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Demand for this kind of interactive theatre projects in school theatres:positive and negative aspects

In addition to traditional school theatre festivals, there is a demand for happeningsthat are socially directed and for events of participative theatre schooling andtraining. However, there is quite much of confusion with defining the conceptsof this field in Estonia. For instance, this event was called social theatre festivaleven though only school theatres were present in the event and the participantshad no previous experience of social theatre. What is social theatre as such afterall? It can be said, that making theatre is always a social phenomenon, but socalled social theatre as such is actually something else than the typical schooltheatre represents. Social theatre aims at changing some social issue, for exampleat increasing people’s educational level, growing general awareness and othersimilar issues. Naturally, it would be nice if school theatres could take over thisfunction even partly and would try one of the social theatre forms - forumtheatre - in their schools. There is evidently enough problems and themes to dealwith in schools. But on the other hand, the question is: are our schools ready totalk publicly about the themes/problems that concern the youngsters, even intheatrical language? The answer to this question would be a vivid indicator of thedevelopmental level of the school. The idea of organizing this kind of educationalgathering of school theatres is extremely. This kind of gathering works as goodadvertise for this interesting theatre form – forum theatre – and, furthermore,the willingness to participate in further training meant for smaller groups couldrise inside the school-youngsters/schools.

An old fashioned teacher carrying the traditions of Soviet times maintainsstrict discipline in the classroom.

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These training days were not aiming at offering thorough knowledge concerningforum theatre; they offered a brief introduction to the methodology of forumtheatre. Some imperfections concerning this event are the following:

• The number of youngsters participating in the training, where a specificmethod was introduced, at the same time was too large (many of theyoungsters did not know anything about the phenomena considered andmost likely felt at the end that the provided knowledge was too shallowand created no clear picture of forum theatre methods)

• Too little time to introduce forum theatre method step by step, slowly andthoroughly. Youngsters did not understand very well how the forum theatrestory is prepared and how to build up one forum scene. If there were tobe less children, maybe there would have been more time to do this aswell. This is the reason why some of the scenes that were prepared did notwork as forum theatre scenes. Some of the school-youngsters could notunderstand what forum theatre, the purposes and expectations, is all aboutin such a short time period

• The assistants did not have enough concrete work tasks and the head-director was not present all the time

• Lack of information and poor distribution of information during the festival.

These problems were mostly due to the organizational aspects of the event.

In the future it could be wise to take a smaller group of school youngsterswhen organizing forum theatre training. The training could also be shorter, moreintensive and concentrated. All three working phases/days could be arrangedduring one day. If this kind of mass event is organized again, there should be moreprofessional assistants and directors helping the children in the groups in orderfor them to understand how forum theatre works.

On the first day there should be more time to get used to the spirit of theevent, and to learn about the purposes of the forum theatre in smaller groups–the groups could be assisted by the directors. In this particular event the wholemass was divided into groups according to the schools they attended, and alltogether nine groups were born. The groups could also have been differentlyorganized, in order to enable youngsters to make new friends and shareexperiences with new people from all around the country, not only with one’sown schoolmates.

A positive aspect of this festival was that, all in all, quite many youngsters gotthe possibility to get acquainted with forum theatre method and got to trycreating forum scene by themselves for the first time– to put some problem/conflict/thought/experience into theatrical form. Furthermore, the forum-performance/demonstration put together from the different scenes and playedout on the third day ended up being quite interesting. The head-director managedto lead the event rather well.

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Visits to Tallinn’s Centre of Children at Risk

Work environment and background of the children

Tallinn’s Centre of Children at Risk is an institution where under-aged childrenare kept isolated from their usual everyday environment from six months up toa year. These children have problems with alcohol, drugs and other toxic substances.They have an increased need for attention and a labile nerve-system, and thereforeoften behave hyperactively and nervously.

Some features describing these children (description of features of one orseveral children in the group):

• have experienced violence and have been left without attendance duringtheir early ages

• have roamed on the streets in gangs and developed criminal behaviour • unstable nerve-system, deficit of attention • highly egocentric • have tried suicide • using alcohol and toxic substances for amusement, escaping from the reality • early sexual relationships and several different partners • bad relationships with the parents • not going to school • has no-one to trust to, and therefore suspicious with all people

The VAT Theatre Forum Group visited and organized Forum Theatreworkshops in Tallinn’s Centre of Children at Risk during a time span fromNovember 2003 to June 2004. The group usually went to the centre 1-2 times amonth, and arranged a group session including 6-10 persons; half of them weregirls and half boys. The length of the workshop was about 2 hours and it wasorganized in a medium sized computer classroom (once it took place in the gymof the centre). Participation was voluntary for the children.

Working process and purposes

Each forum theatre workshop differs form previous ones. At this time we werefaced with a quite “difficult” group instead of so called ordinary children. It meantthat we had to organize our activities and plans according to the situation and tothe concrete moment of time – how many children wanted/could show up inthe workshop. It is clear that organizing and participating in the workshops wasobviously a challenge for both sides – for us, as guests and VAT Theatre ForumGroup actresses, and for the children as local habitants and as so called “badchildren” in the eyes of the society. Both sides were put into a test. The childrenput themselves, as well as us, into a test by trusting us and confiding in us withtheir secrets and (life)stories, and we tested ourselves - how and in which waywe know how to react to these stories of much-experienced and much-seenchildren without hurting them or seeming too false, cold/rough.

On the other hand, our purpose was not to be a constant supporter of theiropinions and a friend to the children. It was important to stay neutral and discrete.

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Analyzing and recognizing the limits was a part of the process during the wholeworking-period, and every time when we met the process was repeated. Judgingor showing negative evaluation to them was out of question, since that wouldhave destroyed the trust. But nevertheless, there was place for discussions andsaying out loud opinions for us in a non-judgmental tone.

Its is anyway complicated to start working under the name of voluntaryparticipation in a firm institution, where the habitants are kept inside non-voluntarily. It is natural that skepticism raises up among the children, since theyare used to living in a world of bargaining and abuse, and therefore tend to ask:what do you want from us? When they finally understood that we do not requireany material or effort-based activity from them we gained the contact. This contactand trust are based on the surprise they experience, when they realized thatnobody expects favors from them. This feeling is in strong contrast with theirreality outside the centre and also with the system inside the centre, where theyoungsters receive minus-points from bad activities and plus-points from goodbehavior. Every child has so called point-account, which grows or decreasesaccording to their behavior. The points are to punish or to reward – the youngsterare allowed, for instance, to go outside of the building with the guard if they arebehaving well and when behaving badly they loose some privileges. The systemthat we proposed – system without giving-taking points – was a shock. But it wasfunctional – the surprise worked.

At first the children were unmotivated and untrusting. They felt that we werejust teachers, who come and try to tell them how they should live and behave.Within a short time period we gained contact, cooperation (group-work, team-work), increasing interest and initiative, raise of the trust and working towardsone purpose.

Most likely, the main aim of the children was to have some variation andexcitement for their everyday routines in the centre. Certainly, one importantaspect for them was the fact, that somebody visits and is interested in them –listens what they have to say. Realizing that we are interested in their opinionswas of great motivation to take part in the workshop.

Our purpose was to learn more about the lives of the children – the way theyfeel, think and act in the world – to learn about people different from us. The aimwas to show with forum theatre games how it is possible to have fun and feel niceand that there are always choices and other possibilities in life… Another goal wasto provide the children with variation in their life and to consciously lead anddirect their thoughts towards a direction where they could think at least for sometime about something else that they usually do (which is about escaping from thecentre, toxic substances, drugs, etc.). There was also an aim to prepare a forum-play and perform it for the strangers who come to the centre to visit.

In the process of the forum theatre workshop we considered following activitiesand aspects:

1) Strong and purposeful icebreaking with forum theatre games was needed(ice-breaking);

2) It was necessary to build trust and that we did with different types ofgames invented by Augusto Boal and Markus Zohner games (so called“Boal and Zohner games“);

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3) Creating games with using improvisation techniques;4) For the creation of the forum-scenes we used pictures (still-images/stop-

photos);5) Preparing and performing forum play to strangers who come from outside

of the centre;

Markus Zohner is a director and an actor from Switzerland, who is the ownerand former of a theatre school concentrating on improvisational techniques (http://www.zohnertheater.ch/Markus Zohner Theater Compagnie).

Local need for Forum Theatre workshop, positive and negative aspects

In this kind of closed institution there is a big need for forum theatre kind ofactivity, but more importantly there is big need for every kind of activity comingfrom outside and inside the house, which activates positive thinking and behavioramong the children. It could be, for example, amusement-groups/rat packs orsome other kind of activity-trainings. The forum theatre methods we used, werejust a drop in the sea. More easily measurable and larger number of results couldbe reached in regular forum theatre workshops. The best way would be to havea regular schedule for the visits and to have the same participants each time -there should be a fixed week day and time to the workshop, in order to reach aclear rhythm for the visits.

In the future there could be two groups in work at the same time– one forRussian and one for Estonian speaking children. Why it is possible to say that

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forum theatre is just a drop in the sea? Because we are dealing with deeplyviolated children, who would all actually need different kind of therapies (preferablycreative ones) and thorough regular individual attendance to work with theirthinking-patterns and deal with their childhood experiences etc. Forum theatrecan support these issues and function as a courage-lesson, teaching better self-expression, developing emotional intelligence and in other different ways, but itis not therapy. Forum theatre can have a therapeutic influence, but is not therapy,and the children who participate in the process are not clients or patients - theyare spect-actors, they are human beings, children.

One mistake that influenced the work process was that there were too longpauses between the meetings, which made the process a little dissipated andforced us, forum-group members and the children, often to start the processfrom the beginning after each brake. On the other hand, this was good, since inthis way we had to be creative in our works and extend ourselves, which createdbetter basis to be able to create trust between the children and us.

From all the positive aspects here could be mentioned the whole experiencethat we got from the work with these children - creating a contact takes timeand effort - but after it is reached it is therefore rather stable. The communicationstage that seems impossible in the beginning can be reached with patience. If youhave patience, the change is slow, but will nevertheless happen – from time totime these children were more focused and attentive and were able to work asa group.

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Forum theatre on TV youth program “The Fist”

The Background and the Format of the Program

The VAT Theatre’s forum theatre work on TV has not been directly involved inthe Drama Way project, but it has been presented in the National workshops asan excellent method of distributing the drama work to a wider audience, andcreate a genuine, young people’s forum to publicly discuss the themes that arerelevant to them.

The Estonian Television’s (ETV) youth-program “The Fist” (“Rusikas”) wasshot during a period from January to April in 2000. The authors of the programreceived the impulse to use forum theatre scenes in television from the VATTheatre Forum Group performances in spring of 1999, during the “Youth withoutViolence” festival (“Vägivallata Noorus”).

Fifteen short plays on different themes were created in co-operation with theVAT Theatre Forum Group. Each one of the TV shows lasted 40 minutes and therecording of each one took about 90 minutes.

The Working Process

The VAT Theatre Forum Group actors played different scenes, which dealt withthe problems that young people have. Each show had its own theme, which wasthen dealt with. Before recording the show for television, the producers sent thetheme of the play to the VAT Theatre Forum Group director, Margo Teder. TheForum Group worked with the script, and after three or four meetings orrehearsals, during which the group used Forum Theatre methodology (still-imagesetc.), the group made a short play on the theme. Then the play was performed

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for the TV show directing team. After that there was a discussion about the play- the purpose of which was to make it as real as possible.

The structure of “The Fist”:1. Introductions by the host of the TV show.2. The VAT Theatre Forum Group actors play the problematic scenes.3. The Characters sit in the hot seat (This means that the guests and the host

of the show can ask questions from the characters in order to betterunderstand the scene, how the characters feel about each other and whathad generally happened in the story. Actors have to answer through theircharacters and have to stay in their roles through the whole duration ofthe show and to answer the questions honestly, just as if they were havinga discussion in their head, with themselves). The three guests (high schooland university students and specialists – psychologist, gynecologists etc.)of the show sit opposite to the actors. The guests then help to deal withthe theme problem by asking questions, until the guests find a way to solvethe problem presented in the scene in a way that does not result in anyonegetting hurt. The dialogue between the characters and guests is organizedby the host of the show, who also puts the new way of seeing the situationinto words and describes to the characters how they have to change theirbehavior in the scene.

4. The problematic scene is then played again, but now in a new way.5. The host of the show concludes the show.

The main point of the dialogue is to stimulate people into thinking about theproblem, not to give them exact solutions or ways to deal with the conflicts.

Young lady harrassed at the bus stop on the Estonian TV forum.

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After the show, people watching the program at home had a chance to givefeedback and tell what they would like to see in the next show by sending an e-mail or a letter. Before the next show the directing team went through theletters.

Some of the topics that were dealt with in the TV show “The Fist”:

• faith • religion • grief • stealing • drugs • alcohol • bullying • street violence • family problems • money problems • love • friendship • trust

Similar interactive TV shows are also done in Canada by David Diamond whohandles themes like problems with street children and native people by usinginteractive theatre methodology (see www.headlinestheatre.com).

3. Are these kinds of interactive TV shows needed? Positive andnegative aspects of the TV show.

Forum Theatre creates a possibility to discuss the problems of Estonian youth.These problems are not dealt with much in Estonia. Although, it is very importantto start in early, from the roots – from young people, maybe even kindergartenchildren. This is because sometimes the reasons for unemployment, deviantbehavior and asocial lifestyle have their roots in the childhood. During childhoodthe environment affects a person very much. The media have a big influence,through all of its channels – radio, press, television and other media. It is knownthat computer games, different chats and dating sites on the Internet are verypopular. The popularity of these kinds of activities shows that youngsters needto communicate and speak their minds on various issues.

It is important for young people to talk about their problems and relationships.Nowadays children’s TV programs often underestimate the children’s abilitiesand way of thinking. Television should offer more shows in which youngsterscould tell their opinions about things; they should be equal members of thesociety. Youngsters could be the best specialists in making decisions about theirown lives. They might be full of interest to find solutions to the problems, whichthey can relate to; Forum Theatre methodology gives them that opportunity.

In Estonia there is a show for women, in which they can appear to the publicand speak their minds. This show is called “Mamma Mia”.

There are also some interactive shows, mainly on the radio, which deal withthemes such as men and women in relationships. People can participate in the

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discussions by calling the show, but television offers a chance to visualize andillustrate the problems that are handled. The show “Mamma Mia” also used thehot seat method, in which the people sit in their seats and tell their stories. Thehost of the show is like a Joker, who asks the questions and controls the discussion.The difference between the TV shows “The Fist” and “Mamma Mia,” is that in“The Fist” the participants are anonymous, no-ones real story is presented, butin “Mamma Mia” people talk about their own stories. “Mamma Mia” does not tryto find solutions to the problems either, nor is there a scene performed in it.Both of the shows are produced by the same person.

Performing forum theatre in television is different from doing it at youthcenters or schools, as television is a very technical environment. In the usualsurroundings the play is not performed more than once, but for television theplay was shot many times in order to make it technically better and to have itlook good on TV. On television the performance is not a traditional forum theatreperformance with a big audience; neither is it a workshop in which all individualsare physically involved in the process. On television, it is forum theatre formconformed for television, where the public can not go on stage and show howthey would act in this kind of a situation.

If there would be a possibility to do this kind of television show and use theforum method in it in the future, the host of the show should have knowledge onforum theatre, and he or she should have gone through a Joker training. The hostof “The Fist” show was not very competent (she had no experience or educationalbackground connected to Forum Theatre). The host of the show should be gooda show-man and have a good social sense. He or she should not be a psychologist,who goes into details of the characters problems. Forum theatre story representscommon problems that are recognizable for larger groups of people. This makesthe people feel that the story is about people and things that they can relate to,and if it affects and attracts them, it will activate them to start a dialogue. Forumtheatre should certainly not be TV-therapy session.

In the future it would be interesting to make public or open recordings of theforum theatre performances in schools (of course participation would bevoluntary). Other possibility would be to take more audience into the TV studioduring the show – then the audience members could also be involved in theforum-process. Another option would be a live TV show, where people could callfrom home and tell what they think of the problem and how people or charactersshould act so that the story would end in a better way. The theme of the show –problems of the young people - could remain the same, but the format of theshow should be more innovative.

In addition to the youngsters’ themes, there also should be other themesdealt with in the public TV forum shows in order to start dialogue and discussion.Themes could vary – starting with changes and processes in the community,which involve little groups of people, going all the way to the problems thatinvolve all the citizens of the country (for example, this could have been usefulbefore voting for or against the European Union membership). Forum plays couldbe used before making big decisions or voting for laws. Forum theatre method isgood for making things more visual and understandable.

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Using Improvisational Technique in Forum Theatre

An Example of an Improvisation Exercise

One way to apply improvisational techniques is to use them in the story-findingprocess of forum theatre, for instance during the workshop or group work. Inthat case using so-called picture-system technique is a part of the working process.

The stages of the picture-system exercise:

1. Somebody from the group says out loud one noun (for instance a tree, aspoon, a chair, etc.). After that, the members of the group compose a threeperson statue or a still-image according to their first impulse.

The rules: The first actor must follow the word and set a fixed position oran image that is physically strong. The second actor sets into a fixed positionaccording to the first actor’s position and his position should show a conflictwith the first actor (it does not have to be physical contact). The thirdactor takes a fixed position according to the conflict he sees between thefirst two actors and acts as a counterpoint to them. This means, that thethird one supports the conflict between the first and the second personfor instance by presenting the contents of the conflict with his fixed position(time, place, relationships, etc.).

2. The Joker works with the concrete and correct statue or still-image thathas been created by the three members of the forum theatre workshop.When the statue is ready and formed according to the rules, the Jokerasks each actor that is posed in the statue to say one sentence that shouldcontain more information than what the statue can visually convey.

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The rules: It is important that the person who came to the statue first, alsosays the sentence first. The second person must follow the first person’s ideaand say his sentence according to the first one’s direction of thinking. Thethird person says his sentence in accordance to the first and second person’sthread of thought. For instance when the second person thinks that he is ina conflict with his mother, but the first person says a sentence, where itbecomes evident that she is a teacher, the statue is going to describe aconflict involving a teacher and the second and the third person will have totake notice of this. The first person who comes to the statue creates thebasis and the theme of the story that the other two have to acknowledgeand follow, even though they might have seen something else, some otherstory, when they came into the statue. This is the moment when improvisationis very important – the moment when the two last people have heard, whatthe first one has said and have to become acclimatized into the plot.

A ready statue or still-image, in which the actors have scripts, could be thebase for a forum theatre play or story. This kind of improvisational work couldbe used with any group from children to seniors and from so-called normalpeople to groups of people with more problems. Improvisational techniques arealso useful to use with the actors in the rehearsals of forum theatre performancesand the story-finding process.

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Other possibilities for the use of improvisational techniques

The VAT Theatre Forum Group director and Joker Margo Teder’s comments andexperiences in using improvisational techniques are in the following:

“I have used the improvisational techniques in working with childrenover 6 years of age. When using different improvisation-exercisesaccording to the needs of the group in group work, it is possible to findnew stories, develop the actors’ fantasy and listening abilities, concentrateattention, etc.

Certain improvisation-exercises are very useful to organize, for instance,Lightning Forum performance – performance within and in the middle of aperformance. It is possible to perform a forum play without preparations and byusing the audience only. This is what I once did with the students of ViljandiAcademy of Culture.

The performance started with some warm-up games, where, for example, thebest players won a possibility to be or become an actor as a prize. The story wasbased on the first conflict. The wishes and the needs of the characters wereformed on the base of the dialogue with the audience (the audience gave thestory). Then, according to the information given by the audience, the actorsimprovised and created a forum play. I have used the improvisation-technique inthe work with young people very much.

Margo Teder and Mari-Liis Velberg, Estonia 2004.

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While being the director of the Tallinn 32 Secondary School’s acting group Iworked very thoroughly with a group of students and we used the improvisation-technique very often in creating plays. By now some of the drama-group membershave become actors and actresses in the VAT Theatre Forum Group and havevery strong improvisational techniques. Improvisation-techniques are also veryuseful when applied in teaching or developing group work. This is becauseimprovisation requires people to listen, support and help each other. Ideally, onemonth is the minimum period to work with one group in order to reach a point,in which the actors have learned the improvisation-techniques well enough to beable to perform freely in an improvisational play.

Form the point of view of forum theatre some improvisation-exercises arevery good in fieldwork too. For instance when the VAT Theatre Forum Groupwas working with the children of Tallinn’s Center of Children at Risk, I used manyplayful and fun improvisation-exercises, and while participating and being a partof the exercises, the children gave very interesting information about themselves.”

Handbook material from Estonia is based on the VAT Theatre Forum Groupmembers work experience. The VAT Theatre Forum Group actresses: Mari-LiisVelberg, Kadi Jaanisoo, Piret Soosaar. The director and Joker: Margo Teder

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Forum theatre workshops in Estonia, October 2003

BackgroundThere was a Forum theatre workshop in Tallinn run by Jouni Piekkari. The eventtook place in October 2003. There were roughly 24-26 participants from differentbackgrounds: secondary school drama groups, youth and social workers andstudents, actors, activity therapy students and drama teachers.

The workshop was targeted at the first timers, who had no previousexperiences of forum theatre. This workshop was organized by the VAT Theatreforum group independently from the Drama Way project. There was a need tofind a fresh start for the local forum theatre activities and create a networkwithin the new groups of people.

Jouni Piekkari has facilitated similar kinds of forum theatre guest workshopswith different groups in the VAT Theatre since 1999.

Description of the Activities

1st Day

IntroductionWhat is the Theatre of the oppressed? History, basic ideas, participation anddifferent roles.What is oppression?

Warm-up exercisesThe Toronto handshake. People shake each others hands, always having one handlinked to someone else’s hand. Who am I, why did I come here?

A name game series. Atoms and molecules, groups according to hair type, typeof trousers, favorite music. People always learn each other’s names in small groups.Check if people remember each other’s names in a big circle.

Blind walk with a partner. Moving front and back, touching things etc, freemovement. Share the experience.

Complete the image. Three people complete the image. Image becomes alive.Continue.

Example of a Forum Theatre Performance(a simulation of an audience forum)

1. Explanation: what is forum theatre?2. Audience warm-ups: a) draw a circle and a cross in the air, b) touch a color

etc. c) introducing oneself to the neighbor in a non-sense language4. Watch the forum: A bus stop harassment scene5. Analysis: What was it about? What is the problem actually about? Was it

ok? Who were in trouble?6. Hot seating: asking questions from the characters.

JouniPiekkari

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7. Intervention through questioning:• How and what could the girl have done differently to avoid or overcome

the problem, to have a more positive result?• OK – come and do it! Defining the actual spot of the scene to start etc.

3-4 interventions were only tried this time. No other techniques of exploringwere used, due to the actors tight time tables.

Creating Forum Stories Based on the Participants’ Experiences

Warm-ups:Blind magnets. Pull or repel.Random still images. Jumping, contacts etc. Freeze! Three selected in the samesituation. Various interpretations!

”Magnetic image”Rehearsal: SEPARATE Images of the EU and Estonia. Interpretations.People’s own recent stories of oppression (when was I forced to do, think, or sayother than I wanted to).5 different Magnetic images created: based on the feeling in that situation.Others go to the magnets that call to them, and then copy their statue.Internal voices.Sharing and discussion: (in small groups) what attracted me?Create an image of oppression. With the use of real characters around. Done byusing the original magnet image. Create a new fictional story, characters etc.Share other people’s images. Interpretations; images become alive.

Works as a basis for the next day’s work.

Images were:1. A negotiation with death2. A student wanting to go to a forum theatre course3. Teacher publicly scolds a student about exam results in front of the whole

class4. Theft of a mobile phone5. Drug rehabilitation center – case of a theft

Feedback circle

2nd Day

Warm-up ExercisesThe atoms and molecules game was used throughout the workshop to split thegroup into groups of different sizes.

Energy clap. Three claps move in the circle from person to person at the sametime. Eye contact, concentration.

Trust falls. Done in groups of five people. The person in the center falls on thehands, and bodies of the people around him or her.

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Limailjetys (Sticky gremlins or Infectious disease). The leader of the group is thefirst disease or gremlin, who makes faces and starts chasing the others. Everyonemoves in slow-motion and tries to escape. When someone is caught, she or healso becomes a Sticky gremlin and starts chasing the rest of the group. Finallyeveryone is a gremlin.

Improvisation exercises. To learn how to solve conflicts, we have to learn todramatize them. This is the idea of conflict in drama.

Winning and loosing. In pairs: one person in the pair starts a definite activity,the other one then tries to win power over the other, and again the first onetries to win, etc. Words, statuses etc. can be used. The facilitator claps his handsand the pairs begin to loose to each other in a similar way.

A wants B to do something that she or he does not want to do. Relationship (mother-daughter etc.) First A starts an activity in a well defined space (for example in thekitchen, washing the dishes). Then B enters, begins to do things in the same space,talks, and little by little enters into the issue and towards the conflict.

An example of a forum dramaturgy

A forum designed for students, training to be teachers, to help them recognizebullying (kiusamine) in the class.

The forum was designed by the students of Jouni Piekkari at HelsinkiPolytechnic.

Dramaturgy in brief:

1. Teacher training graduation party. Speeches on the modern theories oflearning. Dance, a karate ritual that fails.

2. The teacher and the new student preparing in the front of their mirrorsfor their first day in a new school.

3. The teacher meets the headmaster, who “gives the ball in the teacher’shands”. (The headmaster passes by regularly to check on the class).

4. Scenes of starting with soft, game methods of teaching. Bullying of the newstudents begins.

5. Scene of not noticing the bullying.6. Scene of bullying the teacher.7. The bullied girl leaves the class. The teacher does not do anything, although

she thinks about calling the girl back, but fears the results.8. Days pass by, the classroom routines are repeated ritually, pupils come and

leave, the bullied girl does not come back, and strict order methods prevail.9. Announcement: the bullied girl is now in the hospital, the teacher is asked

to come and have a discussion with the headmaster.

See on minu koht! In pairs. Two people take one chair, the other sits; the otherenters in different ways trying to get the place. Sentences that were used were“That is my place” and “No, that is my place”. Nothing else was allowed.

Evaluation: What type of manipulation could you find in that exercise? Whatactually is “oppression”? What forms can it take?

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Voting the theme for the day’s workThe images created by the small groups during the previous day were listed.The selected scene was about a pupil, who wants to go to a forum theatrecourse during the school day, but teacher does not allow him to go.

”Scripting Forum on its Feet”

1. The original image seen again.2. Give names, ages, and characteristics to the people: What good and what

bad can you find about them, how do you see them, how do the characterssee themselves?

3. Hot seating: the participants go to one of the characters and start askingquestions. The small groups share their research results with the largegroup.

4. Defining the problem. What exactly is the problem? Whose problem is it?We saw that it was both the teacher’s and the pupil’s problem. We chosethe pupil as the main character (protagonist).

5. Opening scene. The participants split into two opposing groups. They thinkof three movements and three sentences that describe the main charactersattitude towards life: what she wants and what are her values in life. Createa dance.

6. The person playing the main character selects four of these. They arepositioned in the scene and rehearsed to be one after another in a randomorder.

7. Second scene: Two friends at the yoga gym, the other one is writing a textmessage about the soon to start lesson. Dialogue: one of the two issuspicious about the training.

8. Reasons for why to go, and why to not go to the lesson: a conscience alley.Again we pick those voices that were good and provocative and tell aboutthe person’s dilemma. The thoughts create a physical expression. Tried withand without words. The idea is to also try and seduce the audience. Achoreographed scene is created.

9. Improvisation on the basis of the original scene is created and redirected.Stage is emptied and important objects are added. We decided that thestage is a biology class, with microscope examination of water. Teacherchecks the tests, and the pupil takes up the issue that she is actually leavingto go to the forum theatre course. She leaves, the teacher turns, andeverybody else wants to leave as well.

10. Consequences and the future problems of a) the teacher, and b) the student.Small groups created improvised scenes of what could happen in the future.We watched all eight of them. After each one we asked the followingquestions: Was this a logical follow-up? Could this really happen? Whatparts were realistic?

11. In the play the scenes about the teacher’s problems and the student’sproblems were chosen. The forum play would end up in a situation werethe student slaps the teacher on the face without thinking, and then escaping.

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12. Brainstorming for solutions: What could the teacher or the student dodifferently in order to reach a more positive result? In what situation?Some solutions were discussed. The rest of the discussion was left for thee-mail list.

The improvisations were documented on video. This material could be usedto create a script based on the selected parts of the improvisations.

Actor’s work should be made deeper during various exercises. Motives andthe development of conflicts should be defined, music or soundtrack should beadded and stage design and costumes should be developed.

Finally, the forum should be rehearsed with different interventions severaltimes before taking on stage it to be tested by the audience.

Suitable audience warm-ups and introduction to the theme should bedeveloped, just as well as alternative ways of audience intervention and feedback.

The Feedback CircleBrainstorm: What should be done in the future? What kind of training do weneed? Where could we apply what we have learned?

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Spain (Catalonia)Spain (Catalonia)Spain (Catalonia)Spain (Catalonia)

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Clowns for Clean Clothes -Campaign

“Are our clothes contaminated by injustice?”

What is the Clean Clothes Campaign?

In 1989 a demonstration was held in front of a Dutch clothing store to protestagainst bad working conditions in the Philippines where the clothes were actuallyproduced. This protest grew in the Netherlands into an ongoing campaign, calledthe Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC). The campaign, which focused on improvingworking conditions in the global garment and sportswear industries, is now activein 11 other European countries too.

Each of the European CCC is a coalition of NGOs and trade unions. Theywork autonomously at a national level, and come together to work jointly at aEuropean level. This European campaign network is backed up by a broader,international network that includes trade unions, NGOs, and individuals incountries, where the garments are produced. These areas include Asia, Africa,Eastern Europe, and Central America. The CCC also co-operates with similarcampaigns in the United States, Canada, and Australia.

What does the CCC do?

The CCC has four broad categories of activity with the ultimate aim of improvingworking conditions in the industry and empowering the workers.

These areas of activity are

• Raising awareness & mobilizing consumers • Pressuring companies to take responsibility • Solidarity actions • Lobbying and legal action

The Clean Clothes Campaign has been organized by SETEM since 1997.(see http://www.ropalimpia.org /www.setem.org)

The Origins of the Drama Workshop

Soon after the beginning of Drama Way in May 2003, Elena Estrada, the coordinatorof the Clean Clothes Campaign in Spain, and Toni Codina, the director of SETEMin Barcelona, offered me the chance of creating a theatrical workshop based onthe CCC (Clean Clothes Campaign).

The interactive theatrical workshop was created to look at new ways ofraising awareness and mobilizing consumers, especially young people. People arenot used to attending conferences, and if they are, they usually get bored easily.We came up with the idea of introducing the information whilst making it fun.This type of interactive experience is perfect for helping people to becomeaware of the issues, and remember them.

DavidMartínez

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The Description of the Workshop

Target Audience: Mainly young people in secondary education, between theages of 14 and 18, although it could also be extended to university students,centers for the Third Age and the general public.

50 people or less would be the recommended number for enclosed spaces.

Timeframe: The workshop has been running since July 2003 and each workshoplasts approximately 2 hours.

Location: Preferably in an enclosed space, where you can hang clothes on cords.It can also take place in the street, although a few structural changes would needto be made.

Materials: A sound system, six tables (four to make up the scenery, and two forcontrolling the entrance and for storing the CCC equipment), chairs and pensfor the participants, decorative elements; colorful materials and different clothes,the campaign material and a water bottle.

Activity Objectives:

• To demonstrate the causes of why our clothes are contaminated by injustice. • To show the situation of workers in the textile sector. • To show the chain of events in clothes production. • To bring attention to our own usage of clothes. • To motivate the participants to come up with better alternatives. • To present the ideas of the Clean Clothes Campaign, and what we can do

to help. • To have fun in the process.

Checkpoint Clown: Are your clothes contaminated, asks the clown by David Martínez.

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Methodology

The methodology of the workshop is always based on interaction. Two clownslead the workshop (Fefe and Fafata or an assistant), which is made up of differentactivities and games, designed to get the participants involved in the ideas of theworkshop, using the interactive techniques of Forum Theatre.

Why Clowns?

We decided to use Clowns for different reasons. Usually these issues aredemonstrated aggressively to the audience, in terms of showing the worst sideof the problem in order to really hit the idea home and to make consumers feelguilty or responsible. We believe that this is not a positive way of raising awarenessand mobilizing consumers because people can easily shut their minds to theideas as a sort of defense reaction. Using clowns is a quick way to make theparticipants have a more open attitude towards the issues.

Humor is a nice way of bringing people together. Smiling is a good exerciseand unites people. The red nose has a power, so why not use it for a goodpurpose? Clowns help to create an interest and their jokes are important as acontrast to the seriousness of the problem. Clowns are not at all clever and theyare very innocent, so whilst they are joking they are able to ask important questionsinstead of just providing answers. We want to make people think as much aspossible and provoke them into participating.

Process: Work in Progress

We are changing or creating new aspects after each workshop, because each timewe learn something new from such a variety of different groups: teenagers, working

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people, parents, University students, etc., and thus we are able to improve the workshop.We create different characters specific for each group. We always try to create agood atmosphere to encourage people to say what they really think or feel.

Content (basic script)It can always be varied depending on the time available, the number and the typeof the participants and the dynamics of the session.

The Injustice Contamination DetectorParticipants enter the workshop individually so that our detector can calculatethe degree of injustice with which any one person’s clothes are contaminated.Normally we use a piece of wool as a sensor, although also we have used othermaterials. The clown who welcomes the participants inside the workshop thenuses his own voice to create the sound of the detector. The other clown preparesthe people to enter.

Warm Up and Contact GamesThe games vary depending on the group.

Two Examples:T-shirts and Trousers: Form 2 groups, one T-shirts, the other Trousers. The Trouserskeep their arms extended up in the air and the T-shirts keep their arms in a crossformation. They all walk around and we shout out different clothes combinationslike trousers-trousers, t-shirt-trousers, t-shirt-t-shirt. On hearing this they haveto pair up with and embrace another participant to create the formation.Touching an article of their companion’s clothes:

Each member of the formed pair chooses an article of clothing.

“Clean Clothes” QuestionnaireEveryone must respond to the questions that are on the piece of clothing chosenby their companion. (The reading of the random questions is voluntary)

A group discussion on the results of the game and people’s opinions on theissues. Finding out what the similarities in the viewpoints are between eachgroup member.

Acting Out the Commercialization of ClothesA visual representation of the steps that have already occurred by the time wesee a product advertised, using an extreme example of the chain, where we seeas far back as to the moment when the worker makes the article.Participants interact in the show and forum.

An Interview with Zoila and NajatIn the interview with Zoila and Najat we see how two different positionsconcerning the same issue are reflected. Zoila is a worker who left the countrysideto look for his fortunes in the city of Tangiers (Northern Morocco) and now isstuck in a textile factory working under very harsh conditions and without anyhope of improvement.

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Najat is an ex-worker of a textile factory in Tangiers She was dismissed forbeing one of those principally involved in a 20-day strike, where all the workersparticipated. Now she lives in Seville (Spain), where she works for an NGO andtries to help her compatriots. She thinks that the situation can change, but onlyif workers denounce their employers.

The interview ends with a “Hot Seat” where the participants can ask whatthey like from the special guests.

Responsible Consumerism GamesThere are many games of responsible consumerism. One of the most popular iscalled the Cruise. All the participants have won a magnificent cruise and a blankcheck for expenses, with which they must buy a maximum of five things that theyfeel, are necessary for the journey. They have to write each item down on a card.The ship begins to have severe problems after a violent storm, and the passengersare forced to abandon the ship and get on a lifeboat. In order to stabilize thelifeboat they have to get rid of two of the 5 chosen items. After two more daysand with no sight of land, they are forced to get rid of two more of the chosenitems. Finally, they arrive on a desert island, with only one of their chosen items.Once they get on the island, the group has to organize themselves and see whattheir basic needs are, and how to provide for themselves with the remainingitems. The final part of the game is when a plane finds them and saves them andeach individual has to reflect upon their five chosen items and whether theywould choose the same items if the situation arose again.

A mini-discussion, chaired by Dr Torribes, with an open question session. Dr.Torribes, a university professor, talks about the fundamentals of the Clean ClothesCampaign and answers any possible questions from participants. He himself haspreviously suffered a nervous breakdown, and as a result f this, he speaks veryfast and when he gets excited he loses his breath, and needs to drink water inorder to continue.

Results

We found that people come to the workshop with a certain amount of surpriseand expectation and that is great. They want to play, and to take part in theactivities, and they have fun learning about the Clean Clothes Campaign.

Usually people are happy with their experience and think about the situationswe have acted out. After the workshop, the audience becomes more curious andconcerned about labor rights issues. Some people feel a little bit hopeless becausethey can not see a quick solution, whilst others congratulate us because theylaughed a lot and they feel that these kinds of shows are very necessary. Theyalso complain about the non-transparency of the companies, and how very littleinformation is available on the subject. The success of the workshop is perhapsfound in pulling together an entertaining environment with a socially importantcontent.

All the objectives are usually completed, although this varies according to thegroup attending. The situation is changes slightly depending on whether the groupcame voluntarily or not, on their age etc.

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Since the workshop was started: • It has raised considerably the number of visits to the CCC Website. • It has introduced some very interesting proposals and visions for the future. • It has opened up mini-debates on immigration and racism. • The campaign has received more volunteers.

Commentaries

The requirements of the consumer in general are very worrying these days,particularly concerning clothes, above all amongst young people. Many youngpeople recognize clearly that the only thing that matters to them is the brand ofthe clothes and that they like them selves like the clothes, without thinking aboutanything else. It seems evident that education plays a key role in this matter, mostimportantly the amount of time that children and young people go unprotectedagainst the excesses of consumerism, largely in the form of advertising.

In the workshop we always act out a scene where people are being exploited,getting the participants involved. They often feel impotent as individuals in thisscenario and sometimes react in an aggressive manner because they do not wantto feel responsible for the situation. Many of them are shocked to see the otherside of the situation for the first time. Most people had not ever imagined thatsituations like this even existed and they ask for information on brands that arenot contaminated by injustice. Unfortunately none exist at the moment, eventhough considerable improvements have been made.

How to Develop the Activities in the Future

The workshop is continuously developing, and now we have created a versionwith new characters and materials that can be carried out in the street. As far asthe content is concerned, we can try new ways, but this always proves difficultbecause of time constraints. Two hours go by very quickly when the public isparticipating and the entertainers are clowns. When we tried to include morecontent it became a struggle against time to complete the whole script whichdid not help the public in understanding the issues.

Now we are thinking of creating parallel workshops, or continuing workshopswith a more concrete content and a less general topic concerning the consumptionof clothes. This way we can get deeper into a particular issue, for example, theday-to-day reality of a worker in the textile industry, or the issue of competitionto reduce costs and to be more competitive etc. These types of workshopswould not necessarily require a clown, but apply process drama instead. At themoment, this is an idea still in development.

Actors Working in the WorkshopTxus Martínez, Jose Adserias and David Martínez.

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Uncovering the Conflict.Exploring Our Decisions Through Drama

“Light, always light of prisons loaded”

Prisons in Catalonia

Currently there are nine prisons in Catalonia, three of which are in Barcelona.These nine prisons have been functioning since 1993 (under the CIU government)with a 29% increase in prisoners during that time, which correlates to a significantlyhigh occupation level within these prisons. With the change to the presentgovernment (PSC-ERC-IUV) it appears that there is an impulse towards theconstruction of new prisons (15 prisons in nine years) and the improvement ofthe existing ones, but at the moment this remains a promise.

The present situation derives from the state policy of the previous PPgovernment that chose the incarceration of an increasing number of individualsas a security measure, while ignoring the conditions of the centers. In the rest ofCatalonia there has also been a 29% increase of prisoners.

“La Modelo” Prison (The Model)

The optimum occupation level for this prison is considered to be 700 people;however the center currently holds 2,037 inmates, almost three times the advisablelevel. This center is located downtown Barcelona, in a deteriorated building, whichhas been waiting for years on a decision for it to be restored or to be relocatedto another, less visible site. At present it is the center with the most prisoners inCatalonia.

DavidMartínez

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The Background of the Prison Workshop

The Drama Way theatre initiative was dedicated to promoting the implementationof new theatre projects locally. One of the options the group investigated was todevelop a theatre workshop with young prisoners, while always utilizing theatrepresentations as a work tool. The first option explored was to work in the “LaTrinitat” prison, through a contact with Ahmel Benallal, a social worker, whospecializes in helping to solve problems faced by Moroccan inmates. This centeris exclusively for young prisoners from the age of 18 to 25.

We visited this prison and conducted a test session. Both parties wereinterested, but the strict schedule of activities in the center did not facilitate theincorporation of the workshop in the optimum conditions. The second optionwas to work in the prison “La Modelo” with Oriol Bosch, a civil employee in chargeof theatrical activities at the prison. After a meeting with Julio Zino, a member ofthe Servei de Rehabilitació del Departament de Justicia I Interior (RehabilitationServices of the Justice and Interior Department) of the Catalonian stategovernment, our proposal was authorized by the head of services, Jesús Martínezi Martin and we were able to begin the workshop.

Description of the Workshop

Working with theatre in a prison opens many different paths, and while alwaysstaying within the objectives and possibilities of the center, can be developed inunique ways. The theatre activity that I presented is not designed for the publicbut for ourselves and the participants from the prison. Theatre, in this case, isused to undertake a different journey from what is achieved throughrepresentational theatre. In interactive theatre everyone represents differentpersonalities and everyone can be a protagonist, each person helping to solvethe conflict raised in the drama.

This work model, in which the sessions are normally independent, facilitatesthe incorporation of new participants. Each person is obliged to participatephysically in the session and can do so in the moment they choose. This is theatreto educate from the individual experience, which also includes the incorporationof playing games.

Target group: The intention was to work principally with juvenile inmates fromthe “La Modelo” prison, identified as being in a preventive* state. Preventiveidentifies a prisoner who is waiting judgment. These prisoners are the ones thatdo not have sufficient money to pay for bail. A “preventive” inmate can be jailedfor a period that varies from several months to five years, while waiting to bedeclared innocent or guilty and to receive their judgment.

We worked with individuals who participated in the prisons theater activities; themajority of them were preventives, although there were some participants completingtheir sentences. They were inmates who were housed in sections (galerías) 1, 2 and 3of the prison. In La Modelo there are 6 sections in which the prisoners are located,based upon their behavior. The volunteers who choose theatre must attend thesessions each day with their educator. The days that we did not work on interactivetheatre with them, we presented Moliere’s work “The Doctor to his Grief”.

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Duration: The proposed work plan was for a total of three months, workingtwo days each week in three hour sessions, including a final, open session whereadditional members of the project Drama Way were incorporated.

The Location of the Activity: The ideal area to hold this type of workshop isan independent space, with as little furniture as possible and with a warm floor.The initial space made available to us was a large room with a stage, but which,unfortunately we soon discovered was also a passageway to and from otherrooms. This made it difficult to concentrate well enough and resulted in theconstant exiting and entering of the participants. In the final sessions, therefore,we decided to transfer the activity to a music classroom that although significantlysmaller, allowed for a better concentration and facilitated the participation ofthe entire group.

Materials: Materials provided by the center included stereo equipment, a videorecorder (used during some of the sessions), and other props to enrich thegames; such as, fabric, clothes etc. For each session the material used changedbased on the content, which was developed during the session. This material wasnormally supplied by the teacher.

The Objectives of the Activity:

• Entertainment of the participants. • Improve the participants’ ability to analyze conflicts. • Allow the participants to exchange and discuss their preoccupations. • Improve relations between the prisoners. • Develop the prisoners’ understanding and interest in drama and theatre. • Harness the creative and analytical abilities of the participants.

Methodology:

The base of all the activities is game playing. The first part of a session focuses onremoving the participants’ inhibitions, while the second part consists of a theatricalwork either presented as a story, or around a concrete subject, and finally theactivity ends with open commentaries about the session.

• Dramatic games for alleviating inhibitions (Norman Taylor, Phillippe Gaulier,Antón Valé and others)

• Activities based on the proposals of Augusto Boal • Activities based on the proposals of Allan Owens and Keith Barber

EXAMPLE SESSIONS:

Name Game: All of the participants walk freely around the area and one participantshould touch the hand of another. At the moment when the person is touchedthey must quickly call out the name of one of the participants. If the name isspoken clearly and quickly, and corresponds to one of the participants the personcontinues, if not they are eliminated from the game. To continue the game, the

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person whose name was called out must touch another person, and in this waythe game continues until only two people are left. (If you are touched you say aname, if your name is said you touch someone).

The Air Serpent: The participants form a circle. The leader begins to look atsomeone in the eyes and sends them an “air serpent” (by blowing air towardsthem). The recipient must absorb the serpent with the same characteristics usedby its “creator” (in rhythm, duration….). Then the recipient becomes the creatorand sends another air serpent to a different participant, and in this way the gamecontinues. The game becomes more complicated when there are various serpentsbeing sent at the same time, and the participants’ perception and concentrationincreases in importance. When the game finishes, the same serpents that wereborn should be kept alive.

Theatre Image: The Hold-upIn one of the sessions we asked the groups to create a still image about “TheDrug” (the participants chose the subject).

One of the images created was of a hold-up. Once presented, the otherparticipants try to guess exactly what happened and what each one of thecharacters had done. A debate began quickly about whether it was a good or abad hold-up, what was dangerous about it and what could have been improved.

Afterwards we utilized different interactive techniques, such as touchinganother person and listening to what they are thinking of, or passing on theaction by slapping palms, or asking questions from the characters about whothey are and what they are doing. Finally to modify the situation, the suggestionsmade resulted in spectators being used to replace some of the characters. Ingeneral, they chose the policeman because he was in an unfavorable situation.Interestingly, the solution that was suggested most often was that the policemanwould shoot to kill.

* The Image Theatre is a technique of the Theatre of the Oppressed created by Augusto Boal.

The Interactive Theatre Scene: The Lunch LineA representation of a scene that is common in the prison cafeteria. There is anextremely long line of people waiting to eat, and a prisoner, who rather violentlyenters the beginning of the queue, appears (they say it is because he is a“Methadone”*), and this causes an intense fight to break out. The action is repeatedwith different protagonists who make recommendations on how to improve thescene. We then form hypotheses about possible motives why the prisonernicknamed “Methadone” acts this way. Almost all of the options presented end ina fight. Therefore, a debate is begins about the scene. Some of the commentariesdiscussed were that since he was drugged he could not care less about thequeue and believed they would let him enter it where he wanted. Or that inreality he wanted to provoke a fight so that they would move him from hisprison section on account of bad behavior, sometimes this is an effective strategyif you have serious problems with someone from the same section. At the end,there was no proposal with which all the participants agreed. The first of the two,which were most widely accepted, was that he would be allowed to enter the

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queue and not be paid attention to, although some of them argued that this wasunacceptable because it is necessary to establish limits. The other one was tonot let him enter the queue, but still avoid a fight breaking out, but many felt itwould be difficult to avoid a fight.

* “Methadone” is the nickname given to some drug-addict prisoners who are given doses of methadoneto calm them down.

Process Drama: “The Rains” (pg. 109-120, Drama Works by Allan Owens &Keith Barber.) Based on a story from Ghana, Africa. “African Dilemma Story”

The Structure of the SessionSome possible steps:Contract: We begin by explaining the origin of the story and its content.Objective: To warm-up and introduce the group to the session.Defining space: Present and explain the set to make the people envision thespace and create an atmosphere.Story-Telling: Tell the story in an appealing and interesting way.

The first part of the story involves a squirrel, whose carefully prepared, is invadedby a large porcupine in search for refuge during the heavy rain season. The squirrelallows the porcupine to stay for three days and three nights – in accordance tothe law of the forest – despite the greatly reduced space in the nest and the factthat the squirrel has just the right amount of food for its needs. When the timehas ended, the squirrel asks the porcupine to leave but he refuses to. This part ofthe story ends when the porcupine says to the squirrel “I do not have a problem,you have the problem”.

Key Question: The story stops at the moment when the conflict is the mostdifficult to resolve, and the leader announces the next step – he or she is goingto play one of the roles, in our case the porcupine, and will ask what the squirrelcan do.

Clarification of the Scene: The leader attempts to clarify the situation for theparticipants and in doing so, encourage them to propose ideas, which can thenbe tried and then possible results may be discussed.

Teacher in Role Play Class Preparing Audience to Comment: Allow theparticipants to feel open to proposing solutions and comment the conflict. Donot rebuke their ideas, and treat all of them seriously.

Commentary on Action: Invite new people with new ideas to enact the scene.

Role Play Teacher in Role Forum: The audience could stop the action if theythink it is going nowhere and try another situation until one solution is found,and a follow-up of the potential consequences has been made.

Narration: The story resumes from the moment when the squirrel continuesto look for a solution that will make the intruder leave. The solution presentedwas that the porcupine falls into a violent river. (At this moment two options canbe offered to the participants to continue the story: one, the porcupine dies, or

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two, he does not die, so that he can be still be used for the rest of the story. Inour case, I opted for the animal dying without consulting with the participants).

While this occurs, the king of the forest passes by and bears witness to theporcupine falling into the river, and the squirrel passively watching, without reactingto the porcupine’s cries for help.

Whole Group Role Play: Everyone has to play his own animal or participate as amember of the court of animals which will pass judgment. The teacher acts as thejudge (and is responsible for organizing different roles: Lawyers, witnesses, etc.).

The Verdict: The judge leaves the room and the group has to decide amongthemselves, if the squirrel is guilty or innocent. If he is guilty they have to decideupon the punishment.

Comments: There are different steps that you could use or adopt depending onyour needs (time, age of the participants, the size of the group, etc.) This processdrama can be developed in different sessions or be adapted for one long session.

The Implementation Process

In the beginning it was relatively slow to implement the process due to the factthat the prisoners distrusted the educator, thinking that he could be a policeinfiltrator. We therefore began the process by conducting numerous games directedat getting to know each other. We also benefited significantly from the participationof the center’s social worker, who is best acquainted with the prisoners andinteracts with them daily.

Once the group accepted working together and we established regularattendance, we began to develop image theatre with the group, applying interactivetheatre techniques. We found that on account of some of the images which werepresented, very interesting debates developed on topics such as how a hold upshould be carried-out, using drugs, the treatment they receive from some of thegovernment employees, the problems of living with other prisoners, racism, thedifferences between prisons from other countries, etc. One of the notable insights,which came out of an Interactive Theatre scene, was the description of a blackmaildemand by the prison’s superiors, so that the prisoners could get a job in prison,which was a subject unknown even to the social worker. This blackmail demandincluded giving information on the other prisoners and giving information aboutdrug trafficking within the prison, etc. Therefore, being a victim of blackmail waspresented as a key step for progressing in the prison system. A question weasked ourselves was what type of re-education are these individuals receivingfor their return into society?

To continue the conflict analysis process, we worked with stories usingthe Process Drama technique. For this process, the structure of the work wasmade more attractive, so that the participation and implication of the prisonersin searching for solutions to different conflicts was increased. In this phase weworked principally with the concepts developed by Allan Owens and Keith Barber.

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Open session for members of drama way

“Hamlet” was the session presented during the meeting of Drama Way inBarcelona, in which the prisoners as well as the visitors participated equally inthe story. The reception was very positive, as was the quality level of theparticipants. Having direct contact with so many people from the outside, somefrom other countries was an additional motivation for the prisoners. It was alsoan interesting experience for the visitors, since the majority of them were enteringa prison for the first time in their lives. It was a meeting of two unique worlds.

Commentaries on the sessions

It was peculiar to see, just as in the story “The Rains” where a final judgment ismade, how in two separate groups they agreed in declaring the squirrel innocent(which normally would be guilty-verdict, given the situation as it was presented),and blaming the lion for being responsible for the imprisonment of the poorsquirrel, since he was the only witness to accuse the squirrel. This experiencedemonstrates how the prisoners project their real desires in fictitious stories,although sometimes some of them do recognize that it would not be the bestsolution, nor the most just.

In one of the sessions of “The Rains” many of the prisoners remained separatedfrom the session, standing at a distance and only observing, but little by little theyall became incorporated into the story at one moment or another. For example,the person who eventually acted as district attorney, in addition to performinghis role very well and energetically, was one of the inmates who had attended allof the sessions as a passive spectator. Interestingly, at the moment that he decidedto participate in the judgment scene, all of the other prisoners demanded that hefirst choose an animal. This situation demonstrates how the participants whoremain outside of the activity, can still follow the session with the same intensityas the others and their participation can be very positive at any moment thatthey enter into the Process Drama.

I was also surprised by the lack of confidence the prisoners had in each other.In a simple game to create dynamics between an enemy and a protector, manyalleged that they were their own protectors, and if there was somebody abovethem it would be God, not another person. “If you have a protector and he fails...what happens to you?”

In the activity “Living on a Farm” it was surprising to see the rigorous andclear concept of justice that the most of the participants had, and how they werewilling to pardon someone, but not in just any arbitrary manner.

Evaluations

Even, when taking into account the relatively short duration of the project, wewere able to observe positive changes in the inmates’ attitudes towards theactivities. The participants evaluated the work as necessary and they evenrequested more sessions in order to continue the process.

I also consider the experience to have been very positive based upon theresponse from the prisoners, the social worker responsible and some of the

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management staff of the center. The ability to create a space, where the prisonerscan dedicate their time to thinking about resolving conflicts and theirconsequences, while entertaining themselves, is fundamental and necessary forpeople who are in a phase of “social re-integration”. Without this type of workthe “circle of hatred” is intensified and the prisoners leave more delinquent thanwhen they entered. “Jail is becoming the ideal place to learn how to be a goodcriminal”.

I believe that it is extremely necessary to reflect upon the sense and thefunction of prison, as well as their management and the type of activities that aredeveloped inside the centers. The “La Modelo” prison is evaluating the possibilityof creating a Dramatic Process session that is open to the public within theForum of the cultures, in Barcelona, in 2004. This is an important and positiverecognition of the work undertaken, and an important first step in continuingthe process in the future.

How to Develop the Activities in the Future

For a significant beneficial impact, a workshop with these characteristics requiresa commitment from the center. The prison is like a micro-society, where we donot only have to interact with the prisoners, but also with the different bodies ofgovernment that work there, especially with the civil employee guards, who areusually very solitary, aggressive people, who work at an unpleasant job for theentire day, and will abuse the absurd power given to them. The activities shouldbe valued higher by the center, and perhaps become a required activity for theprisoners. Although, regardless of the group with which one works, it is fundamentalthat continuity or at least a minimum follow-up to the work is provided.

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Other experiences – Theater work in prisons:

Elena Canovas: Theatre director in a women’s prison.

In 1985 Ms Canovas founded the Yeses theatre group, in which over 300 femaleinmates, of the women’s prison Alcala-Meco in Madrid, have participated. Themajority of the prisoners in the theatre group are young foreign women whohave been convicted for drug trafficking. Normally they come from marginaldistricts and have experienced serious family problems. “They lack planning capacityin the long term. It does not interest to them to reflect, they resort to directaction immediately. They need immediate results. They believe that good thingsoccur by chance, never through personal effort. They are aggressive and usuallydistrustful, but have a consistent need of affection. It is reasonable for us toreflect on what we would have done in the same circumstances.” The Yeses actedout the performance Libertas, Libertatis at the Cultural Forum 2004 in Barcelonain two daily sessions during a month-long period. During these performances,the prisoners usually shared roles with professional actors.

Augusto Boal:

“In collaboration with Paul Heritage and his People’s Project at the University ofLondon, we initiated a “Theatre project in Jails” program. To be more precise, wedid this in thirty seven jails of São Paulo. This presented us with a totally newproblem: we were working with prisoners, but we could not accept the crimesthey had committed, although we strongly endorsed their desire to discover anew future for themselves. We also worked with the prison guards - one of themhad written the words “Human rights” on his billy-club. We could not identifyourselves with them either: the prisoners were convicted to serve a sentence inprison, not to suffer humiliation and other sufferings. The civil employees tend totake out the bad labour conditions, low pay and dangers that their job entails onthe prisoners.

Everything which is prohibited outside the prisons is common practice withinthem... if the prisoner has money, drugs and robberies, sexual violence, prostitution,fights between gangs, torture and murder are all present. The jails of Brazil arelike deposits of human beings, who are there without anything to do, just as ifpatients were admitted into a hospital without any doctors or nurses, nor anymedication: how are the patients going to cure themselves? Our prisons arebecoming factories of hatred.

During the first stage of the project we did not discover anything new: theprisoners are deprived of their freedom, but they have all the time in the world;we, on the other hand, can move freely, but we are limited by time. What can theydo with their extra time? The Theatre of the Oppressed creates “freedom spaces”where people can release their memories, emotions, imagination, can think aboutthe past, and reflect upon the present, while striving to discover their futureinstead of passively waiting for it with their arms crossed.

How can we create these “freedom spaces” within the walls of a prison? Theprisoners are free to analyze their past, of course, so why not invent a distant future?

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But what happens in the present? This is a more serious problem: for theprisoners the present is a conflict with their powerful enemy: the civil employeesof the prisons, who also consider themselves to be oppressed. The guards do notlike the prisoners to be involved in theatre which entertains them while theythemselves must continue working and guarding them.

Both parties have prejudice against each other; both groups view the otherone as its enemy. The same thing occurred when I worked with Protestants andCatholics in Derry (Ireland); their prejudices were apparently religious andhistorical; but all of them had problems with their families and spouses, they hadpersonal problems and were restless. It was not necessary to emphasize theirreligion, but to try and see the individual. It was important to see the peoplewithout the subtitles.

This is what we have begun to do here: to not see the imprisoned man in theprisoner, nor the man in the uniform in the civil employee. The goal is to seethem - before judging them according to any qualifying determinants - for whatthey really are: people. We tried to analyze the subjects that were of interest toboth groups, in particular personal problems, which we all have in common.

Now the question is “If that is the case, why did we not use the Rainbow ofDesire technique?” A similar question was put to me by some actors fromStanford-on-Avon: “Why don’t we create a Forum theatre”.

It is the same... and it is not; it is the same being different and it is different beingthe same.Allan Owen s· (Article “Sharing Something”)

Theatre reference:

Segismundo: ... What law, justice or reason,can deny a man knowledge,a privilege so sublime,an exception so basicthat God has given it to a stream, a fish, a beast and a bird?

Fragment from “Life is dream” by Calderón de la Barca (XVII century)

Bibliography:Pere Rios, El PAIS, May 10th, 2004El PAIS June 22nd, 2004Cristina Savall, el Periódico, November 9th, 2003Augusto Boal, The Rainbow of Desire, Routledge, 1995Augusto Boal, Games for actors and non-actors, Alba Editorial, 1998, 2001Allan Owens & Keith Barber, Drama Works, Carel Press, 1997Allan Owens & Keith Barber, Mapping drama, Carel Press, 2001

The voice of the prisoners: “Jail is only for the poor man, it doesn’t stop the rich ones”.

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A School for Parents

A Project in the Centre for Early Childhood and Primary EducationBernat de Boil

Educational level: Early Childhood and Primary Education and School forParents.Curricular areas involved in the project: Formation of values.Participating institutions: CEIP Bernat de Boil, Parents’ Association (AMPA)of the CEIP Bernat de Boil, Psycho-pedagogical consulting team of San Andrés,staff of the Social Theatre of the Forn de Teatre Pa’tothom.

Objectives are to:

• Form social values and skills in both parents and children. • Bring parents closer to school, in order to create a space of dialogue and

exchange, and to provide answers to questions or concerns they mayhave, adapted to the socio-cultural context.

• Inspire families to become aware of the importance of school in theeducation of their children.

• Establish relationships between the different members of the educationalcommunity and community services and further intercultural aspectspresent in the school environment and neighbourhood.

Background

The Bon Pastor neighbourhood, where the school is located, has undergone aseries of primarily economic and social changes in recent years, with thecorresponding impact on students. This is evident in the lack of educationalresources, autonomous habits, social skills and the devaluation of the modelsoffered by the school; this in turn influences daily conviviality and limits theunderstanding between the educational, family and school environments.

The project is based on the understanding that an intervention directed atraising the awareness of educational models of families, and offering alternativesto some of their conflicts, can result in a change of relationship patterns. Theproject began in the 2001-2002 school year, and was joined by the members ofthe Comisión Social and the AMPA of the school.

Organisation

During the school year, seven sessions were held between 15:00 and 16:30 in theafternoon. In each one of these sessions, professional actors stage, in a humorousway, a conflictive situation following a script of the proposed subject matter. Thecharacters represent the most common errors in the education of children withinand outside the family environment. After the performance, a debate was led bya stage director in order to form a link between the actors and the public, withparents giving their opinions of the portrayed subject matter, and offering possiblealternatives. The scene is then performed again, this time incorporating the newsituations and attitudes.

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The subject matters included:

• resolution of conflicts, relationship with surroundings • limits and self-esteem in the education of our children • education related to consuming • co-education and intercultural questions • personal habits and autonomy • end of course activity ‘living together’.

Parallel to this, work is carried out with the students through a program ofapplied social skills in weekly tutorial sessions.

Additional material: photographs, a dossier, videos.

Evaluation

We value the experience as positive, both in terms of the participation of theparents, and in the dynamics of the sessions themselves. We believe many of theaimed objectives have been achieved.

We highlight the following points of view:

• Many families that had previously had little contact with the school, have nowbecome more involved. It is important to highlight the good relations that havebeen established between different families, above all because of the multi-cultural nature of the school, where prejudices that often start with parentsopen the way to new conflicts between the pupils. It has been an opportunityto get to know one another better and to resolve problems together.

• All of this has a direct impact on pupils: On one hand, children see thattheir parents have an improved relationship with the school, on the otherhand, parents can apply the lessons they have learned in the sessions intheir relationships with their children.

• We believe the project has been made possible thanks to the group effortof all of the participating professionals.

Feedback

In preparing for the sessions, the Pa’tothom Social Theatre Company shareddifferent moments and scenes with the students at break times in the playgroundor the lunchroom.

We have witnessed such scenes as the following:A group of 6 year-old gypsy girls insulting a 3 year-old black African boy until hebegan to cry; a large number of children running after one of our actors in whatbegan as a game but ended with him being bruised and pummelled as a result ofthe aggressiveness of the kids aged from ten to twelve.

We have also been surprised by how five or six year old children immediatelyassume that we smoke marijuana simply because they see us rolling a cigarette.

After working with them for a number of years, most of these children havebecome very fond of us and have favourably changed their attitude towards us,as well as towards each other.

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During the sessions, we have also experienced special situations, such as thatof a gypsy mother, who attended all of the sessions with the aim of enjoyingherself and getting some respite from her infernal home life. At times, she managedto unsettle our director with her boldness and constant suggestions and jokes.Although she was a perturbing element, it was also important that she continuedto come to the sessions. A constant back and forth managed, in most cases, toease the situation, although it was inevitable that some parents of other cultures,such as Latin or Arab ones were not at all comfortable.

Pa’Tothom Theatre has its premises in an old bakery in the heart of Barcelona.

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A Theatre Project with the Immigrant Children of Raval

Approximate duration of the project: from November 2003 to November2004.Co-ordination of the project: Associació Teatral Pa’tothom.

Project Directors: Anna Caubet and Jordi Forcadas.

General

Where did the idea come from?

The arrival of a significant number of immigrant people in recent years has created aneighbourhood of different cultures. Many initiatives are aimed at the youth in Raval,particularly at those between the ages of nine and fourteen. As we are aware of thereticence of many youths in doing theatre, and likewise, the primary importance ofcreating a space for meeting and exchange, we look for ways of making the workshopattractive, for example, by playing hip-hop music. We view this activity as ideal foryoung people over 14 years of age, which is also the best age for beginning theatre.With this in mind, Pa’tothom proposed creating an interactive theatre workshopwith the different neighbourhood groups that work with youths.

Joker Jordi Forcadas asks the audience what could a young immigrant boyPablito do to get involved in the plays and games of the new homeland.

AnnaCaubet

&Jordi

Forcadas

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Who was the project proposed to?

The Casal Jove del Casal dels Infants del Raval accepted the activity immediately.This youth centre works with youths who hang-out at different public spaces

in the neighbourhood: squares, street corners, etc.The street educators offered them different workshops. They have a social

educator, a professional social worker/monitor, interns and a group of 10 to 15volunteers spread out over the week. They provide the youths with languagereinforcement (Catalan, Spanish), labour skills workshops, music and parties inthe parks. One objective of the centre is to involve all kinds of people from theneighbourhood in different activities. Relations between the youths and the peopleliving in the neighbourhood is conflictive (the kids are seen as thieves or drugaddicts).

It is necessary to mention the increase in youth gangs throughout Barcelona,in addition to the marginalisation of many who are without documentation, andwho will be deported once they are legally adults.

The philosophy of Pa’tothom coincides with this centre, and so the schoolhas begun to work with all of the kids, dividing them into two groups: the olderones and the younger ones.

The centre, for its part, is committed to bringing the youths to Pa’tothomonce a week, accompanied by an educator in all of the sessions.

What is the work group?

These boys and girls have the following characteristics:

• Potential group of 15 youngsters from the Raval neighbourhood, whoseages range between 14 and 18.

• 75% of the group is foreign (mostly of Moroccan, Dominican, Pakistani orIndian origin)

• 40% of the group has lived in our country for less than five years. • More than half of those who study, and are in the group, have an educational

level very far below the average in Barcelona.

Why our project?

The primary needs that are addressed fall into three areas:

Educational needs

These boys and girls have a low overall educational level in comparison to studentsin other areas of the city. We address learning from another point of view, byputting the aspects of the youths’ educational shortcomings into a social context.

Dealing with issues that affect them leads them to learn different perspectivesand attitudes, while questioning their surroundings and fomenting their desire tointeract, is important in a group of youths who, before being able to develop acritical attitude, must first of all deal with surviving.

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Participation

The teenagers of the neighbourhood are not used to formally participating inspecific activities or subjects. Their level of social participation is usually reducedto neighbourhood surroundings and neither the conviction nor the confidenceexists to take part in anything. They often have economic and language difficulties,and the creation of a ‘ghetto’ combined with the social condition of being anadolescent, conditions these kids into not believing in their potential to participate.In this sense, the project aims to convince them of their own potential.

Free Time

This workshop should be an entertainment resource. The time spent here is amagnificent opportunity to offer socialisation and to at least partially compensatefor the lack of equal opportunities. For this reason, the project integrates manyactivities from an entertainment perspective, which at the same time motivates,educates and gets youths - who otherwise are not very likely to join in non-obligatory activities outside of school - to participate.

The Organisation and the Plan of the Work

Phase 1Work with games, body expression, rhythm. Create the group and a dynamic forthe sessions.Phase 2Sessions with music, massage, breathing exercises. First sessions of forum theatreExpressivity Drama pretext and other techniques of Augusto Boal, Julián Boaland Allan OwensPhase 3Theatre games, rhythm, concentration, manipulation Propose creating a pieceabout a subject matter that concerns them. Interventions: Invisible theatrePhase 4(Sept 2004) Preparation of the piece with five of the youths to be presented inNovember of 2004. A short film will also be made about the process and howeach participant gets involved in the work.

All of the sessions were recorded and a short, 20-minute documentary wasmade. The documentary clearly shows the progress of a normal session.

Title of the Action of Invisible Theatre:

“The Right to Do What I Like”

Participating Actors: four youths, four passive spectators

Frame of Action

Space of Pa’tothom. First room or reception area.

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People to whom the action was directed

People who attend the school. At the moment of changing classes, three groupscame together. There were also participants of Drama Way, as well as administrativestaff. A total of about 40 people.

People who know the action was planned

The teachers and the staff of Pa’tothom. The rest of the people did not know.

The Action

After class, an Arab girl sits down on a bench in the reception area to speak witha boy. A lot of people are there waiting to enter class or leave. A youth arrivesfrom the street and approaches the girl, speaking to her first in Arabic and whenother actors intervene, in Spanish. He tells the girl to leave the school immediatelyand when she refuses, begins to raise his voice. The girl gets angry and asks himwhy she has to leave, that there is nothing wrong in doing theatre; her brothertells her that her father is furious and wants her to come home now. A friend ofthe girl tries to defend her and there is a moment of tension. A teacher or amember of the staff of the school intervenes and calms the kids down. The girl’sbrother verbally attacks the girl’s friend, telling him he has nothing to do with allof this. The girl tells her brother that the boy is her boyfriend and questions whyhe (her brother) has more privileges than she does. In the end, the brotheraccompanies the girl to the street the idea being that she has agreed to stoparguing in order to prevent him from hurting her boyfriend.

Subject Matter

All subject matter came from the group during sessions. Not being able to studytheatre is sometimes a problem. Other subjects also came up, such as familynorms, structures and the inferior position of women, the power of the brotherand the situation of second-generation kids, whose parents do not accept thefact that they change their traditional customs.

Objectives

The following basic motives for undertaking the action were found: -Show theparticipants of Drama Way what life is currently like in Barcelona and in particular,in Raval. -Get the youths to realise that they can perform in front of people. -Deal with matters of co-existence between different cultures, and see to whatextent people are capable of intervening in such situations. This interculturalexchange is a first step towards acceptance and recognition.

The Length of the Action

-15 minutes – Preparation time for the action: The action was planned in twosessions.

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Evaluation

The situation of an Arab girl being forbidden to study theatre is such a likely andcontemporary subject that it was truly easy to believe the action on the part ofboth the actors and the public that was there. The participation of the publicwas minimal. As usually happens in these cases, everybody closely followed theconfrontation but nobody made a stand in the matter. It was only afterwardsthat people asked the actors if what had happened was for real or not. It shouldalso be pointed out that the public was not a typical public and was fairly removedfrom the social background of the actors. It would be interesting to see whatwould happen if the action took place in a social environment closer to that ofthe actors. In the end, the public was told that the performance was InvisibleTheatre; we felt that one of the objectives of the action was to spark a discussionon the use of this technique. The youths, who performed very well, left verycontent and this will surely motivate them to continue doing theatre. The samelevel of involvement was not reached during rehearsals, during which they usuallyquickly ended up fighting among themselves. The subject matter is material thatshould be continued to be studied and searched for solutions through otheractions of forum theatre. Their confrontation with other youths of similar culturalbackgrounds would greatly help them become more aware of the social processthey are going through.

Conclusions

The group has been formed and there are five permanent members to the group.Other possibilities have opened up within the cultural context of theneighbourhood. In the following phase, we will try to consolidate all the work wehave done up till now through a piece of interactive theatre. If support continuesfor this project, the group will be able to establish itself. Pa’tothom will ensurethat those who want to study theatre will be given grants to attend classes at theschool.

This workshop can lead these youths to realise how important it is to takepart in the social life of the city. It is an opportunity for those who are accustomedto being treated as a semi-marginalised or pre-delinquent group and the fact ofbeing heard and taken seriously provides them the legitimacy of interveningsocially. They can do this thanks to the quality of the human and artistic movementout of which their action has risen.

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A Session of Interactive Theater

Realized in the primary school Bernat de Boil, Barcelona.

These sessions were regular during the school year of 2001, with a frequency ofone session per month. In the beginning they were exclusively made for theparents to create a space to have discussions about problems they have in bringingup their children. In the end we did them for the children as well.

We created sessions of Forum Theater, in which the actors dramatized scenesabout the daily lives of the families. These scenes reflected the conflicts theywere going to talk about during the sessions. The selection of conflict-topics wasdecided during meetings between the actors, the psychologist, the pedagogue,the head teacher and some other teachers of the school.

The majority of the families were cases for social workers. We have worked alot with topics like: communication, rules and limitations, habits, diversity, violencebetween equals, racism, multi-culturalism, affection, etc.

A Session of Ceip Bernat de Boïl

Topic: Diversity

Duration time: 45-60 minutesGroup: 3 actors and one Joker (Jordi FORCADAS)Objective: Presents the story of a Spanish family that has to move from theircountry - because of the father’s job - to “Patagon” (an imaginary country) wherepeople wear very different clothing from Spain. It’s the first day at school forPablito, the son of the family.

Synopsis:

1st Scene:We see Pablito (from Spain) and Xui-li (from Patagon) in the patio of the school.Pablo proposes to explain a game they play in his country (soccer). Xui-li listensto the explanation until a (girl) friend of his passes by and invites him to play“Tripilonguis”, a typical game in Patagon. Xui-li wants to learn how to play soccer,but the girl makes fun of the stupid game. Pablo wants to play together withthem after a while, but the girl doesn’t let him because he doesn’t know thegame well.*

2nd Scene:At home Pablo tells his parents that soccer is a stupid game in this country andthat they have to show him how to play “tripilonguis”. The father gets angry, can’tunderstand how to live without soccer and makes disdainful comments aboutthe people of Patagon.

3rd Scene:It’s the next day. Pablito and Xui-li are in the patio of the school and they try toplay soccer again, but Xui-li doesn’t want to play and they start to discuss which

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game is the best. In the end Pablito gets angry and repeats the same offensivephrases that he heard from his father and the boys start fighting. Xui-li leaveswith his friend Takí.

*You could introduce a scene before this one about the moment that the boy and his father arrive atschool to show that it’s a Spanish family that arrives at a different place. You would see the father whodoesn’t have any patience or will to integrate.

Notes

The native kids should wear clothes or some other typical Patagonian accessorythat seems strange to us (the public of the forum theater). They should alsospeak with a strange accent.

Methodology

Between the scenes you have a discussion with the public (mothers, fathers, kids)about what they have seen. The joker asks questions about differences and explainsthat a different person is just a person with the same problems and qualities aseveryone else. He explains that knowing other vultures makes you rich.

People from the public can propose different possibilities to change the situationand sometimes replace an actor by acting like they should act in the situation.

Anecdote

In this session, the actor who was the father of the family was replaced by atwelve year old boy (from the audience) who used physical violence to punishPablito for something he shouldn’t do, by hitting him over the head. This behaviorwas rejected by the public and the boy noticed that he was doing wrong usingviolence. He made excuses by saying that he didn’t understand it well and that hethought that he had to act this way.

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Invisible Theatre with the Immigrant Youth

There was an international Drama Way meeting “Theatre and education” inMarch 2004. It was directed by Jordi Forcadas and co-directed Anna Caubet.

This work is part of Drama Way which was started in December in collaborationwith Casal dels infants del Raval and two educators from Pa’tothom, with the help ofHelena Marí (doing an audiovisual project) and Guillem Monés (camera).

Participants: From 7 to 12 youngsters, within the ages of 15 to 22 years old. Ata certain moment we have divided them into two groups: one for 10-14 yearolds and the other for 15-22 year olds.

The Youngsters Profile: The youngsters are from different social groups andnationalities or from the second generation of immigrants. Many of them are insecondary school or studying for a certain occupation. Others are already working.Their employment and legal position is poor.

One of the goals of the project is that the young people involved learntechniques trough drama on how to deal or change attitudes or negative behaviour.

Working Topics: Racism, apathy and motivation. Gangs, clans, tribes and familyrelations.

All the classes were made artistic and playful by doing physical exercises,exchange music, dancing, playing and acting.

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Action

Title: The right to do what I want to do.

Place of action

The headquarters of Pa’tothom. At the entrance.

People to whom the action is meant for

Students of the school: there are people coming in and out of class at the momentof the action. There are also five participants of Drama Way and the secretaryassistants. In total about 40 people.

People who knew about the planned action

The teachers and secretary of Pa’tothom knew about the action. The rest of theassistants there during that moment didn’t know anything.

The action

After class on the way out an Arabic speaking girl takes a seat next to a boy ona bench in the entrance room. There are a lot people in the room waiting to gointo class or leaving school. Another boy appears at the street in front of theschool and he talks to the girl in Arabic. When more actors appear, he speaksSpanish. He asks her to leave the school and when she refuses to, he begins totalk louder and louder. The girl gets angry and asks him why she has to go andsays that there is nothing wrong with doing theatre. The boy, who seems to beher brother, tells her that her father is very angry and that she has to go home.The friend of the girl (who sat next to her on the bench) tries to defend her andthis results in a tense situation between the boys. At this moment I intervene asthe owner of the school and pacify them. I tell them that I allow them to talk likea brother and a sister. The discussion slows down and the brother turns to hissister’s friend and tells him to stay out of their business. The girl confesses that itis her boyfriend and asks why he (her brother) has privileges and she doesn’t. Inthe end the brother takes his sister to the street. The girl doesn’t want to talkany more so that he (the brother) won’t hurt her boyfriend.

Themes

All the themes came up from the youngsters themselves during the sessions. Notbeing able to study theatre is a problem we face in every stratum we work with.Themes like family rules with their structures and the inferior role of the woman;the power of the brother and the problems the kids of the second generationhave, whose parents doesn’t accept modifications of their customs, also came up.

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Objective

The following basic motives were found to realize this action:-0 Show the partners of Drama Way the current situation of Barcelona and inparticular, of the neighbourhood Raval. -1 That the youngsters have thecourage to perform in front of people. -2 Touch on themes about thecoexistence of different cultures and to see the measure of how people canintervene in these kinds of situations. This action as intercultural exchange wouldbe the first step towards their acceptation and consciousness.

Length

- 15 minutes - Preparation time: we prepared the action in two sessions of oneand a half hour

Evaluation

The situation of an Arabic girl who is not allowed to study theatre is such acommon topic that it was as easy for the actors as for the witnesses to believethe situation. The participation of the people was minimal. This is how it oftenhappens in cases when everyone agrees on a situation, but nobody does anythingabout it. Afterwards people asked the actors if this happens in real life as well.Someone said that the problems of the youngsters are different from the onesthe partners of Drama Way and the other witnesses have to deal with. We shouldhave to see what would happen if it took place in a surrounding that is closer tothe actors’ everyday surroundings. In the end it was revealed to the public thatit was an invisible theatre performance, as one of the objectives was also todiscuss this theatre technique. The youngsters, who did very well, came outhappy and secure, which motivates them to keep on going with theatre. In therehearsals there was a different ending, they would have been fighting. Thesubject matter is material that should be continued to be studied and searchedfor solutions through other actions of forum theatre. Their confrontation withother youths of similar cultural backgrounds would greatly help them becomemore aware of the social process they are going through.

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PortugalPortugalPortugalPortugal

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Interactive Class. Learning about Drama Literature

What is Baal 17?

Baal 17 is a young theatre company with a home base in, Serpa in the interior ofAlentejo, in Portugal.

Alentejo is one of the poorest regions in Europe, as it has a low level of socialand cultural development. The aim of Baal 17 is to use theatre as a tool ofeducation and cultural development of this region. The work of Baal 17 is dividedinto two different but connected branches.

The first branch is the development of a theatre company inspired by thetraditions of these people, creating and developing their plays with a contemporarystyle. Baal 17 tours with the plays all over the region and country, going intoisolated villages in the interior country and performing in schools. Since 2000Baal 17 has produced plays from Portuguese classical authors to classical worlddramaturges and contemporary young authors.

The second branch is the educative project. Baal 17 has a Theatre in Educationproject based on a Portuguese school curriculum called Theatre InteractionProject. This project has been working since 2000 in all the schools of the region,going into the class rooms, and introducing authors in different ways, using theatreas a method of giving new perspectives and ideas to the students.

What is “Interactive Class”?

It all started when we first were in contact with the meaning of “Theatre inEducation”. We had the notions, we had the need to do it because our projecthad the same objective, and so we began. Our first experiences in schools wereamazing; we never thought that this kind of direct contact with students was tobe so well received.

Theatre in Education, as we know it, appeared in the 80s, as an artistic, socialand cultural movement. There are so many ways to take theatre to schools; youcan perform; you can teach; you can do both at the same time. This was what wethought to be essential, instead of only performing plays for them, either in schoolsor in theatre, why should we not offer a lot more? And so our own notion oftheatre in schools and theatre inter-action project began to emerge:

• Performing plays for a range of students from primary to high school level • Interactive lessons • Workshops

These three points are understandable, especially the first and the third ones.Let’s then move on into the second point:

• Interactive Lessons or Interactive Class is our own way of introducingtheatre as an instrument in schools to help students in their studies. Thesework sessions normally last one hour or ninety minutes, depending of theclass time.

• They take place in the classroom, and most of the time during thePortuguese Literature lessons. The theme is what they are studying at themoment, poetry, drama or literature texts.

MarcoFerreira

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• The main objective is to develop the interest toward the subject that isbeing studied, and at the same time to introduce the notion of art andtheatre, and to give them other notions inside a text besides the grammaticalnotions given by the teacher in their school curriculum.

• The method of working in these classes varies according to the text inquestion and the age of the students.

For that we will now describe of an interactive class session and its preparation:

“Felizmente Há luar” of Luís de Sttau Monteiro,

For the 11th and the 12th grades of secondary school.

The Historical Context of the Text

Luís de Sttau Monteiro was born in Lisbon on the year of 1926, he wrote this playin 1961 but it was only put on stage in 1978.

This play relates a time in time, it is a political play strong enough to becensured for a long time, and just and only after the revolution of 1974, it wasallowed to be performed.

The Story

The play uses an old story that took place in 1871 in Lisbon, in which the maincharacters are Gomes Freire de Andrade, a brave general, Matilde, his wife, and thegovernor’s men.

After the troops of Napoleon retreated from Lisbon, Portugal began to bereigned by absolute rulers, who are represented by the King, D. JoãoVI, who is atthe moment a refugee in Brazil. Consumed by the war, exploited and miserable,the people relied, with their hopes of liberation, on General Gomes Freire deAndrade. The governors of the Kingdom – Miguel Forjaz, the Jesuit PrincipalSousa and the English Beresford, who is a cold and calculating man that despisesPortugal and the Portuguese people, and who does not disguise his habit ofselling his services to whom desires them – began to fear for their power, whenthe outside gossip talks of the discontentment of the people and the possibilityof a revolution.

And for that something has to be done.General Gomes Freire de Andrade is the man to be shot down; he will be

accused of leading the conspiracy, he will be judged fast and in secrecy, and executedstraight away to serve as an example, and to miss the King’s pardon. No one hasthe strength to go against the governors, and so it happens, on a night, lit by a fullmoon that Gomes Freire is hanged and then burned. Executions during the nightwere not allowed, but the others excuse themselves by saying that the moon is sobright that they could say it is daytime. In the end of the play, during Gomes Freire’sexecution, and when everyone is watching, the immense flames of the fire makeeverything even brighter that becomes a symbol for everyone.

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Classical text played in different styles by BAAL 17.

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Preparation for the Interactive Class

The actors:

• reading the play and making a historical analysis • biography of the author • selection of scenes to be used during class • choosing the artistic direction of the presentation of the scenes

After we all are aware of the contents of the play the structure has to beorganized.

The next step is to choose a couple of scenes that can reveal the basis of theplay, the juice of its contents. This can be quite personal, but never should theobjective.

We chose two scenes, one from the first act and another from the second act.

The first scene shows the discussion between the governors. They are discussingwho is to blame, and finally get to the name of Gomes Freire.

The second scene show a scene, in which Matilde, Gomes Freire’s wife, goes tosee Beresford and begs him to release her husband.

Preparation

The next step is to prepare the scenes. In this play, Luís de Sttau Monteiro findsthe revelation of the truth trough theatre important. By this time Luís had beenin contact with the Brecht method in theatre and found it to be the best way totell a story without hiding anything, and having the audience receive every line ofthe play without loosing themselves in pity towards the characters.

And that was from where we began.

The first scene was played as if we were watching a rehearsal. Four actors hadthe scripts in their hands, as the words were the most important thing to bepassed on to the audience. The other four actors assumed their characters asoutside characters, using the power of words as intervention. Just as Luís wrote,“I want the audience to feel uncomfortable; I want them to have the urge tochange things.”

The second scene is represented with a different method. Using the Stanislavskimethod we showed the students the opposite of what Luís wanted. Two strongcharacters with their lines learnt. This is a scene full of emotions and tension, inwhich words are easily forgotten in a tear or movement. Is a scene where everyonefeels pity for Matilde and wants to cry with her.

Next step is to go to the class.

• We begin the class by introducing our work and ourselves. • We have a discussion with the class on the amount of knowledge they

have on the play, and from there on, we resume together. • After remembering the play, we begin to develop the social, historical

and cultural context of the play and author.

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• Then we begin to prepare the scenes; for the first scene we use threechairs. The scene is presented and the second scene is prepared right afterit; for the second scene we use a chair and some wardrobe: a ladies’ dressand a military jacket.

• In the end the discussion is free. From here all kinds of questions are madeand the objective is achieved.

For this to happen these two scenes need to have, at a certain moment, somekind of peculiar symbols that will make the students think for themselves. Aftersome time the play has been understood and new ideas are released into theirminds. Awareness for theatre methods has been rooted and the play of Luís deSttau Monteiro suddenly gains more meaning. It is important to give the studentsthe notion that a theatre play is full of ideas and that any word said differently, orany movement made, might change everything.

The role of the teacher during these lessons is one of a mere spectator, whichmakes the student more comfortable to intervene.

To take into consideration

• Notions of wardrobe • Notions of set • Theatrical methods • Actors opinions • Symbolism • To get the students to disagree

Every interactive lesson that we have is different from the others. It dependson the text that is being studied and on the ages of the students.

I am sure you will not work with this text with your students, but at least youwill get an idea of how we have developed this kind of work in schools.

Good-luck!

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Youth & job – Equality of rights

“To have the same rights that rich people have when looking for a job”

Origins

This workshop was developed for a project called Margens de Desenvolvimento,developed by a local association for rural development called Rota do Guadiana,in Serpa. The workshop was based on forum theatre and drama pretext exercisesfor young unemployed people.

The main objective of the project was to create practical solutions foryoungsters, who are looking for a job in this region – Baixo Alentejo (West sideof the Guadiana River). These solutions were, for example, to create a website,on which institutions and companies can find all the information on the youngsters(portfolio, questionnaires, etc.).

This workshop was based on forum theatre techniques and other methodsapplied in the Drama Way workshops.

After the Drama Way national workshop in Portugal, one of the members ofRota do Guadiana association contacted Baal 17 to invite Marco Ferreira toorganize the group project by applying theatre methods to help and prepareyoungsters to look for a job.

Young unemployed discuss the themes of their lives through forum theatrein Serpa, Portugal.

MarcoFerreira

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Objectives

The aim of the project was to give the group a context of basic information tohelp and improve their future:

• Build a webpage with personal information on each participant • Learn to search the Internet • Job interviews • Psychological tests • Orientation and continuous auto-self-improvement • Contacts and interviews with big local companies • Personal psychological help to lead a normal life, and to face normal life problems.

The aim for this group project was to create a theatre play that developsparts of these themes.

Themes / Group Theme

The theme was decided on the basis of a questionnaire given to the group, madeby the coordinator psychologist of the project, on what kind of collective projectthe group wanted to do and what on. They chose “Equality of rights. Have thesame rights as rich people have when looking for a job”, and they all wanted to do itas a theatre performance. So I tried to mix and adapt actors’ games, forumtheatre exercises and other materials to work with the group to reach theobjective to create a small theatre play on this theme.

Individual Themes

Some individual objectives, issues and themes were previously prepared by thepsychologist coordinator of the project, Guida Ascenção, and the theatre projectcoordinator, Marco Ferreira. Here are some of those objectives:

• Seeking for employment • Manage conflicts (with family, friends, etc…) • Manage emotions (hanger, jealous, joy, fear, shame…) • Talk about ourselves and give self-esteem • Talking in public • Leading a group.

The Participants in a Context (target group)

Rota do Guadiana is a local rural development association that is working withsenior citizen’s centers, isolated communities and youngsters who have quit schooland want to learn how to look for a job in this region or in the big cities close by.

The group was formed by seven women between the ages of 16 and 28, andtwo boys of 17 and 24 years of age. Some of them were already married and hadchildren. Part of the group had quit school without finishing the 9th grade. Somehad problems with their families and had tendencies to isolate themselves. Otherssimply wanted help in finding their first job.

The workshop was prepared based on drama pretext and theatre forumtechniques applied and developed in the Drama Way project.

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Requirements

Time: each session lasted 2 hours.A CD playerPaper and pensPhotos and post cardsA Large wall of paper

1st Session

IntroductionsThe workshop began with an introduction of the participants (Name, age, wherefrom, things I like)Short explanation on Forum Theatre and interactive drama.Discussion on what is theatre and what is art as a form of expression?What kind of plays have you seen? Did you like it?What is the meaning of “LIFE IS A THEATRE”?

Postcards and PicturesThe group was given some postcards and pictures (Landscapes, urban photos,and old people doing artesian work, children playing, funny cards …).

Ask the group to pick one picture or post card that mean something specialto each person, not any particular meaning but only the first sensation of thepicture.

Talk about the feeling in the picture. What is it about? Why did you pick thispicture? What does it mean to you? What does it mean to the others? Does itrefer to the past, present or future? Is it some kind of a wish or a desire? Givethe image a title.

After the discussion, ask the group to put the pictures on the wall for everyoneto see (put some music on when they are doing it)

Warm-up ExercisesCircle of energy – in a circle one person starts to pass a sound with a movementto one other person. (Clap the hands, click the fingers, or throw a ball…) Considerthe example of a factory process. Collective work.

Start to stretch your arms and legs and make some noise, like when you wakeup in the morning. Increase the volume of the noise and repeat.

Body LanguageDiscussion on our body language. The way we move, talk, walk, act, etc…Give some simple examples:Sitting on a chair (in a job interview for example). Discussion on the way we placeour legs and hands. What does it mean to cross your legs (protection, posture,education??)?

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Imitate the movements of the hands. Pick one member and ask that person tostand in front of the group and perform simple movements with his or herhands. The rest of the group imitates the movements. Discussion.Pick two people and ask them to shake hands and freeze. Discussion on the image.Who is who? Is there a superior? What kind of dialogue or discussion they arehaving?Change one person and give the image a new chance. Discussion.

Brainstorm of Possible Themes for the ForumWith out giving any kind of previous themes, decide on a title for the group workwith the group. (In previous work with the psychologist, the group decided tofocus on the equality of rights for poor people when looking for a job.)

After a deep discussion on the theme, we placed everything under one title:Youth - Equality of rights. Have the same rights as rich people have when lookingfor a job.

2nd Session

After the evaluation of the first session, I decided to begin with something simpleand less physical.

Dreams on the WallEach person picks a post-it note (small yellow paper with glue) and writes onedream that they have in their lives (try to get the first impulse to write) on it.Then everybody sticks the post-it on the same wall with the pictures and postcards.Take one moment for everybody to see the dreams of the group. Then comparethem and see if there are some similar dreams, some of which are stranger tothe group. Listen to opinions. Try to have each person talk about their dreamwith the group. Try to put the entire group at their ease and open about talking.

Warm-up ExercisesTouch and say the name. The whole group walks in a free way in the room. Oneperson says one name (of one person in the group) and the person that wascalled has to touch another person (the person that was calling the name cannot be touched). Then the person that was touched has to call out another nameand so on… …anyone that misses a name or makes a mistake goes out until onlytwo persons are left in the game.

Gibberish (pork’s Dutch). Talk in an invented language in pairs (imitate Russian,Chinese, German) and tell what you have done since you woke-up until youarrived at the workshop.

Still ImagesChoose one theme to create an image about it in groups:a) School, b) television, c) vacations, d) family. Play with some forum theatretechniques and work with the reaction of the characters in the picture.

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Role-On-The-WallDrawing and imagining the character for the story.Where does it take place? The other characters. First I ask the group for concreteadjectives and ideas on the place where it all happened.The group starts to describe a town just like Serpa.Then the group chooses an 18 year old boy called Bento to be the main character.Here are some of the adjectives and ideas used to describe character and histown.

Main Character

Name: Bento.Age: 18 years old.

He lives with his parents in a small village in the countryside. The village is calledPasmaceira (a place where nothing happens and where everybody is amorphous)Hobbies: fishing, painting, computers, cooking, nature and animals.

He has just finished secondary school and wants to go to a big city to study ina university. He has a 22 year old brother, who quit school. Their parents wanthim to stay and work with them at the farm. His mother likes the idea of his songoing to study in a big city, but she doesn’t have the courage to face her husband’scontrary opinion. (Family conflicts)

Bento has a girlfriend named Ana Maria, who is 17 years old, and who still is insecondary school. She is the daughter of Bento’s father’s boss. Her parents wanta good future for their daughter and support her relationship with Bento.

Pasmaceira – the VillagePasmaceira is a small village in the countryside, 250 km from a big city of AGrandiosa (a poetic word for “a big thing”).

Nice fields with animals, a small castle, a lake, all people known each other andmost of the inhabitants are elderly people, there are no big buildings, and notmuch is going on.

After a very nice and imaginative discussion we started to talk about what thebig city that Bento wants to go to is like.

A Grandiosa – the CityA big city with tall buildings, pollution, stress, shopping centers, bars, discotheques,a beach, factories, a river separating A Grandiosa from another big city, multi-cultural, gardens and parks, lots of young people are living there.

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3rd Session

Four people didn’t come. Some had family problems.

Warm-up ExercisesGrab the thumbStatement circle. The group answers some questions in a circle by stepping forwardif their answer is ‘yes’ and staying put if their answer is ‘no’. When more than oneperson’s answer is ‘yes’ they have to make eye-contact and change places in thecircle.

Some of the questions were:Do you like to live here in Serpa?Do you think that is easier to find jobs in big cities?Is Alentejo a poor region?Would you like to get a degree?Is Alentejo an isolated region?Do you want to get more independence from your parents?

Continuing the Discussion (Roll-on-the-wall) on the Story of Bento.Try to get some connections to the pictures, postcards and the dreams on the wall.Is there any picture or dream that could be Bento’s? Why?Talk about Bento’s girlfriend, what are her main characteristics?

Improvising the ScenesCreate a small improvisation with the characters of Bento, his father, his motherand older brother. Bento is coming from school with the news that he is gettingvery good grades and that he wants to go and study in the big city.

See the reaction of the parents. They haven’t got money to support Bentoduring his studies. The father asks Bento to stay and work with them in agriculture.The mother cries.

The improvisation was very confusing because the participants talk and act atthe same time, but had the imagination and the confidence to have fun. Theimprovisation stopped when the fathers said “…if you want to go, we are notgoing to give you any money, and you are on your own.”

Still Images in Small GroupsCreate an image of Bento’s possibilities in two groups. What is he going to donow?

The group chose the one in which Bento decided to go and call his girlfriend,to ask her for help. He has enough money to go and stay in the city for twomonths. One of the people in the group said that Bento’s girlfriend’s parentshave a house in the city, and he could go and stay there.

The group enjoyed the making of the story. The improvisations were difficultto do, but some of them have the motivation and pass it on to everyone in thegroup.

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4th Session

Warm-up Exercises

Grab the thumb (increasing the speed and concentration)Touch and say the name (faster and more focus on the group movement)

A Still Image of OppressionA short explanation on the work with images in Forum Theatre.I asked the group to talk about one real-life situation that was not so comfortableto deal with.

One woman talked about her visit to the hospital (she was pregnant) theprevious day. The nurse had not let her husband enter the room. They had had adiscussion with the nurse and the doctor.

I asked her to use the entire group as a sculpture in silence and built oneimage that could reflect her feelings about that day. Then I tried to give the groupa clear idea about the problem in the image.

What could be done to prevent that problem? Discussion?I tried to ask some questions about the characters’ feelings in the image.

What do you feel in this image? What is your character doing? Who is he? Doyou belong to this image? If not, step out of the image.

Ask to change the character’s position in the image according to the solutionsto the problem.

1, 2, 3 action.The image becomes lives and the group begins a small improvisation.

The Story of Bento - Continuing the Dramaturgical ProcessAfter going to the city of A Grandiosa, Bento has to find a job very quicklybecause his money is running out.How and where does he have to go to find a job?The group said that he must go and check the employment lists in big shoppingcenters, supermarkets and McDonald’s restaurants.

Improvisation of the ScenesBento went to a McDonald’s restaurant and asked for a job. I gave the groupsome roles and started the improvisation.Note: I stopped the improvisation after the interview at McDonald’s and asked:Did you think this could happen in real-life?

We continued the improvisation and one of the younger girls of the groupsuggested that a student girl could appear in the restaurant, and she could startto talk with Bento.

We decided that her name his Joana. She works in a bar at night and studies inthe day in the same university as Bento.

They had a small conversation and she invites Bento to go to the bar at nightto talk to people there, and to ask if anybody knows about any jobs.

I ask: what is Bento going to do now? His starting to run out of money and there are thefood, bus and university bills to pay.

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5th Session

Warm-up ExercisesGrab the thumbTouch and say the name

The Story of Bento - Continuing the Dramaturgical ProcessThe group decided that Bento is going to go to the bar and meet Joana’s friends.

In the bar Joana talks with her friends and tells them stories about Bento. Shesays that he is from the countryside and very strange.

Improvisation of the ScenesIn the beginning of the improvisation the young girl that plays Joana’s character,suggested that when Bento arrives to the bar, the others will ask him to go withthe group to smoke a (marijuana)joint. Bento turns his back and leaves the bar.What happens now?

This is the end of the drama.

ConclusionAfterwards I ask the group to try and write on a paper on their own whatappended to Bento.Did he leave the town and go back to his parents’ house?How is he going to get the money to pay his bills?Did he try to talk with Joana the next day?Then they choose two of the possibilities and make a still image according to it.

Bento went home and began to work in agriculture. He married Ana Maria andbecame a small-farmer.Bento stayed in the city, and tried to talk to Joana and got to know her better. Hedecided to help her stop her drug and alcohol abuse. Because of his computerexpertise he started to do some computer related work for the university.

Forum:

Give the Images a Title.Make the image become real. 1, 2, 3… action.

6th Session

Final dramaturgical aspects of the play.Final rehearsal and final feedback.

7th Session

Performance to the invited audience.

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My final comments and analysis on the workshop

This is a description of the original workshop that was prepared and presentedto the group. There were some exercises and proposals that I was forced tochange, because I did not get any kind of reaction or motivation from the group.

This was my first experience in working with forum theatre and dramatechniques with a group of youngsters who have no theatre experience. It was avery positive experience, with the exception of the final presentation, becausethese people have never worked in a group like this before. They all workedindividually with the psychologist, or in small groups of two three people.

At the beginning, my objective was to create a small forum theatre play, but atthe end, the most important thing was the experience in itself, both, the good,and the bad things. It was a good and a rare opportunity for these people toexperience some new sensations and fight against all the oppression in theirlives.

After the workshop some of the people found a job while others are stillworking on it. The young ones have now less difficulty in dealing with socialproblems in life. Some people from the group became friends, and are still in acontinuous process and contact with the local development association.

After the workshop performance, the feedback from the project coordinatorswas really good and enthusiastic, they realized that with a forum play or a forumstructure workshop, you can easily work with youngsters and their problems,and reach good results.

Image theatre helps the rural women to empower themselves in the labour market.

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Sonho de Amanda - Amanda’s Dream (Baal 17)

Here is an example of a process of making a forum theatre demo. The demo wascreated in Baixo Alentejo by the BAAL 17 theatre group. This project was partof the Drama Way’s national workshops in Portugal, held 7th – 15th November,2003. The process lasted altogether for seven hours and five actors were involvedin creating the demo.

What is Forum Theatre?

Forum theatre is an interactive theatre form aiming at solving problems in thecommunity. In a forum theatre performance the audience is allowed to solve theproblems presented in the play by re-acting the scenes on the stage. The themesof the plays are specially designed for particular audiences, and the themes oftendeal with the common oppressions that the audience members themselvesexperiences in their lives. Forum theatre aims at helping people to learn how tochanges their lives. Therefore, it is also called as the Theatre of the Oppressed.Forum theatre was created by a Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal in the60s-70s.

Theatre of the Oppressed is a method that also utilises drama workshops,where a group of people can identify and explore the themes that are of greatimportance for them. The origins of the forum theatre are closely connected tothe ideas of Pedagogy of the Liberation, created by another Brazilian educatorPaulo Freire. According to him, it is essential that liberating education has noforced curricula, but should deal with themes that the learners themselves feelas important and problematic in their everyday lives.

JouniPiekkariand the

BAAL 17

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The Applications of Forum Theatre

Nowadays forum theatre is applied in multiple ways all around the world. Apartfrom exploring oppressive situations based on the original political idea, it is alsoused as a didactic tool to learn about different behaviours, for example, how tosay no to drugs. Different techniques have also been developed and integratedinto the forum theatre method.

Especially the British traditions of pedagogical drama (Drama in Education)has had a strong impact on the development of interactive drama in Europe.These traditions have allowed a more flexible use of time, swap of characters,non-linear story line, participant involvement and integration of other forms ofart in the process. Furthermore, Jacob Moreno has used similar techniques in hispsychodrama and sociodrama, but forum theatre, however, emphasises thetheatrical aspects of the work. Forum theatre can also be seen as an independentart form; one special genre of theatre art.

Aims of the BAAL 17 Forum Workshop

• to explore how forum theatre works • to define the local themes to be dealt with the young people, and to define

the social injustice they experience in their everyday lives • to create a model of making forum theatre with and for the young people

(“youth to youth”) • to introduce different joker (facilitator) techniques of audience interaction

The BAAL 17’s Interest in Forum Theatre

The BAAL 17 is a theatre group from Serpa in Baixo Alentejo, working with theTheatre-in-Education method. Besides working with touring theatre productions,they also work as theatre educators. Their aim is to take the theatre arts intoschools and integrate it with the literature lessons in the formal curriculum. Thegroup wanted to find new approaches to their work in order to use drama indealing with the important issues of the young people in their area. Forum theatretechniques might be useful for this purpose;

• as an audience workshop technique in context of conventional theatreplays to help the audiences to analyse the plays: for example, findingsimilarities in their own lives

• as separate forum theatre performances for the young people concerninglocally relevant themes

• as a workshop technique to explore the important themes of the schoolyoungsters and other children

• as a tool to help the more theatrically oriented youngsters to createinteractive forum plays and to perform them to other youngsters (peergroup education)

• as a technique inside the process drama method where the children workwith local fairy tales and stories

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1st Session (2 hours)

Dramaturgical Process

Short introduction to forum theatre • Origins in Brazil • Freirean approach: how to find the themes concerning the participants;

forum as a community dialogue and problem solving process • Aims and purposes of forum theatre • Some criticism on Boal’s approach: the aim should be at understanding,

not at judging • Applied forum theatre - examples from the Finnish context • Sci-fi drama in army barracks dealing with family relations • Forum theatre dealing with the dialogue between transvestites/transsexuals

and mainstream people • Forum theatre about bullying of teacher students • Dramaturgical variations: realistic, allegoric, different styles, puppet theatre

Brainstorming local themesSome examples of the typical themes of young people in Baixo Alentejo; theBAAL 17 members discussed shortly the following issues:

• isolated villages and isolation of young people complicates the socialisationof young people

• due to lack of activities alcohol and bars form the central free time leisureactivity

• suicides

Young Amanda is standing for her ideas in the BAAL 17 forum theatre demo.

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• moving from a small school to a bigger one can cause bullying and otherdifficulties

• even though there were various activity opportunities, young people arenot able to use them in many cases: they are often too apathetic

• social limitations of young women • being different and active is difficult • sexuality: a taboo, not discussed; teen age pregnancies • attitudes of the teachers, teachers often have a low motivation in their work:

they have to move from one school to another, they are often like nomads

Warm-up exercisesGrab the thumb. Participants sit in a circle and try to grab the thumb of theperson sitting next to them. The aim is to avoid being catched.Purpose: to start the interaction, create laughter, energise, grow attentionAnimal mothers and children (a blind game)Performed in pairs. The other one is the animal mother creating a call sound anda stop sign (danger) for the other one who is the animal baby. The baby followsthe mother blindfolded.Purpose: trust building, listening, concentration, different senses, awareness of spaceThat is my seat (isto é o meu cítio – não, é meu!)Performed in pairs (through out the game). Each pair takes a chair. The other one sitson the chair and the other one takes different roles and comes to demand the chairto him/herself, the person sitting on the chair tries to refuse. No direct violenceallowed. Only the sentences ”That is my seat” and ”no, this is my seat” are allowed.Purpose: to study various forms of manipulation; non-verbal communication and acting

Circle of images of oppressionIn order to make ourselves sensitive for the problems of young people, we hadto go back to our own experiences. The participants were asked

a) to think about one moment in their youth; an unfair situation where theywere forced to do, think, say or feel differently than they actually wanted to.They were asked to memorise this feeling, body positions, the environmentand the other people physically or mentally present in the situation

b) silently sculpt a still image of the situation in a small group, with the help ofother people in the group and finally to place oneself in the image as themain character

c) Share the similarities and differences; share the stories of othersd) Create a fusion image that combines the essence of all the small images

into one big image (may be symbolic)

This procedure could have been a beginning for a forum theatre play, but weused this exercise merely to sensitise ourselves to the theme: we decided tocreate an imaginary and a parallel story reflecting the actors own life experiences.This technique can be called distancing. When this process is done with targetgroups that are not familiar with the highly emotional process of theatre making,distancing creates safe distance to the participants actual experiences, in a mannerwhere the relevance of the issues is not lost.

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Collective story tellingThe participants were asked to invent an imaginary name for a small village of 300hundred people in Baixo Alentejo: Cangalhos. What kind of a village it is? What arethe people in the village proud of? A village festival is annually organised in thesurrounding of old pre-historical stones (antas).

Roles. Creating/imagining the characterThereafter we invented the main character: a young person – Amanda, a girl of17. How is Amanda different? – She is a little bit imitating Gothic style, and isinterested in prehistory, rituals etc. She has got a few friends; many of them callher Bruxa (a wizard) on the streets.

Hot seating. Sonya was selected into the role of Amanda. Other participants askedher different questions concerning the role.Purpose: building the character, clarifying the motives, hopes and fears.

Storyline/scenesWe defined the order of different scenes on a piece of paper (could be separate A4s).

1. Amanda´s dreams of a better world.Dramaturgy: Situated at the pre-historical stones. Stones and trees speakabout Sonya’s dreams.Soundscape

2. A priest and a teacher talk about a council meeting. Amanda hears this andasks the teacher, who she is interest in, to come to a meeting of Junta daFregesía (local council).Dramaturgy: scene in a shop

3. Junta Meeting – After a moment of hesitation, Amanda tells she wants topresent her idea concerning a festival in the next meeting. The teachersupports her, telling that he thinks that the ideas of young people arewelcome. (Characters: priest, teacher, chairperson of council, Amanda)

4. Amanda collects visual material from the Stones.Dramaturgy: actors as objects (stones etc.), Sonya takes photos. Soundscape:pre-historical music

5. Amanda presents her ideas to the junta. In the end she hears the juntamember’s gossiping in the corridor. The priest did not especially like theidea. She says nothing

6. Meeting the chairman of the junta at the town hall who tells that there isno money for Amanda’s ideas. Freeze. (characters: Amanda and thechairperson of the council)

Feedback on the working process

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2nd session (3 hours)

Reasons for using audience warm-up exercisesIf we want to help the audience to participate in solving the problems of the playby inviting them to the stage to act the scenes, we have to warm them up first.The purpose is to make them feel comfortable of experimenting different issuesand to play, to know each others and to tell their ideas. It is also essential that theJoker shortly tells the audience what is the purpose of forum theatre, and whatwill happen during the process. These exercises facilitate the understanding andperformance of the following stages.

Warm-ups(to be used in a form of interactive performance with the audience):

We tried these exercises as our own warm-ups for the work in the workshopwith the actors, but they present also an example of a typical pre-workshopexercises for the audiences.

• 1-2-3- YESS!! A group affirmation in a circle: Are we ready for the forumworkshop?

• Gibberish (pork’s Deutsch) presentation. Tell your partner what you have donetoday by using a non-sense language

• Toronto handshake (introduction), try to greet all people in the surroundingsby keeping always one hand in somebody’s hand (the actors also mix withthe audience).

• Random still images: ”Life in Alentejo”. People move randomly and suddenlyfreeze. Ask someone to pick three people in a same situation and with thesame theme. Others try to imagine and guess what the situation could be.Ask for several interpretations.

• Statement circle. If you agree with some insight, take a step on the circleand find somebody else who thought in the same way and change placeswith that person while keeping the eye contact.

Automatic writing. Write rapidly and without stopping a story about Amanda’srole and dreams. ”I dream of the world where…”. The story can be nonsense,poetic, repetitious. Read the products. Choose the best sentences to be used inthe opening scene spoken by the stones and trees and Amanda herself.

Improvising the scenesUnfortunately the rehearsal time was rather short, thus we did not have time totry many of the different techniques of animating the scenes and deepening thecharacters.

The final scene, however, was rehearsed with a silent technique; using onlymimics to analyse the important gestures of hiding and revealing the thoughtsand intentions of the characters. After that the dialogue was added to the scene.It some scenes we also tried techniques of freezing the impro and exploring thehidden thoughts to clarify the tensions. The actors were asked to find the costumesand props for the scene.

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The changes between the scenes were made in such a manner that the actorsplayed the wind that blows away the old scenes and carries the new set on thestage. Dramaturgically the wind is a repetition of the wind of the beginning sceneat the pre-historical stone circle. The whole play was rehearsed again withoutstops.

DiscussionWe discussed the purpose of the demo and the nature of forum theatredramaturgy. We decided to have no extra rehearsal due to the tight workshopschedule, but instead to enjoy the advantage of developing the play with a liveaudience in a workshop situation.

Forum theatre performance demoThe demo of the forum was performed for the Drama Way workshop participants:drama workers, teachers, youth and socio-cultural workers. There were no youngpeople of Amanda´s age in the audience, thus the aim was to emphasise that theworkshop is an opportunity to learn to understand young people and theirproblems. The focus was, right from the beginning, on the issue: how the 17 yearold Amanda could win her obstacles. On the other hand, it would be possible toexplore, for example, what the teacher could do to help Amanda. This point ofview would have been interesting, while many of the audience members wereteachers. However, this point of view was studied in other interventions andlater in still images as well.

Introduction/drama contract with the audienceIn the beginning, the joker told the audience what forum theatre is and how itworks. The process and theme of the play were also shortly introduced, and theaudience was asked to take actively part in scripting and developing the playfurther: without an audience there is no forum. Joker also explained that thefocus of the workshop on this occasion is to experience and explore the viewpointof a young Alentejo woman. What kind of choices can she make in difficultsituations?

Warm-ups (see above):

• Grab the thumb • Random still images. • Statement circle:

”I sometimes feel that I am an alien here””Creativity is essential for human beings””For a young woman it is often difficult to express ones own ideas””Alentejo should be conserved as it is””Alentejo needs changes – cultural development”

1 1-2-3-YESS!

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Watching the performance

Facilitation/Joker questionsHow did you experience this play – tell in your own words? What else wouldyou like to say about it?What was the problem? Whose problem it was?Are the events truthful? Does this kind of things happen often in real life?

Most of the participants admitted that the problems they saw on the stage werequite common in the real life in Alentejo, but could also happen anywhere. Andtherefore, we were able to continue; the audience recognised the problem.

Hot seating the character • Defining the names and ages of the characters, creating characteristics

features: how do you see them, how do they see themselves? • Audience makes questions to the characters

Brainstorm of solutions in small groupsWhat could Amanda do to achieve what she wants?Are the things that she wants all good?

InterventionsSome volunteers from the small groups were asked to present their ideas. Jokermade the propositions more specific and concrete through questions like:How should she do that?In what situation should she do that?What should she exactly say and to whom?” OK – come and do it” – the volunteer (never called as volunteers) was taken tothe stage and helped to start to act from a specific moment onwards.Each intervention was shortly analysed through with the help the joker’s questionsto clarify the issues to the spectator-actor and to the audience:Was the intervention successful? What would be the consequences?Did the intervention present the same character with same mentality?In order to get more interventions the joker asked:What else could she do to achieve what she wants?Due to the lack of time, only three interventions were tried through actingbased on the propositions.

Still images in small groupsWhat could Amanda do in some other situations in the future? How could she,for example, create a golden bridge, a win-win situation? Images were observedone after another. The others tried to guess, whether the images could be e.g.

• made alive (words and action) • hidden thoughts of the characters were explored in frozen moments

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Feedback from the participantsWe discussed shortly how the audience and performers experienced thetechnique.

• How could it be used in their own work? • Was the theme relevant? • In which situations and communities this forum could and could not be used? • Should the teachers be present when the students create forum theatre? • Is it possible to achieve clear results through forum theatre? • Importance of networking and collaborating with communities, stake-holders,

school psychologists etc.

Some analysis and further thoughtsAs a joker, I decided to give an example of an easier way to “joke” a scene. I tend toproceed directly to the audience intervention phase (re-acting the scenes), but it ismore demanding to proceed straight to the joker questioning technique. Easierway would be to divide the group into small units right after watching the play.

Storyline itself did not offer big hooks or surprises. Furthermore, the themewas not directly targeted to the demo audience; it did not heat up the audienceas much as it could, if prepared with proper production time. Therefore, I decidedto continue straight into writing the play with the audience by using still images.

With the help of the same technique of making still images in small groups wecould have continued trying to find how Amanda´s situation is getting worse: the

Finding solutions through still image excercises.

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dramatic conflicts developed. This could have been a good alternative for thelong process of making a forum theatre play, as well, but we did not have time forthat. Perhaps it is even more a participatory solution to come with a half-finishedperformance infront of the audience and continue the play making with theiropen minds and bodies?

Forum theatre becomes alive with the audience. Without an audience thathas got an interest in the theme due to their own real life experiences there cannot be forum theatre, but only a simple play without interaction. Most apparently,the play even in its present form would work quite well with the 17-year-old highschool youngsters of the area. However, in order to hook the interest moreeffectively the dramaturgy should be more compact and clearer. The developmentof a dramatic conflict should also be such that creates a more conflicting contrastbetween the dreams and realities of Amanda’s harsh life.

Music, costumes and stage design could be developed to adapt to react toand with the play. Such visual materials as real Power Points and other projectionscould also be used. Stage lighting could be used to facilitate the transfer betweenthe scenes. In the gossip scene it would be essential to draw the audience’sattention to the fact that Amanda really heard the gossips, but did not say anything.

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FinlandFinlandFinlandFinlandFinland

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Free fall – Project in Lohja

Project description

FREE FALL is a drug prevention programme using the techniques of participatorydrama. The target group is the 7th graders in the comprehensive school (childrenaged approximately 12 – 13 years). The project has been annually realised as aco-operation project of the Lohja youth work, the educational services of Lohjaand the youth work education programme of Kanneljärvi Institute/the HumanisticPolytechnic. The project consists of a series of annual sub-projects realised inLohja during five years, 1999 – 2004, and altogether around 150 school classeshave participated in these projects. In addition to the participatory performancescreated for the youngsters, drama session for parents and teachers have beenorganised as well. Altogether around 3,000 youngster have been reached withthe project. The results of the project and the feedback have been positive.

The project planners and educators were Tom Joutsen, Titi Lillqvist, ReettaMyyrä, Micke Renlund and Katri Tamminen. The planning and creation of thedrama have been annually organised through a five-week long ”Methods ofParticipatory Drama in Youth Work” training course, where the participantsconsisted of 13 – 15 youth work students + a couple of health care students. Aproject-study group was compiled after the training course, and this group togetherwith the educational services realised the performances in the schools of thearea. The aim of the students in the group was to learn to use these dramamethods in their own work later on.

During these five years the project has required a following number of workinghours:

– students’ study hours ( 15 h ) 11,300– students’ project hours ( 7 h ) 5,300– educators ( 1-2 h) 1,000– youth workers ( 2 h ) 3,000– teachers 500altogether 21,100 HOURS

The educational services of Lohja has created a working method for maintainingthe contact with different schools, has taken care of the contacts with the rector,teachers and the student guides and has been responsible for the follow-up ofthe project. The Kanneljärvi Institute/Humanistic Polytechnic has been responsiblefor the planning of the education and for the creation of this project-study method.The drama educators organised the education and the guidance for the actualwork.

The performances were organised during the years 1999 – 2002 in expressiveworkshop NoStatus situated in the centre of Lohja – in an old bakery building,and during the years 2003 - 2004 in the youth centre DIXI. Each year a dramaspace has been staged in these buildings, and the school classes have arrived inthe building during their school time.

TitiLillqvist

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Aims of the project

The aim has been to make a preventive influence on youth drug usage in onearea and with one class at a time.

How to reach this goal:

• The preventive educational work has been directed towards the whole agegroup, in such age period where the crucial issues of guidelines for living areconsidered and realised.

Drama session have been realised with the 7th graders, since in this age thecrucial decision of life are made. The transition from the lower level to theupper level of the comprehensive school, in some cases meaning a transitionfrom a small village to a bigger central school, are such periods of increasingindependence and growth, in which it is easy to imagine and apply drugabuse drama considering the adulthood and the decisions of adults. Thesetransition periods are the transition rites of this age group. Youngsters ofthis age observe and consider drugs and the lifestyle related to them, butmost of the youngster, nevertheless, do not have personal experiences ofdrugs at this age. We have tested this working and drama method withother age groups, but we did not receive the same kind of intensity andwillingness for consideration as with the 7th graders. The younger age groupswere not aware of the drug issues and the older age groups, for example8th – 9th graders (13 – 15 year olds) regarded the educational work aschildiss and thought that it came too late for them. Researches show thatintoxicant and drug experiments start approximately in the 8th grade, thusthe preventive work must be organised before that.

• The aim is to reach the certain age group in the target area in its entiretythrough a school-specific working method

In the realisation of the project it has been essential to get all the youngstersin the area to consider this issue during one school term. In this way thewhole network of friends has been dealt with at the same time, and a basisfor the after work of the project team was created.

• Creating a strategic model, in which the purpose is to concentrate on creatingclass-specific performances and workshops, as well as to increase co-operationand networking of different instances of education and problem solving in differentschools and areas.

This project was created as a activity-network facilitating the co-operationbetween education services, youth work, intoxicant work and the parent’sof the pupils. Youth work and intoxicant work instances organised factualdrug and intoxicant information campaigns in schools.

Creating the schedule plans for the preventive drug education dramas, andimplementing them well in advance into the curricula, usually in the previousterm while the curricula was still on a planning stage.

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The preventive drug education drama under consideration was orderlydealt with among the different education instances before the performanceseason by organising a teacher performance in the area, where all theteacher handling the issue in lessons were invited. During couple of thesefive years this performance was organised as a part of teachers’ VESO-education programme (education that is a part of the collective bargainingcontract). In addition to familiarising with the performance, introducingthe theme, pre-performance preparations, arriving on the performance,participation of the teachers, realising the aftermath in classes etc. wereagreed on. Teachers were provided with aftermath and feedback materialconsidering the drama.

The drama performance and the related workshops were also discussedin the drama nights of the parents. Parents gave their own contribution onhow the issues are to be handled.

The media in the area was invited to co-operate already in the planningstage, and their duty was to support the spirit of the project and to reporttruthfully about the issues (for example, it is important to emphasise thatthe participants of the project are NOT drug abusers, etc.).

Aims of the project concerning the attitudes of the youngsters

• Considering drug usage as a chosen way of living with means of performativedrama.

Avoiding the image of drug usage as a result of bad conditions at home andother similar reasoning, in which the youngster can not influence, andconcentrating on considering the situations where the drug usage hasstarted as a result of admiring the ”cool” and successful way of life, inwhich drug use is often connected to, thus so called fun druging. The purposewas to break this attitude model and to explore what this ”successful” lifewith drugs means.

• Guiding the youngsters to form their own opinions on good and successfulway of life with the help of the training of attitudes techniques of the participatorydrama.

Performing and discussing a story of a young person, with whom theaudience could identify, with the techniques of the participatory drama.Portraying the decision making situation of the youngster dealing withstarting to use drugs and the interaction related to that with drama. Definingthe alternative decisions and, instead of dwelling in the horror storiesrelated to drugs, the youngster’s own control of life and decisions, whichemphasise the possibilities of a good and intoxicant-free life, formed thecentral part of the consideration.

• Avoiding the preaching and patronising style, but instead, offering possibilitiesto discuss and to choose what kind of life the youngsters want to lead, now and

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in the future, what are the aspects of good life and, furthermore, what kind of lifethe youngsters do NOT want to live.

Such activating situational exercises of participatory drama techniques wereused, which facilitated for the youngster as spectators/participators/creatorsidentifying the conflicts related to different decision making situations andconflicts born when the youngster tries to escape from the influence ofthe friends: thus learning to express one’s own opinions. Different endingsfor the main characters life were created in the drama – happy and unhappy,observing the affects of drug abuse on the characters life (professionalexclusion, loneliness, indebtedness and crimes etc.).In the end of the drama the focus was transferred form the character toeverybody’s own life; What do I think of these issues, which kind of supportand safety networks are there in my life, do I dare to say no to drugs, howdo I want my life to go and what is good for me in life.

• Creating a drama that suits for the local needs and situations, and for thesituation in life of the youngsters, thus a drama that is real and believable for theyoungsters.

The core of the issue guaranteeing the believability of the project was toproduce the drama material from the local aspects and by listening to thelocal youth. This technique meant that the plot was created in such a mannerthat the actors – young students – collected the material of the drug storyfrom the local youngsters, for example in schools, youth centres, on thestreets, and then producing in co-operation with the drama educator thedrug story of Lohja. This procedure created a story that has a specialmeaning for the target group. It is essential to know the target group wellin order to create drama and to be able to enter into the role of theyoungsters. The drug usage culture was also introduce through the visits ofex-drug abusers, exploring pro-drug web sites and organisations. Theintoxicant instance of Lohja introduced the state of drug abuse and theusage profile of different drugs. Educational visits and the material providedby YAD (Young Against Drugs) and Irti Huumeista ry.(organisation againstdrugs) offered an insight of preventive drug education and treatment ofdrug addicts. The educational influence on attitudes of this process continuedtherefore among the actor-student group even after the project ended.

• Protecting the intimacy and safety of the audienceIt was told beforehand in the beginning of the drama that the point is notto explore and bring forth anybody’s own or friends experiences of drugs,thus not to deal with intimate issues, but the aim is to make the participantsconsider drug usage and intoxicant-free lifestyle in general. In the beginningof the drama the actors were introduced as real persons and in the end ofthe drama the masks were again removed. This procedure ensured that,for example, the actor acting the role of a drug dealer is normalised in theeyes of the audience by removing the mask and telling what was the aim ofhis/her performance instead of remaining as a scary character in the fragilemind of the youngster.

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Work descrition and responsibilites of the productive team

Project team: representatives of the youth work + the educator. Responsible forthe management, schedule, creation of co-operation with schools, informationon local level, funding and arranging premises for the project.

Person maintaining the school connections + person in charge of the performances:specialised youth worker or other youth worker. Made a preliminary visit toeach school class. Ensured the school specific schedules and the arrival of thepupils to the performances. Participated in the performances as a professional ofhis/her field = as a trustworthy adult (thus did not take roles). Was the ”troubleshooter” in the performances (first aid and other helping situations). Took careof the after-drama connections to the classes and teachers. Organised the teacherand parent drama events.

Educator: From the ”Free Fall” team. Professional community theatre educator.Responsible for educating the actor team, creating the drama for the classes andfor adapting and performing of the drama for the teachers and parents. Participatedin the information meetings. Gave guidance for the work of the actor group incases where the performance session was long.

Joker: From the”Free Fall” team. Professional youth worker who has studied thejoker technique of applied drama. Participated in the education of the actorgroup by applying his/her leadership work in the story of the drama. Leader ineach performance.

Actor: person active in local theatre scene and a drama student, 5-7 actors perperformance. Prepared the performance, among other things, by collecting thestories and experiences concerning drug usage and the consequences of thatfrom the local youngsters. Participated in the course where the drama was created.Acted in the drama in the roles of friends, adults and drug users.

The teacher/s responsible for the class: Agreed separately with each school. Was,for example, a teacher of health, Finnish, or a student guide. Participated in teacherdrama event, arranged the contacts with the class in co-operation with the personmaintaining the school contacts, prepared the class for going to the performanceand took care of the discussion and aftermath of the drama.

Person responsible for the follow-up. In order to follow the results of this project,it was essential to create a follow-up system that enables annual follow-up of theeffects of this training of attitudes on the drug/intoxicant use of youngsters.

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Drama plots and methods

The plots of the yearly Free Fall drama performances have been stories ofyoungsters and the trips in the drug world. Different methods have been usedwhen processing drama in the end of the performance. The scenes are processedin the middle and in the end of the scenes with participatory drama methodexercises – for example, by producing alternative thoughts, by interviewing somecharacters, by creating happy/unhappy endings for the story and by experimentingdifferent problem solution alternatives.

Drama plots in years 2000 – 2004

1999/2000 – NoStatusA story of a boy inside the drug world. Several scenes were staged in theperformance area and in the cellar – for example a drug abusers hanging placewas staged in the cellar, and the path leading to the cellar was lit only dimly tocreate the right atmosphere. The main scene was the boy + Mr. Drug, where theboy is interviewed by the audience, but Mr. Drug actually provides all the answers,thus is controlling the boy.

2000/2001 – NoStatusA story of a girl in the drug world. A ”mental beach” was staged on theperformance area. The participants went through this beach in groups. Duringthe journey the participants experienced a transfer from the soft hippie-styledrug experiments to hard drugs, blackmailing drug dealer and ending up to thedrug rehabilitation in a mental hospital. The main scenes were: peeking to thegirl’s room where she lied overdosed and the interviewing the girl’s mother.

2001/2002 - NoStatusA story of a girl in the drug world. A decision making situation in a home party –shall I try drugs or not. Portraying the change of the friend network, stealingfrom mother and lying. The main scene: drug hallucination situation, in which thepeople closest to the girl were dancing as distorted masque theatre figures aroundthe girl.

2002/2003 – DIXIA story of a girl. Home party. Change of hobbies. The reactions at home, fathertrying to take the girl to drug tests. A dance of a black and a white figure fightingover the girl. The main scenes: producing the sounds; girl’s experiences duringthe drug abuse, the feeling of the close people interpreted as screams and whispersand the end scene; the girl is battling and hanging in ropes while the black andwhite figure are fighting over her.

2003/2004 – DIXISeveral stories. Framing story formed by a group of young LARPers, who arecreating a value game in school. Stories of different values; desire to experience,desire to dare, desire for life to go well. The stories considered different drugsand the reasons for using drugs. In the end the story returned to the role playsituation: ”Take the sword of courage and start following your own path…”

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The most impressive scenes and situations

• all aspects related to home parties received a lot of interest – the audiencewanted to have longer home party scenes

• parent and family characters were important. Although the parents werealways seen as too strict, the meaning and need of home as safe haven wascrucial especially in problem solving situations

• such hot-seat interviews that dealt with drug related problems (mother of thedrug user, heavy-users of drugs, the boy under influence of drug + Mr. Drug)

• decision making situation concerning starting to use drugs, in which thevoices from inside the head were used

• creating better alternative for the decisions in the end discussion; a possibilityto see one’s own proposal as a improvised performance; it was nice tohave a chance to direct by oneself different alternative solutions

• listening to the sounscape – ”really cool” • visits to rehabilitation centre and meeting a drug dealer face-to-face • part of the audience found it great to be able to participate and that

everybody got the change to be involved, it was exciting • part of the audience would have wanted to participate more, to act more • some people found it hard to answer the questions

Exercise methods

The drama performance with the class lasted two lessons, thus 90 minutes. Thistime period was too short in most of the cases. The pupils would have wanted tostay longer and to discuss the issues further. The schedule was limited due to thelesson frame of the schools, lunch hours and the buss schedules for the groupsarriving from a longer distance. Ice-breaking techniques were used with newgroups. Due to the tight schedule there was no time for real open forum theatretype drama, since it was likely that the process could have been interrupted.Therefore, we decided to create rather structured and partly theatrical TIE-drama (Theatre in Education) with its extensive exercises, since it was the betpossible method to use in these time limits.

The performance was divided in the following parts:

Beginning – beginning information

app. 15 min – warm-up games (question game: ”Yes.No-Maybe” concerningattitudes towards drugs, ice-breaking games). Aiming atconcentration, relaxing the group, departure from the schoolmode, increasing group spirit, preparing the coming dramasituation.

Performance – app. 5 – 7 short scenes

app. 20 min – part of the scenes in the present time, part in the future of theyouth and part abstract; for example happening in the maincharacters mind and feelings

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Exercises – in between the scenes

app. 20 min – the used exercises• hot-seat (the main character a youngster/drug abuser/ motherof a long-time drug abuser/friend of the drug user). Aiming atbuilding the character and to clarifying the perspective and context.• voices from inside the head (mainly used in decision makingsituations – the first drug usage situation). Aiming at bring forthand deal with contradictory and conflicting thoughts and behaviourmodels.• value path (why to go to the party/why not). Aiming at createpersonal experiences and thinking models.• voting (how does the character decide). Aiming at activating toparticipate and influencing in the drama. Provides also informationof the thoughts of the audience for the joker.• picture of sounds – soundscape (of the main character’s lifewhile the drug abuse is continuing). Aiming at creating images,combining the different parts of the story into one entity.• still-pictures (the girl’s worse nightmare of drug usage, dreamsand nightmares of the end result). Aiming a crystallising andclarifying the attitudes and thoughts and the end results. Facilitatesthe possibility to continue the process by creating a sketch basedon the situation presented in the still-pictures.

Conclusion discussionsapp. 30 min • group discussions

• creating alternative solutions (actors improvise better solutionmodels)• making slogans and banners of good values in life for the maincharacter• value game, where 25 own good values are defined and set inan intuitive order• the still-pictures created in the groups concerning the crucialsituations/end situations• a sociogram of the close people of the main character + theirsentences

Aftermath

Each year there is drama aftermath package produced for the teachers, includingone or several alternative exercises, to be used for one lesson after the drama.

Exercises: • Writing a letter, imagining to be some of the characters in the drama as an

old person describing his/her situation after the happening in the drama • Writing an essay concerning youth drug usage • Drawing a comic strip of different values in life/choices of the main character • Making a poster of own good values

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• Creating alternative solution models for the situation of the beginning ofdrug abuse

• Reading the letter from the main character girl and writing a response tothat/answering the questions in it o What good is in everybody’s life as a alternative for intoxicants? o How to live in such a manner that one would not end up as Netta? o How/who could help Netta?

Drama process ”netta in a spin”, year 2002

• Additional appendix – not yet available in electronic form • map of the scenes • process description

Feedback

A class is such a big group of people as audience that it is hard to estimate whathappens in one person’s mind during the performance. Therefore, one of ouraims was that in each school the pupils participating in the drama would discusstheir thoughts of the theme of the drama, for example, in the Finnish lesson. Wesent the co-operation teachers a aftermath package including means to unravelthe drama. We received feedback from these means mainly from the ones writingan essay. This method created discussions on drug abuse, the effects of drugabuse and on the intoxicant-free way of life.

Pupil’s feedback on ”Netta in a Spin” from different schools

In school ”A” there were 42 essays and in school ”B” 51 essays written concerningthe themes in Netta’s letter. The themes in the essays were concerning thefollowing issues:

• telling about the dangers of drug abuse in general • direct answers to Netta’s letter • the story of the drama as a new version • how to live in such a manner that one would not end up as Netta

All the essays were clearly against drugs.

Recommendations for Netta: • most of the pupils offered Netta clear suggestion of how to live and survive • the most common alternatives for intoxicants were friends ( 39 % ), hobbies

( 34 %) and family ( 25 % ). Other alternatives were, among other things,sports, healthy life, school, animals, future plans and good life in general.

• Pupils proposed that Netta could get a pet, spend time with the family andgood friends

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• 19 % hoped that Netta would find a peer group from other youngsterfighting against drugs.”We think that you should just continue with your life…Forget the past and theguy…Concentrate now just on yourself and your family, they love you, no matterif you do not always notice that...Find new and better friends.””If you would have never even tried drugs, you would not have ended up in arehabilitation..””You get through it and feel as a winner…It was really brave to admit that youhave a problem and to get treatment…and you will be some day happy again…Nowthat you have been to the bottom there is only one way to go…And that is upwards!”

Who could be the best helper for Netta: • friends ( 49 % ) • parents ( 27 % ) • professionals ( 20 % ) • rehabilitation ( 20 % ) • family ( 16 % )

Altogether 92 % emphasised the meaning of the closest people and 40 %professional help.

”how to live without ending up like Netta” answers: • saying no to intoxicants (53 %) • friend network (30 %) • thinking what one is doing (18 %) • other proposals: for example, to get a hobby, maintaining good relationships

with the parents and friends, to have a strong self confidence and to beoptimistic. ”Nothing special is needed, with the basic things one can survive”.

Rehabilitation: • pupils found the rehabilitation centre as a cruel place (17 %), but thought

that it was a good place for Netta, since she was in need of treatment • rehabilitation process was easy (7 %) • the decision to go to treatment and stop using drugs have to be made by

Netta (17 %)

Netta’s destiny: • worried about Netta’s financial situation (23 %) • worried that Netta is lonely in the rehabilitation centre (31 %) • a couple were interested in Netta’s relationship with her mother • in a way or another, drug usage leads to death (some of the substances)

(12 %)”It is not good to use drug, because you die for them. With drugs you can die inmany different ways. You may die for overdose, diseases from drugs, doing somethingstupid, because you are so wasted and you can die shot by the dealer or beaten.”

• Saying no to drugs when they are being offered was considered to be hard( 12 % ). This was mainly due to the peer pressure.

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• The biggest issues was the future of Netta and what she will do when sheis released from the rehabilitation centre ( 31 % )”Have you thought about the life after the treatment? Do you continue yourschool or are you going to work? You have time to think about your future in therehabilitation centre. You are the one to decide on your life.”

Pupil’s feedback on the technical realisation of the drama

Feedback material included 5 schools, 8 classes, 180 pupils

• the story was believable, this could happen to a 7th grader in Lohjaalmost agree 61 %totally agree 24 % together 85 %

• using drama in this kind of education creates a relaxed atmosphere whenconsidering the hard/boring issuesalmost agree 44 %totally agree 49 % together 93 %

• I think that it was nice to participate in the storyalmost agree 38 %totally agree 46 % together 84 %

• I thought about the drama afterwards / I talked about it with my friends/parents/siblingsyes 84 %

• it is not always easy to behave in such a manner as one likes when there isa danger of being discriminated by the otherstotally disagree 6 %somewhat disagree 26 % together 32 %almost agree 44 %totally agree 23 % together 67 %

• a grade for the whole performance 4 1 % 5 0 % 6 2 % 7 2 % 8 23 % 9 53 %10(the best grade) 19 %

+ actors’ skill to live the role + humour+ drama believable, humorist, impressive, provoked thoughts+ movement in space+ possibility to participate in the drama+ joker questions were a good method to digest the seen events+ drama is a good method to deal with drug problems+ open discussions of the issues+ desire for the project to continue+ wanted that others besides the 7th graders could see the drama as well,

children of all ages

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– changing the roles was difficult – more actors in the performance needed– transfer from one scene to another and the change in time difficult –

scattered– joker questions annoying interruptions– the shortness and incompleteness of the story bothering ( 35 % )– boring / always the same preaching– could be less stupid exercises– there should be less uncomfortable talks

Thoughts and feedback from the parents

Parents’ feedback was gathered through the after-discussions of the parentperformance. The drama gave rise to a lively debate. The parents were mainlypleased with what they saw and how the project was organised. Some of theparents were frightened by the harshness of the description of the world of theyouth – however, the drama was not created for the needs of the parents.Discussions were born of the change of the drug culture, the fact that the personoffering drugs is nowadays a familiar person instead of a stranger, the availabilityof drugs. One of the discussion issue was the responsibility of the close ones ofthe drug user; who should interfere and how, and is it appropriate to tell theparents of a friend of one’s child that the child is using drugs. The participationpercent of the parents was rather low, for example only about 30 parentsparticipated from a school of 650 pupils (4,6 %).

Thoughts and feedback from the teachers

In the beginning phase of the project there was a teacher from each upper levelof comprehensive school present in the information gatherings of the teachers.Mostly these representatives were Finnish teachers, since drama lessons arepart of the Finnish education lesson frame. During the years some other interestedteachers were involved as well, student guides, persons who have studiedparticipatory drama, school nurses , ET-teachers (education of life, replacing theteaching of religion for some pupils) and others. Unfortunately, the teachers’interest in the information gatherings dramatically declined during the later yearsof the project, reaching a point where as few as 1 – 3 teachers were present. Thishappened in spite of the fact that the information gathering was at that time apaid VESO-education. This low participation percent affected the functioning ofthe project, since the working methods required the participation of theconnection teachers. In many cases the situation was such that only one teacherwas informed about the project; s/he arranged the arrival of the class to thedrama and got the aftermath material, but then another teacher, who had noidea what was going to happen, was sent with the class to the drama situation.Therefore, it was at times hard to motivate and offer information to the classes.In some cases the aftermath was taken care by a teacher who was not familiarwith the project and did not participate in it.

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The following issues, among other things, were discussed in the teacher meetings: • is this drama too much for some of the 7th graders. It was agreed that the

school decides if someone has psychical or other similar problems, thusthe drama is not suitable for him/her (only 1-2 pupils during the projectyears)

• the aim of the performance is to prepare the pupils for the decision makingsituation, thus the majority of the pupils should be those who have not yetfaced this decision making situation

• would it be possible that the aftermath session would be arranged duringthe control of life lessons

• what is the role of the teacher in intoxicant education (teachers are notdoctors nor polices, they are not all familiar with the drug world, but caneducate as laymen and honestly say that they do not know everything onthis issue)

Experiences of the work group

The producers of the project are divided here in two groups – project team (2youth workers and educators) and actors of the year (drama students).

Feedback from the drama students

• considered the project as extremely meaningful and educating • many students felt that they have grown during the project • feeling of success; the drama reached its target audience • participatory drama was considered as meaningful due to its interactive

nature + it was nice to be put in practise • after the drama was learnt, it was possible to try changing the roles – to

have a chance to realise oneself in multiple ways • the skills and creativity of the work group were used in versatile ways • the project was extensive and intensive, thus in some cases quite heavy

and demanding – some days there could be three performances and onlya few pauses, which was due to the schedules of the schools

• repeating the same story for 35 times created frustration and routines –change of roles helped

• more work guidance would have been needed – due to the scarceness ofthe resources there were only one period of 5 weeks when it was given

• the drama was planned to be too long, thus there was quite a hurry in theend and the time ran out

• the group was not yet professional – personal weaknesses affected theproject. People were late, concentration was weak at times and there wasno self produced spirit raising

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Feedback from the project team

• the project was considered as a meaningful way to work • drama was considered as extremely successful and suitable method of

drug educating – the interest was visible during the performances • cutting the resources in the education has strained the core team of the

project – the contact teaching of the students have diminished from 170lesson to 112 – 120 lessons in five years and part of the studies are homestudies! (intoxicant education). This has clearly decreased the skills, target-orientation and professional pedagogical considerations of the performingteam. There are too few work guidance lessons

• the youth workers have worked in the project besides their own workduties, they took care of the management of the project and led theperformances, which led to tiredness and their own work suffered occasionally

• participation activity of the schools and parents has been low. The projecthas been considered as a youth work’s own project. On the other hand, thispassivity can be interpreted as a sign of trust; people know what this projectis all about and trust us. This theme is often considered as hard and heavy.

• Feedback from the audience has been surprisingly positive • The lack of continuing follow-up research is evident – this project could

offer a meaningful way to create a continuing intoxicant behaviour andattitude follow-up research, but a skilful instance would be needed to realiseit. Schools and the town did not offer a person for such research and theproject team did not have time to launch such a project. The follow-upsare realised annually with students, without research guidance.

• the main source of motivation was the youngsters; they appreciated this work:

It is so great that somebody is goes through all these troubles to protect young people!There is not many of you kind! Peace!

Titi Lillqvistis tellingabout hermethods inSalo in June2003.

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Photo as a step to drama

Psychotherapists Ulla Halkola and Tarja Koffert elaborated their method “Photoas a Step to Drama” during the Drama Way project. This method combinesdifferent approaches of phototherapy and participatory drama. The aim of themethod is to help the participants to increase their self understanding, to createalternative means for analyzing the present, important or current themes intheir lives and to disclose aims for the future. The group processing form of thismethod creates an interactive forum; characteristic to this forum is sincerity,experience orientation and sociality.

Photos in Therapeutic and Educational Uses – What does it mean?

The aim of phototherapy is to use photos and photographing to enhance theperson’s self awareness, to support the personal growth and psychical harmonyand to help the person to get through the crisis in life. By using photos in therapyit is possible to reach such matters that can not be reached with words, and alsoto enliven memory and to create alternative means for analyzing life.

Methods of the phototherapy include viewing biographical photos, viewingassociative and symbolic photos and taking new photos. These methods may bewidely applied in individual and group work sessions depending on the aims ofthe educational or therapeutic session or the needs of the participants.

“Photo as a Step to Drama” in the DramaWay Project

Instructors and the Theme of the Workshop

Psychotherapists Ulla Halkola and Tarja Koffert participated in the DramaWayseminar held in Salo, Finland, in July 2003. They were inspired with the rehearsalsand performances of the forum theater in this seminar, and decided to carry outtheir own performative photo session called “Annie Immerin ja Elena EinmalinArmas Arki” (Annie Immer and Elena Einmal: Sweet Everyday life). This photosession is a nostalgic photographic story of two women, photographed in a placewhere youngsters spend their free time. The photographic scene is thesurroundings of an old grain Silo.

On the wall of the Silo there used be an advertisement of Anni-Helena wheatflour. Now all that is left of the silo is ruins. There is some waste material broughtto the scene: stove, refrigerator, washing machine and mattresses, thus the basicfurniture of a small apartment. The walls of the surrounding buildings are coveredwith graffiti. The beloved everyday life in these surroundings and photos appearsto be nostalgic, but nevertheless joyful. Who are these women, where do theycome from and what is their life like? The creators of the photo series beganasking these questions from themselves, and from others. “Photo as a Step toDrama” method was born.

UllaHalkola

&Tarja

Koffert

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The Participants of the Workshop

There were held two Photo as a Step to Drama workshops during Drama Wayproject. One in Barcelona in Spain and one in Turku in Finland. About 30participants took part in these workshops. The groups consisted of drama workers,art- an phototherapists, social worksers, teachers, counselors and students.

The Steps of the Workshop

The program of the workshop based on the performative photo series, viewingthe photos and creating a story based on the photos was following:

1. Phototherapy and the related methods were introduced.2. 40 photos of Elena and Annie were hanged in a clothes line in the workshop.3. The participants were divided into two groups.4. The participants in the first group chose photos of Annie and in the second

group photos of Elena. Each participant chose their own photo.5. The photos were viewed together in the group. There was a group discussion

on the images and stories that the photos evoked.6. Both of the groups chose one photo and created a story based on the

photo.7. Both groups presented their story as a drama performance.8. After the drama performances the participants discussed how the choosing

of the picture and creating the story went. Discussion handled issue suchas how the participants took part in the co-operation, what kind of roleseach participant has taken and which themes each participant brought tothe story.

9. Then the group analyzed the contents of the stories and considered theissues that were handled in the stories.

10. The procedures in the workshop were evaluated with the help of associativecards.

Feedback from the Workshop

The participants of the workshop described the “Photo as a Step to Drama”method as an interesting and effective way of approaching different issues. Theparticipants became interested in the characters and lives of the persons portrayedin the photos; the photos became alive and stories were born. There was acompetitive situation inside the group concerning the choosing of the photo tobe used in the drama performance, but after the group had chosen the photo, itwas easy to dramatize the story and to create the roles.

The entirety of the group work, the choosing of the photo, the story tellingand the drama performance were later analyzed in a group discussion. Assessingthe group process and observing the own role in the process in a group discussionwas a new experience for most of the participants, and this reflective observationwas considered as a significant part of the process. The reflective observationwas seen as a useful approach for different group productions.

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The following procedure was to discuss the contents of the stories.

The following questions were used in analyzing the drama stories:

• Which personal matters were involved in the stories? • Which universal themes were related to the stories? • Did the stories include some common national characteristics and features? • How did the personal experiences show in the stories? • Which of the stories was the most touching one for the participants? • In what way the persons in the photos were involved in the stories? • What did the created story tell for the persons taking the photos?

The final assessment with the photo cards was a natural way of expressingown personal experiences of the workshop, and by circulating the cards theinstructors got insight on the effectiveness of the workshop.

The workshops in Barcelona and Turku are the first one to use the photos ofAnnie and Elena. In the future the aim is to carry out the workshop with othergroups.

During the workshop different scenes of the stories can be photographedand analyzed separately, and alternative stories could be created according tothe methods of the forum theater. Drama can be enriched in multiple ways byusing photos. The co-operation of the drama workers and psychotherapists usingphotos in therapy in Drama Way project was productive, and new methods wereborn. This project was encouraging; the co-operation will continue.

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Arts, Educators, Communities – a Participatory Approach

Presentation at the JornadasLa Caixa, Granollers, Spain2003-11-22

Background

This is a brief and modified version of a speech presented at the Jornadas, whichwas a seminar event on theatre and drama organised by one of the Drama Wayproject´s subpartners, La Caixa Foundation, in Granollers, Spain in November 2003.The projects presented in this article have not directly been a part of DramaWay project. However, many of the elements have been presented and adaptedin the workshops and seminars of the project; therefore it is reasonable to includethis text in this handbook in an abbreviated form.

Aims of the Presentation

• to explain what does participatory approach in arts education mean • to tell how we train art educators who want to work with the communities,

part of which are the young people • to tell about some of the international impacts that have inspired our

work in Finland • to show some examples of different kinds of community art projects that

have also served as trainings for the educators • to speculate how the future of this work is going to look like in my country

I will focus this presentation on the performing arts, especially drama. However,in a community context different forms of expression are often used simultaneously.The use of the forms depends on the skills and training of the educators, as well asthe needs of the community and the ongoing projects. Some practitioners like tospecialise in the use of one single method, but I, as a producer of events, like tooffer people different artistic ways to reach the same goals. For some practitionersthis tool can be snow sculpting – a natural and available resource in Finland – orinstallations of natural materials in the forest. For me it has been more common touse drama, or songs and dances, of the different cultures and my own country. Inmy work, as a producer of trainings and events or as an educator or popular artist,I usually use drama as a link between the various artistic expressions. My emphasisis also on more issue based content of education, such as discussions on up-to-date topics or concrete future planning workshops.

Often in this work we do not separate the young people from the other agegroups. We prefer to facilitate the communication between the old and the young.For example, if the aim is to use drama for drug prevention, we try to work withthe community as a whole entity. We try to make youngsters and their peers,parents, teachers, social, health and youth workers, police, shopkeepers etc. meeteach other. The same applies to the events of celebratory nature. Community artevent can, at its best, be a meeting point of the different age and social groups like”in the good old times”. In this way we hope to be able to facilitate the naturallearning process between the different generations, lifestyles and experiences.

JouniPiekkari

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Theoretical Ideas and Inspirations

If I should mention only one source that inspires for my work, it would definitelybe Brazilian educationalist Paulo Freire and his Pedagogy of Liberation. Freiredeveloped his pedagogical ideas in the 60s - 70s amongst the illiterate farmworkers who owned no land, and they are still relevant today, even after hisrecent death. He recognised that the effort to teach literacy in the traditional”tanking” method of teaching where the teacher speaks and the students listen,was not successful. It did not activate people, quite the contrary; it made themfeel valueless and to feel that they are not capable of learning complex issues.

The main idea of Freire was that in order for the education to be liberating itshould always begin with those issues that the learners themselves find mostimportant and troublesome in their lives and immediate environment. Theseissues are, for example, lack of money and land, working conditions, householdproblems, social problems etc. These are the hot issues, of which these peopletalk about in their everyday discussions. The first step of the process is to givenames to these phenomena, to conceptualise and to share these experiences inthe group. After that the group of learners progresses towards the analysis of thereasons of these problems. The group finally tries to progress into such kind ofunderstanding of these issues that they can actually start solving their ownproblems. In this perspective, education turns into a politicising process. The roleof the teacher changes as well: the teacher transforms into a co-learner; co-researcher of the realities of the learners. From the teacher’s point of view,liberating education is more about making questions than giving answers.

What does Freire’s pedagogy of liberation have to do with the arts? In hisideology, various forms of art are seen as indigenous means of communication.People express themselves through popular songs, dances, and other forms ofculture that indigenous to them. Let us take a modern example: in Finland socalled Live action role games have become very popular amongst the youngpeople. Usually the LARPs are fantasy games taking place in the history or fairytale world. The participants of these games often openly admit that their purposein playing is to escape from the harsh reality. However, nowadays many of thelarpers do have more society-oriented intentions in their role games. LARP issaid to be one of the few genuine young people’s movements born in the 90´s.

Paulo Freire’s pedagogical ideas have provedly had an enormous impact onthe Third World countries on the grass root level work of people’s activism,popular education, arts, theatre, trainings, community planning, development work,women’s liberation movements, decolonising the universities to mention just afew areas.

I have worked with and been inspired by the Zambian grass root theatremovement. I have been impressed how the young school drop-outs have changedand turned into being the developers of their own societies. They are wanderingtheatre makers, having a high awareness of the social issues with a clear intentionto help people to solve their problems on their own.

Another inspiring example for me has been an Indian theatre group NatyaChetana, which travels ecologically by bicycles from village to village to provokediscussion concerning the important issues with their theatre performances. The

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group also makes research on the local popular art forms, organises festivals,trainings, maintains folk art museum and produces publications. The group hasbeen especially active in the post-work and prevention of natural catastrophesby using their art as therapy, for information purposes and for political advocacy.For them being an artist is a lifestyle of active citizenship.

Freire’s revolutionary ideas are often regarded as too romantic and nostalgicto be directly applied to the contemporary western context. We do not havemass poverty or super cyclones. Our country is listed as the least corrupt countryin the world, whereby in India and Zambia this problem is very acute. However,I can see parallel ideas to those of Freire in the modern constructivist paradigmof learning, which is based on cognitive psychology. The contemporary FinnishNational school curriculum has been based on these principles since 1994. Thechange of paradigm aimed at replacing the frontal teaching methods by creatingactive learning environments where the students construct their understandingof the world rather than ”tank knowledge” according to a strict curricula. Theschools also open up to the wider society, and the value of informal learning innon-school contexts is recognised. The contemporary school system, at least onthe level of principles, encourages such art forms as interactive drama and issuebased art projects where the students observe and comment their environmentthrough arts.

What is the Participatory Approach?

By the participatory approach we mean a working method, where

• the target communities are actively involved in identifying, planning,implementing and evaluating the project

• the participation should be a democratic process and provide all groupsand individuals a chance to participate in the process regardless of age,gender, cultural background or social status

• the aim of the process is socio-cultural change – development - of thecommunities

• what is ”positive change” or ”development” is however not defined by theeducators, but rather by people and communities themselves

• the people in the communities know which issues or what kind of work isimportant for them

In art education participatory approach has got several consequences:

• as an educator coming from the outside one cannot push one’s own strictplans. It is necessary to negotiate the aims, content, timetables and ways ofworking with the group. For example, usually you do not direct a play witha pre-selected text and detailed dramaturgical plan. The more participatoryway would be to create the play together with the group.

• ”aesthetic” is always a relative concept – local aesthetics are as good andvalid as those held by the trained or ”elitist” artists.

• artistic ”end product” is often less important than the process of making it. • in fact there is no ”end”, but a continuous circle of planning, experiencing

and evaluating what we create and learn.

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• in participatory approach art is a collective learning process of sharingmeanings through art

• the artist is a midwife for the ideas – not a dictator using people as rawmaterial for her own expression. In other words the purpose is to ”tickleup” the creativity in people with whatever means appropriate to them

• we need to know who are the people we work with: their history, socialcircumstances, way of seeing and constructing their world view throughsymbols characteristic to them

• education is a dialogue: both the educators and the learners have a chanceto learn from each other

• art can not be a separate island from the realities of life

When dealing with the training of artists we can see that many of the traditionalconceptions of ”artist” become less functional in the community context. It isnot enough that the artist only ”knows his own field”, but it is necessary tocreate a mentality of perpetual questioning about the world and one’s own mission.The artist is, therefore, a field researcher, who creates new ways to adapt indifferent community contexts in suitable ways. In the participatory approach,however, an artist is a cultural anthropologist, who uses his skills to give tools forthe communities to explore their own lives in creative ways. The artist will helpthe community to re-write its history, recreate its identity and revitalise artisticlives of the members. Usually the focus is on the less privileged communities.

Training of the Art Educators in Finland

In Finland, the mainstream of artists has not been widely interested in the needsof the communities. For example, the municipal theatres have just recently startedto get interested in theatre education, such as organising audience workshopsdealing with the plays for the schools. However, new kind of theatre trainingsespecially in the polytechnics have created promising visions for the communityoriented work.

The interest for finding creative methods to work with the communities hasbeen much greater amongst the professionals and students of youth, social, socio-cultural/pedagogical and health work. Their perspective towards the arts hasbeen more instrumental from the very beginning. The teachers also seem to havean interest for using arts for different educational purposes. For example in theFIDEA (The Finnish branch of International Drama Education Association) teachershave expressed their desire to move towards more participatory and communityoriented approach.

Interestingly, people in the so called Development NGO’s, who work in thefields of activism and development co-operation in the Third World countries,have also played an important role in starting the promotion of arts in developmenteducation and socio-cultural animation and mobilisation of people, both in theNorth and in the South. Art has been used both to tell about the differentrealities of the Third world countries as well as for popular education in variousdevelopment projects. One example of this emphasis is Mozambique, which isone of the most prominent bilateral partners of the Finnish development co-operation. Promoting civil society and local democracy have been defined as the

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most important fields of development instead of former emphasis on sanitation,health, roads, schools or developing agriculture. In this effort arts have a surprisinglyimportant role. For example, popular theatre groups are widely used to achievethese aims. Here the North has been interestingly following the example of theSouth, where the ideas of Paulo Freire have been already applied for decades –very strongly in the field of progressive arts.

In the participatory approach of art education Finland seems to be far behindfrom such countries as England. However, in the 1990´s we experienced a rapiddevelopment in this field. For applied drama the new Polytechnic system offeredan ideal setting for this new approach. Drama educator trainings in the Polytechnicsof Turku and Helsinki have emphasised the community orientation, which has beenneglected by the traditional theatre training in the Theatre Academy of Finland.The continuing education courses within the universities and polytechnics, as wellas in the Theatre Academy, have also played a rather instrumental role in thedistribution of these methods in real life contexts. The participants of these coursesare professionals who want to adapt the new methods into their own work.

The polytechnics organise also professional education trainings for educatorsof participatory drama, thus for youth, social and cultural workers. Pedagogicaldrama in teacher training has gained a stronger status, and research in the fieldtakes mostly place in the teacher training drama courses, especially in theUniversity of Jyväskylä.

Community art work is best learned in real contexts. The following examplesof the community art projects have been trainings for the practitioners in thefield, as well as with working with the ”real people”.

Communities in the Projects

By communities we mean any group of people whose members live in a closeproximity to each other, either physically or mentally. In participatory approachwe also work with what we could call potential communities. For example, inmodern and new housing areas people usually have little social interaction witheach other. We presume that at least some of them, in a safe situation, would liketo come out and join different kinds of social activities (whereby many do notwant to – often for a good reason!). Our task as educators is to facilitate thisprocess, make it easier for people to communicate through organising events,trainings and other activities. These events have to serve the needs of thesepeople and be carefully planned together with these people.

The most typical community art projects concentrate on working withcommunities in closed settings, such as the centres for senior citizens or youthhouses. My special interest, however, is to create arenas for different people tomeet each other, exchange ideas and perhaps understand each other a little bitbetter. Popular arts can facilitate this process by offering a celebratory aspect tothis process – it can be a lot of fun!

Creating community feeling in places where it does not normally exist can bea demanding goal. It could push the communities further towards changing theireveryday lives. In several projects we have used arts to animate people to takepart in concrete area planning. In creative future workshops people have analysed

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their problems, and found concrete – and often very imaginary and creative –solutions to these problems. These suggestions have then been elaborated withthe local administration. Often the process has inspired people to take directaction: they have done collective work by renovating buildings, planting gardens,organising festivals etc.

Some Examples of the Projects

Forum theatre in Finland

Forum theatre is an interactive theatre form created by a Brazilian theatre directorAugusto Boal, who used to be a workmate of Freire in the early literacy campaigns.Boal’s forum theatre is based on similar ideas: audiences define their problems,which are then dramatized in a theatrical form. Forum theatre does not offersolutions for the problems, but invites the audiences on the stage to act out thesolutions for the problems. Forum theatre becomes thus a forum for debate anddiscussion. It is a creative game to find solutions for everyday life problems. Boalemphasised the revolutionary action against oppression, but in our Westerncontext we have also seen forum theatre as a useful form of exploring morecomplex and vague social problems. Forum theatre has also been a method forlayman to learn to make theatre by using one’s own experiences as a startingpoint to more theatrical explorations.

Forum theatre has been used mostly for young people, and in these cases itmostly deals with ”Sex, and drugs and rock-n-roll”. Forum theatre has beenconsidered as an effective tool for drug prevention and school violence, as wellas for sexual education. Furthermore, it has been interestingly applied todiscussions concerning family problems, bullying of young people in the workplaces and for critical media awareness. For example, in army barracks we discussedthe problematic relation of the young men to their mothers and girlfriends withthe help of this drama. In another case, with a group of transsexuals we usedforum theatre to build a bridge towards the mainstream culture.

Some groups have found it easy to get the young people in the classroomperformances to act on the stage, whereby other practitioners find that it is toothreatening a situation for the youngsters. They choose to use other techniquessuch as small-group problem solving, games and other ways to involve the pupilsinto the drama.

We seldomly use forum theatre in its strictly Boalian-revolutionary way. Weuse it rather intertwined with the other forms and techniques of interactive andeducational drama. Forum theatre has also changed its political-participatoryfocus towards a more didactical intention: for example, it has been used to teachyoung people how to learn to say ”no” to drugs, instead of tackling the rootcauses of the drug problem itself. Some of these projects can be criticised foroffering posed-upon answers instead of leaving the questions open in order toactivate the thinking process of the audiences. Promising results have been achievedthrough the work with the larger network around the young people. Many projectshave organised separate discussions or workshops with the parents and teachersto involve them in collective efforts in prevention of the problem.

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Becoming Visible – art and activities with asylum seekers

Finland has a relatively strict immigration policy. Finland is ranked one of thelowest in the EU in terms of allowing refugees a permanent asylum status in thecountry. Only recently the asylum seekers were allowed through legislation toget a work permission after three months of stay in the country. However, formost of them it has been very difficult to find even temporary employment dueto the lack of Finnish language skills or understanding how to apply for a job.

The EU/ESF Equal programme includes a special programme for thedevelopment of the work with asylum seekers. This was seen crucial, since mostof the asylum seekers are waiting for their insecure future in refugee centres foras long as for four years. The main aims of the Becoming Visible project arefacilitating the entrance into the employment, maintaining the mental health andintegrating them in the society during the indefinite processing time of theirasylum application. The goal is also to create a more participatory culture insidethe asylum seekers centres: the goal is that the dwellers themselves could takeresponsibility for the daily activities of the centre as much as possible. For example,asylum seekers teach each others new skills, languages, take care of cleaning,cultural activities etc.

Methodologically we have used different kinds of artistic and experientialeducation techniques to achieve our goals. The feedback from the asylum seekersis also essential: we try to use methods that they like and feel useful. We are notrestricted to work only in Finnish, but all the languages that we know are used,also the body language.

One of the most successful sub-projects has been the Kuuluvaks! (”To beheard!”) music research project. It has got a simple, but functional idea. By asuggestion of a Bosnian man, a multicultural band was created. A specific themewas chosen, for example ”humanity” or ”light in different cultures”. Everyonethen memorises songs or dances from one’s own country and teaches them tothe others, and explains its meaning. Some even have written new rap texts. Thegroup consisting of the dwellers and university students or teachers has madeperformances in various events, recordings, and organised dance courses andmade dramatisations of the songs. We have also helped people to make researchon their own music cultures, to find written materials and recordings, and tobrush up the teaching skills. Some of the members have presented the projecteven in international research seminars. For us it has been an importantparticipatory effort: we try to give the right for ”knowledge” and ”research” tothe target groups themselves. On the other hand, the task of educators has beento identify the problems that people might find worth teaching to each others,say, certain African concepts of dance or music for the Finnish people.Ethnomusicological understanding of our own and the foreign culture is requiredto learn these concepts.

The main challenge in this work is its unpredictable nature. You never knowwho will be there. The decision, negative or positive, can come at any time. Theother challenge is the language: for some of us Finnish is the only familiar language.(see: www.becomingvisible.net)

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Sampocak – global folk tradition in a local setting

As a community artist I feel it is important to explore areas that are unfamiliar. Ifyou want to lead the communities to unbeaten tracks, you as an educator shouldbe ready for adventures, too! Sampocak was an offspring of this personal need.Sampocak is a village project in my contemporary home village in Suomusjärvi. Inthis project we combined Balinese percussive body music, dance and masks withthe Finnish traditions of rune singing, chant and dance. I collaborated with agroup of my fellow artists, one of whom is a Balinese youth worker and a traditionaltemple dancer living in Finland.

In similar way as in the Indonesian island of Bali, the roots of Finnish cultureare quite literally in the shamanistic tradition, in the spells and rune songs, weddingand hunting cult descriptions and heroic and mystical stories of Kalevala, theFinnish National epic. The Kalevala is actually an artistic compilation of thousandsof songs in thousands of local variations. The”Book” of Kalevala, has howevermade us neglect the fact that Kalevala was sung in local variations and it wasindeed sung. Not read, neither acted, but sung.

The idea of Sampocak project was to revitalise these roots, and do it in auniversal spirit. We also wanted to explore the Big Question: is it possible thatdifferent cultures in different parts of our planet could somehow have same origins?Even if it apparently is not so, is it possible that there are some universal archetypesthat transcend the aeons and continental distance; just as Carl C. Jung has proposed?

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The aim of Sampocak was to offer in the countryside such experiences thatyou cannot find in cities. In the background of this aim are the ecological andanti-globalisation ideas. Through these good experiences we want to create localnetworks of artists, amateurs, a whole life-style where the sheep, children, oldpeople, farming, and people from the whole world can come together. Perhapsin minimal scale it could be an experience where different religions, myths, artisticexpressions and food can create new and further develop local identity. The aimis to re-write our mythology to suit better in our modern realities.

In many rural settings in Finland artists with good intentions have ended up inconflicts with the local status quo of the church, farmers, school or the establishedassociations. The reason for this is often simply that they have forgotten to involvethemselves in the planning process in the early stages of the projects. Even moreimportantly, local people have felt that they have been left out from the processof re-defining their local identity. Many times the conflict has been difficult toavoid due to the cultural and ideological differences. In the northern parts ofFinland, for example, some religious movements are strong and sometimes setrestrictions on the activities of art. Understanding the local power structures,maintaining good community relations, respecting the local values and creatingdialogue between the life styles is therefore very important. In the SouthernFinland we are lucky to live in the area that is relatively tolerant and has got along history of alternative life-styles and urban-rural movement.

European seminar participants in the Balinese-Finnish Sampocak workshop in Turku.

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Participatory Art Trainings and Mega Trends – trying to see the future

Finland is a country with a small population of only five million people. In manyways our society has aspects that can be admired. According to the latest newsFinland has again been ranked the most corruption-free country in the world.Our school system was evaluated in many aspects as one of the best amongstthe OPEC countries. Most notably, there is very little interrelation between thelearning results and social status of the parents. Does it suggest that we are ademocratic society?

Small countries like Finland can be vulnerable to the changes in the localeconomy like the recession of the early 90s has shown. However, nowadaysFinland is one of the fastest growing and stabile economies in the Europe. But forhow long? What about ecological price of this success? When is the paybacktime? What about the climate change? What about the international insecurity?What happens in Russia – the Big Question Mark that is so close to us?

Do we have a say in the European Union? Is it possible to maintain our identity?Is it worthwhile trying to maintain something called the ”Finnish” identity? Shouldwe talk like the British about our multicultural identity, even if Finland does nothave any colonial history and thus is quite a homogenous culture? In my opinionarts should also be used in trying to answer these questions.

What are the reasons that suggest that participatory approach in arts wouldbe more important in Finland in the future?

Sampocak workshop facilitators Markku Kykkänen (right) and Sutisna I Wayan (middle).

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Perhaps the simplest way to answer this question is to say that it already ismore important: the interest in the community art trainings has grown rapidly. Itspopularity can be explained by simple fashion: more and more people know thatarts can be applied in various fields. Cross-disciplinary approach has becomemore accepted, and professional border lines are defended less. Trainings havebeen considerably subsidised economically by the state and municipal bodies.Different EU programmes, especially within ESF programmes, have supportedthe use of arts as a means for cultural inclusion or - in the old fashioned words- combat against social marginalisation.

Within a short period of time there has emerged a large group of people whohave more training for participatory art methods. Self-evidently that has lead tothe wider application of the participatory and pedagogically oriented approach.

The future will also be more demanding, and then the participatory approachin arts can offer one part of the answer. In Finland these are for example:

• the growing number of immigrants, originating especially form Russia andEstonia

• the mass retirement of the large post-war generations: Finns are gettingold and there will be less people to feed the non-working population.

• Opening of the EU borders to Estonia will also lead to the easier access ofillegal drugs and legal alcohol that has never been so cheap in the seriouslystate regulated alcohol culture of our country.

• The farmers and villages have to change their lifestyle completely: eithersurvive or die, fast. The EU does not understand that in our climate it isimpossible to compete with the cultivation capacity of the Southern Europe.

• climate changes: no-one knows how it will affect our fragile local and globalsystems

These are some of the more obvious changes that we can see in the nearfuture, but what about the values, identity, the meaning of life – all that arts isabout? There is no easy answer.

One area of future development affecting people’s lives is the effects of newforms of media. Firstly, in the participatory drama work the development ofinformation technology should provoke critical approach towards the media.Drama can be used in media education to develop critical literacy of the modernmedia. Secondly, new media can be used as a tool for a new kind of participation,new forms of art, creating new kinds of communities. This can already be seenamongst the young LARP sub culture members. They take their dramas into theinternet, and use the new technologies in the most imaginative ways. We educators,as usual, seem to follow these new generations a few steps behind.

Participatory approach, in my opinion, should help us professionals tounderstand the realities of the young people: their ways of thinking. We shouldnot try to make the young people accept without questioning our out of daterealities that we are still living, in our thoughts, deeds and methods. We shouldneither accept the new technological future as given. Participatory art could be abridge between what was good in the past and what could be good in the future;it should help us to see what choises we had and will have.

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Kullervo. Social Exclusion of Youth in Mythology

Process drama/ drama adventureKULLERVO

Origins: This drama pretext / drama adventure is designed to be a starting pointfor the Drama Way project in Finland 2003.

Theme: Social exclusion of the youth; psychology of oppression; helping atraumatised person; cultural roots of exclusion.

The Concept: Kullervo is an autonomous part of the Finnish national eposKalevala, compiled by Elias Lönnrot on the basis of pre-Christian rune songs hecollected in the early 19th century. Kullervo is the main character in the story.Unlike the other heroic and wonder-making stories, Kullervo epic is rather socio-realistic in its approach. The story is used here as an allegory for the socialexclusion of the youth in the modern times.

This process drama is designed for a specific natural and pre-historicalenvironment of Vuohensaari Island at Halikko bay in Salo. As such it carries elementsof drama/ theatre-in-education (DIE/TIE), adventure pedagogy and live action

Mythical blacksmith Ilmarinen is expecting an orphan boy to help his childless family inthe hard daily work.

TitiLillqvist

&Jouni

Piekkari

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role play (LARP). Kullervo is an extremely heavy story. Therefore, it could also beused in drama therapy in a professional therapeutic setting. However, in our caseit is targeted to the professionals and students, who deal with questions of socialexclusion of young people.

The version presented here is a long process drama, and it covers severalthemes. We have later splinted this process into shorter drama processes thatcan be easier applied, for example, in a class room context.

Objectives:

• to explore the social and psychological dynamics of social exclusion • to understand the phenomenon of social exclusion through a mythological

/ national point of view in a historical perspective • to experiment application of a process drama in a natural environment • to encourage the use of local cultural heritage of each country to find

allegories and connections to the modern times

Target groups: People working with the youngsters and social marginalisation,e.g. in youth shelters, prisons; youngster peer groups in colleges, polytechnicstudents etc.

Due to its “psycho-dramatic” nature this drama pretext is not as such suitablefor the groups of marginalised youth. These methods can be too similar to theactual traumatic experiences of the socially excluded youngsters, in cases wherethere is no chance for follow-up and counselling after the drama. However, it cangive ideas for using other stories of Kalevala with young people in differentnatural settings.

The drama offers possibilities to use elements of adventure pedagogy (groupbuilding games, cliff climbing, cooking, camping etc.).

Time required: 2-3 hours + pre- and post-drama workshops (0.5 and 1-2 h each)

Learning opportunities:

Drama skillsSocial skills

Other possible learning areas:

ImprovisationEmpathy, helpingUnderstanding self-destructive behaviour in psycho-historical perspectiveUnderstanding prejudiceMaking real life strategies for changeChange of concept of childhood and youth in historical times

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Facilities and equipment:

• Suitable clothes and shoes for nature tracking (weather: warm, rain?) • Kullervo’s objects: piece of burned wood, 2 authentic knives (the other

broken), a loaf of bread • suitable natural environment (when realised in e.g. class room, the

environment can be improvised through story telling, stage design etc.) • costumes and props according to availability

Literature and other materials:

Lönnrot, Elias: The Kalevala. Oxford World´s Classics. (1999) Oxford University Press.Akseli Gallen-Kallela´s paintings “Kullervo´s Curse (Kullervon kirous) and “Kullervodeparts for the War” (Kullervon sotaan lähtö) can be seen at:http://www.niksula.cs.hut.fi/~xyu/kale-gb/gapic.html

The drama wanders from spot to spot as follows.Inside the text the suggestion for the facilitator’s (teacher) narration is writtenin cursive letters.

Before the actual drama (pre-session):

Story telling + Continuum“Jokainen” is a Finnish proverb, which forms the core question of the Kullervodrama:Jokainen on oman onnensa seppä (Everyone is the smith of one’s own life).Is everyone really the smith of one’s own life?Are we really in all situations able to create our own happiness?Are there such impacts in our growth process that force us to live unconstructively,without being able to live a good and self-sustained life?Is the distributing of wealth and possibilities uneven, even in our so-called democraticsociety?

Choose your position on the line. Step to the line according to what you believethat is closest to your opinion of the truth, closer to either end. You can chooseany point on the continuum.Jokainen on oman onnensa seppä <—> jokainen ei ole oman onnensa seppä.Discuss the choices.

Puppet theatre + group building gamesBird comes and catches the two brothers and throws them in differentgeographical locations.Firstly, games for group spirit for the large group, then splitting into smallercamps and creating tension and competition between the camps.

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Drama contract

• We shall explore some aspects of the theme (see above). • We shall go to Vuohensaari in two groups. One takes the ancient rowing

boat (Untamo´s clan), and the other group goes directly to the island(Kalervo’s clan). You are not going to be in these two different camps forthe whole drama, but you are actually taking different roles. Sometimes westep out of the drama to observe things from a distance or do some otherexercises. You may ask questions between the exercises, but we wish thatduring the exercises we shall stay in the given role. We hope that you haveproper clothes on, and go to toilet before the drama. We are going to eata very small snack on the way. You can stop participating the drama at anytime if you feel you absolutely have to do so. Please, come and tell us.However, we consider it important to be involved throughout the wholeprocess. Out of game signal can be used: crossed hands above the head, OK?

• Departure to the island by boat: explanations about Finnish history, learningto row,• seeing landscapes and historical spots.

• historical background

Evil stepmother has baked a stone in the bread of Kullervo.

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• explanation of the environment: the old Viking routes of the prosperousHalikko bay; clan• graves (“crowns”)

• The historical development of the concept “childhood”; history of violencebetween the• clans.

b) The other group goes directly to the island (see below)

Actual drama (on the Island):

Installation + improvisation + story tellingThe group present on the island (Kalervo´s clan) constructs a miniature modelof Kullervo´s home village with different natural objects. The arriving group(Untamo’s clan) destroys the village and Kullervo´s home:“You have taken fish from our nets, you bastards! And your goats have eaten our oats!”And this was how the anger and hatred between the two brothers, the clans ofKalervo and Untamo started. There were only some faint memories afterwardsof what actually happened in that horrible and cruel fight between the twobrothers, the ancestors of the Western and Eastern Finns. Some people said thatKalervo and his family were killed, some could have escaped in the forests, farfrom the reach of Untamo´s clan. Only the pregnant wife of Kalervo was catchedand taken as a slave to Untamo’s house.

Creating a characterShowing the Gallen-Kallela’s painting (what do you see?) or drawing an image ofKullervo on the sand (if sand available)

• give adjectives• some storytelling about Kullervo

Objects + story tellingKullervo’s mother had given Kullervo some memories of his past: a piece of hair curlof his lost sister, who had long before went to the forest to pick berries and neverfind her way back home again. And she gave Kullervo also a piece of burned wood. Itwas a piece of a roof log of his burned home, and a knife of his father, a precious toolfor work, hunting, eating, fight. Soon after that her mother disappeared, where andhow, that did Kullervo not remember. He remembered faintly her mother saying:“Keep these things with you as memories of where you came from.”

Still images/ “silent film” improvisations in small groups+ narration + soundtrack/music

Main points of the settings of Kullervo’s Story (beginning) are written in smallpieces of paper, and each group of 3-5 people is given one of the papers. The stillimages are shown in chronological order to the rest of the group. Facilitator ora group member will add narration to the image. (alternatively: if the group findsit difficult to find one single image, short speechless improvisations may be used)

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1. As a baby Kullervo was making a trouble-maker and threatened Untamo byhis superhuman and revengeful powers. On the third day after his birth he brokehimself out of his cradle and ripped his clothes off.

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2. On the third month he started planning revenge against Untamo. Peoplestarted to be afraid of Kullervo; a child with superhuman powers.

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3. Villagers decided to put Kullervo in a barrel and throw it into the water falls.After several days they discovered the boy alive: sitting on the waves of the sea,fishing and measuring how deep the water is.

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4. They decided to make a big fire, thousands of logs, and burn him. Kullervo wasburning one day, two days. On the third day they went to see him. The boy wascovered in ashes and sparks having a poker in his hand, to boost the fire, but hedid not burn!

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5. Kullervo´s mother disappeared. There was no idea what happened to her, butthe villagers speculated about it.

Storytelling / objectAnd since they could not kill him by these ways and means, finally they tried to hanghim. (The group moves to the tree)(we also show the tree where Kullervo has drawn weird paintings: people in thevillage being killed – the revenge…).

Rumours / gossips(At the gallows): The villagers of Untamo’s clan gossip about the boy and theweird paintings on the tree. Fear and tension is growing.What should the villagers do with the boy? What should Untamo decide to do?

StorytellingFinally, Untamo was forced to accept Kullervo, whose revenge he was afraid of, saying:“I have given up trying to kill you. I will raise you up - a slave as my own son. If you livedecently, you may stay in my house, do the work a son has to do. Salaries you will getafterwards according to what you deserve: a beautiful belt on you waist; or a hiton your face”.So for the first time being a son of a man, Kullervo said: “Tell me what I have to do, I willdo it”.So he was ordered to take care of a child, look after a baby, wash the napkins. ButKullervo lost the napkins in the stream, broke the arm of the child, dug the eye and thechild was killed by a disease.Untamo thought, the boy is not good for looking after the kids. So he said:

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“Go and do the forest work!”.So he took an axe and went. He chopped the trees, small and big, spoiled all the goodlogs for the houses. Untamo thought; the boy is not good for forest work. So he said:“Go and make the fences for the cattle!”. So he took his axe and went. He chopped allthe trees, big and small, made a fence that was rising up to the clouds, and there wasno gate to enter in this fence. Untamo thought: the boy is not good for making fences.So he said:“Go for the harvest, go for trashing the ray!” So he took his thresher and went. Hetreshed all the crops of ray, smashed and spoiled it all.Untamo thought, the boy is not good for treshing. I don´t need a son of his kind. I will sellhim as a slave for the smith Ilmarinen.

Thought bubbles + comic strips (still images) + costumesImprovise a series of still images (by 5-10 hand clappings), where Kullervoaccompanied by Untamo enters the house of Ilmarinen. Ilmarinen and his wifeare waiting for him in the house. At a chosen point ask the participants to go tothe shadow of either Ilmarinen or his wife. Ask what they are thinking at thatmoment (but not said aloud).Finally, make a queue of people that passes behind Kullervo: each one whispersthe thoughts of Kullervo to his ears.(All the characters are in costumes).

Scene (teacher/partner in role) (or story telling)Kullervo sees a dream. He takes the bread that the wife of smith Ilmarinen hadbaked and given to him. He rests down, takes the bread, his fathers knife and cutsthe bread. The knife hits something hard, there is a stone in the bread! My father’sknife is broken, the only thing that reminded me of love!

Story telling + voicesThat was Kullervo’s dream, but when he woke up he wanted to have a bite ofbread. However he was hesitating. He started sweating heavily. What if the dreamreally was an omen? What if my ancestors are warning me through the dream?What if there really is a stone in the bread? Does the smith’s wife hate me, orlove me? Kullervo asks help from the ancestors, who whisper around him.

Questions for the group:Could there really be a stone in the bread?What would the motives of the step mother be to do so?If it is a symbolic dream, what does it mean?The facilitator and the actors try to create tension and opposing opinionsconcerning the issue.

Story telling (narration) + group improvisationWe have to cut the bread now.Cutting the bread collectively. There either is a stone or not.(A SNACK BREAK)

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Puppet theatre sceneA little bird flies to Kullervo and tells that his parents are actually alive. They haveescaped to the north. The father had stolen her wife from the slavery at hisbrothers, Untamo’s house. Kullervo decides to travel there and find them.

Chain dance and song / Story telling

So Kullervo meets the surprised family, mother, father and the brother. He tells aboutthe slavery at the house of smith Ilmarinen. He tells her family that he is going torevenge Untamo. They don’tlike the idea, They warn him. “You can’t win in that war, and who is going to take care ofus when we are old, if you die. Please, stay with us!”

So for the first time being a son of his real father, Kullervo said: “Tell me what I haveto do, I will do it”. Kalervo, his father, thought, the boy is not good for looking after thekids. So he said: “Go and do the forest work!”, his father said. So he took an axe andwent. He chopped the trees, small and big, spoiled all the good logs for the houses.

Kalervo thought; the boy is not good for forest work. So he said: “Go and make thefences for the cattle!”. So he took his axe and went. He chopped all the trees, big andsmall, made a fence that was rising up to the clouds, and there was no gate to enter inthis fence.

Kalervo thought: the boy is not good for making fences. So he said: “Go for theharvest, go for treshing the ray!” So he took his tresher and went. He treshed all thecrops of ray, smashed and spoiled it all. Kalervo thought, the boy is not good for treshing.So he said: „Go and take the silvers and linens, the taxes for our protection, for the chiefof the area.”

So Kullervo took the horse and the carriage, and the silvers and the linens to takethem to the chief of the area.

SceneKullervo is riding a horse on a carriage. He passes on the road, watching the landscapes.Suddenly, he sees a young girl walking on the roadside. He stops and asks the young girlto come on the carriage. She refuses several times, blaming the ugliness and poverty ofKullervo, telling not to come with a stranger. Kullervo lies that he is from a rich family.He shows the silvers and linens he has.

The young girl is seduced by these riches and comes on the carriage. Kullervo startsto seduce the girl, and they have a sexual intercourse under the blankets, riding acarriage.

After the act, the girl asks about the family of Kullervo. The girl is shocked when herealises that Kullervo is actually his brother. The girl, Kullervo´s long lost sister, jumpsfrom the carriage, runs to the water falls and drowns herself. Kullervo is broken, forspoiling her long lost sister.

Meeting + improvisation / teacher/facilitator-in-the-roleThe animals in the forest have always been the best friends of Kullervo, theyactually honour and obey him. Kullervo gathers a meeting with the animals of theforest and asks them to help with his anger. Create animals in pairs.

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Improvise a negotiation with the animalsOne of the animals: “but your family says to you, you should not go to revenge.You cannot win alone. They ask who is going to take care of them if you die.”Other arguments.However, Kullervo orders the animals to help him with the attack.

Improvisation / tag game:Two teams are created: the animals and the Untamo’s villagers. Create a settingin two different groups: what are the villagers doing, what kind of a strategy theanimals have?In slow motion (one movement at a clap): The forest animals attack. The cowsand other cattle try to protect themselves.Killed if they touch your neck. Hungry animals and cows and other cattle.

Chain dance + song (narration)Dance: Walking in a line hand in hand in spirals with the choir-chorus alternatesinging.

“Ajoi maita ajoi soita,ajoi aavoja ahoja.Ajoi päivän ajoi toisenajoi kohta kolmannenkin.Sitten tuonne tultuansa,Isän pitkille pihoille,noin ne vaakkuvat variksetharakat hakahtelevi.Jo on kuollunna isosi,kaonnunna kantajasi,muamo maassa jo makavi,mullassa muhaelevi.emo hauasta havasi,alta mullan muistuttavi:”jäihän multa Musti koirakäyäksesi metsämailleOta koirasi keralle,havulinnan liepehilleevähiä etsimähän,antia anelemahan.”

+ rhythm: SIRR dit pong dit dit ( _ ^_^ ^)As the song suggests; when Kullervo returns to his home, he finds all of his family dead.Only the dog is waiting and welcoming him.

He drove over lands,over marshlands.Drove another day,even a third oneThen on arrival there,On his fathers large yardsSo the crows are croaking,Magpies are nagging:Your father has died already,your dad has disappearedYour mother is lying underground,In the soil she is hummingIn the grave she wakes,answers from the underground:“I left my Blackberry, dog,for you to go huntingTake your dog and goTo the outskirts of the needle tree castleTo search for you snack,Asking for your meal

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Dialogue in 4-5 languagesDo you guess or know what, according to Kalevala, happened to Kullervo?Read the dialogue with the knife in three - four languages:

Kullervo, Kalervon poika,tempasi terävän miekankatselevi kääntelevi,kyselevi, tieteleviKysyi mieltä miekaltansa,tokko tuon tekisi mielisyöä syyllistä lihoa,viallista verta juoa?Miekka mietti miehen mielen,arvasi uron pakinanVastasi sanalla tuolla:”Miksen söisi mielelläni,söisi syyllistä lihoa,viallista verta joisi?Syön lihoa syyttömänki,juon verta viattomanki”Kullervo, Kalervon poika,sinisukka äijön lapsipään on peltohon sysäsi,perän painoi kankahasenkären käänti rintahansa,itse iskihe kärelleSiihen surmansa sukesi,kuolemansa kohtaeli.se oli surma nuoren miehen,kuolo Kullervo urohonloppu ainakin urosta,kuolema kovaosaista.

Was this suicide inevitable?Was this a good thing, as Kullervo wished this so many times while cursing himself?

Marking the moment / moment of change /constellation of different characters

Even though the suicide is irreversible, in drama we can do things differently;change the course of the events.

Ask the group to choose a moment of time in drama when someone couldhave changed Kullervo’s life, when Kullervo could have been helped.

In groups of three: create a character, real or imaginary (ancestor, forest spirit,animal) that could have helped Kullervo by saying or doing something. If possible,create some simple costume. One of the group will perform the characters,others are the whispers who help with the dialogue.What could you SAY and DO?

Kullervo, Kalervo´s sonSnatched up the sharp swordLooks at it, turns it overAsks it, questions it;He asked his sword what it liked:Did it have a mindTo eat guilty fleshTo drink blood that was to blame?The sword followed the mans driftIt guessed the fellow’s chatterAnd answered with this word: “WhyShould I not eat what I like?Not eat guilty fleshNot drink blood that is to blame?I’ll eat even guiltless fleshI’ll drink even blameless blood.Kullervo, Kalervo´s sonThe blue-stockinged gaffer’s childPushed the hilt into the fieldPressed the butt into the heathTurned the point towards his breastRammed himself upon the pointAnd on it he brought aboutHis doom, met his death.And that was the young man’s doomThe Kullervo fellow’s death –The end for the fellow,death for the ill-fated.

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Partner-in-role / forum theatreImprovised dialogues / acts with Kullervo.Kullervo tries to make it difficult for the others to help him.

Evaluation of dramaIn your opinion, how did the drama function? Which elements were working and whichnot?Feelings about the characters and roles you took?

Leaving the roles behind, and greeting everyone by their real names. Tellingthe participants that we continue further evaluating the themes of the drama onthe following day. The focus will be on the analogies to real life and on our ownexperiences as professionals.

Post drama session (next day):Here are different alternatives for working, according to the available of time.

The story of Kullervo has actually been an educational story in Finnish oraltradition showing, through reversion, a good model for education. This comesapparent through the final words of Kullervo story sung by the hero Väinämöinen:

Silloin vanha VäinämöinenKunpa kuuli kuolleheksiKullervon kaonneheksi,sanan virkkoi, noin nimesi:”elkötte, etinen kansa,lasta kaltoin kasvatelkoluona tuhman tuuittajan,vierahan väsyttelijän!Lapsi kaltoin kasvattama,poika tuhmin tuuittamaei tule älyämähänmiehen mieltä ottamahanvaikka vanhaksi eläisi,varreltansa vahvistuisi

As we see, in the original story Kullervo headed step by step towards a predestinedend: he decided to end his own life. We all meet, in our professional or voluntarywork, people who have had troubles in their lives, and who seem to destroy theirlives in one way or another. Often it is hard to say what is the Kullervo story oftheir lives.What could and should we do?Can we actually help?Should we do something to the society instead?What are the reasons and what are the causes?

Then the old Väinämöinen,when he heard that e was deadKullervo was lost,uttered a word and spoke thus:“Do not, folk of the futurebring up a child crookedlywith someone stupid lullinga stranger sending to sleep!A child brought up crookedlyOr a son lulled stupidlyWon’t come to grasp thingsHave a man’s understandingThough he should live to be oldOr should grow strong in body

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Sharing analogical situations and experiences in real lifeWhat are the cultural connections?What are the similarities with the modern times?Is it possible to help anyone? Has anyone been able to help you?Can a professional help? Can a friend help? Can these two be combined?Often it is said that only a drug addict himself can help himself. Is that true?Where do we need other people then?

Brainstorm themesThe participants brainstorm different themes that they found in Kullervo withpost-it stickers. The post-its are grouped into bigger theme groups. Each onechooses one theme that interests him or her most. (approximately 5 groups).

Sharing personal experiences, making fusion images, presentation scene orperformance. The participants share their own experiences (mostly professional)about the themes in real life. Based on these stories, the group makes apresentation for the rest of the group in a chosen form.

Sharing the demos with the rest of the group, discussion.

Exhibition of newspaper articlesThere are modern stories of Kullervo collected in the exhibition (news paperclips etc.). Those can be used in the performances, as well.

Future planning / brainstorm of the real life, steps & guidelines“Taking the gallows into pieces”.The drama can be a starting point for many kinds of workshops of communityplanning and decision making.

Three personal guidelinesWhat were the main points of learning for me personally? Could I crystallisesome guidelines for my own life on the basis of these points?

Three community commitmentsIn small groups: make community commitments of actions that will be done forpreventing these kinds of events. If we recognise beginnings of similar stories inour own community, what should we do? Even small steps are acceptable, but tryto create concrete strategies. Consider also what you decide not to do: whereare the limits of our intervention; as a community member/ social worker /youth worker / artist/ relative / friend?

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New York, New York. Parents Making ChoicesBetween Their Careers and Children.

Drama PretextNew York, New York

Origins: This pretext was created for the starting seminar for the Drama Wayproject in Finland in 2003. It has not been tested in any “real” context, so it is stillunder development.

Theme: Drama pretext on the theme of psychological distance in families, createdthrough the modern dilemmas of self-realisation; possible problems and conflictscreated by this.

The Concept: The modern strategies of health education targeted towards theyouth, emphasise that education on substance abuse (drugs, alcohol, smoking),emphasises the early prevention of the problems: the problems should be tackledpositively before they even come up. This means that instead of threatening theparents with the dangers of the drugs, the preventive programmes should supportthe parents and the families as whole in their educational task and personalgrowth. But what is good and what is bad, and for who? This is what this dramashould be about.

This drama pretext takes a point of view of a carrier-making mother of a 14-year-old boy. The idea of this pretext is to create a drama story that can beexplored further, and used by a whole network in a chosen community, to sharedifferent points of view, and create collective understanding on the dynamics offamily life.

This drama pretext is under development. If you choose to use it in your owncontext, we are happy to get feedback on how it works with different groups!

Objectives: • To explore the theme of commitment of the family or the carrier. • To understand possible conflicts and their possible solutions • To give a starting-point for a drama tackling of the theme of substance abuse.

Target Groups: Parents, educators, social and youth workers. Parents withchildren in college.

Time Needed: 2.5 hours. The drama can be done in many parts during separatesessions (see the suggestions below)

Some Possible Learning Areas:Analogies to famous TV-series and films depicting everyday lifeImprovisationMaking family agreementsUnderstanding the dilemmas of the modern timesMaking real life strategies for change

JouniPiekkari

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Facilities and Equipment: • A flip chart and pens • Simple costumes • Tables, chairs, etc. • A3 sized paper, blue tag

In the following text the suggestions for the narration of the facilitator (teacher)are in written in cursive.

Drama ContractExplain the purpose of the drama. This drama is a starting point to tackle issuesthat the target groups or we are most interested in, and that are considered tobe the most important.

Warm-up Game+ / - magnets

Lists of DreamsList the dreams of your life on post-it notes. They can be any kind of dreams –spare time, family, love, travelling, studying or work. Put all the dreams on the wall.

Advertisement of the town made by the participants of the New York, New York dramaworkshop in Salo, Finland.

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Story Telling and Drawing a Map or SceneryThis story takes place in a town called Meadow. The town is an ordinary, smalland actually quite an ugly town. In history it was famous for… (What? Ask forsuggestions). This town would be nothing out of the ordinary, if not by coincidence,one of the biggest high tech companies had not settled-down there. The companyis famous for its internet satellite modem technology products that are marketleaders.

Advertisements or Slogans (in small groups)Each town tries to polish their image with advertisement campaigns. Createadvertisement slogans in small groups of three for the town. Draw and writethem on the big pieces of paper. Put them on the wall.

Role on the WallKaija is the main character in this drama. She is an economist working for thecompany. Martti is his husband. Martti has got his own company that makes “thisand that”. Martti is a kind of a man, who is interested in a thousand and onethings. He has always got a new idea, and immediately wants to make it a businessproject – with very little economical success. Kaija and Martti have known eachother since they were teenagers, these days they obviously have less spark intheir relationship than then, but they still share the same bed.

Ask participants to pick different characteristics for Kaija and Martti, thecouple in this story. Ask them to pick-up post-it notes (of the participants dreams),to be possible dreams for the both of them. Ask them to choose as many aspossible. Place them around their role images. The only problem about realisingall these dreams is that they also had a son, who is in his puberty (he is 14-years-old) He is a serious chap called X (ask for suggestions for a name).What does he look like?How does he do in school? Does he have hobbies?Invent characteristics or adjectives that describe him.

Stage DesignCreate Kaija’s office (using imaginary objects, if real ones are not available).What is on the table? What does she look like, how does she sit and move?

A Satellite Telephone Conversation (Teacher-in-role, Improvisation)The boss calls Kaija from Kuala Lumpur from a company meeting. She has greatnews to tell. She has an interview with their company’s New York office. Shewould work 50% in New York and 50% in Meadows. And that would mean travellingbetween the two countries.There is very little time to make the decision.“This kind of decisions have to be done quickly due to the competition between thecompanies, you cannot leak”. You have time until tomorrow, is that enough?

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Storytelling and Partner in RoleEveryday when mother returned back home in her car, she passed by theadvertisements. (“Drive” the car pass by the advertisements).

Small Group Improvisations (others observe)In groups of three take the roles of the mother, the father and the son. Preparean improvisation of the family at home.

Prepare improvisation and present it to the others. Create a clearly definedspace, add objects. First find a typical action that Martti and the son are involvedin before Kaija arrives. Let the improvisation be mostly silent before Kaija takesup the hot issue.OR:If the group is big (15-30 people) you can do this improvisation simultaneously inthe small groups, or share the group into two groups (other observes, the otherplays). Pick some of the experiences for the whole group to discuss.Was it difficult for the characters? What arguments did they use?Did they stay calm or did it become a big conflict?

Story TellingFinally, after a lot of arguing, Martti said to her: “We are not going to object toyour career. You would be unhappy for the rest of your life, and you would justblame us for spoiling your life. Make your own decisions.”

Conscience AlleyThe following night Kaija did not sleep, neither did the rest of the family. Kaijawas walking up and down the corridor, trying to make-up her mind.Should I leave or should I not?The participants create a tunnel, whisper arguments to her trying to seduce herto their side: side a) those who don’t want her to leave b) those who want her toleave.

Story tellingKaija decided to leave or not to leave. In both cases there would be differentkinds of problems in the family.

Improvisations / Still images / ConflictsIn small groups of three or four create situations of conflict, or problems in thefamily. (You may also create a series of still images.)

Constellation of people watching the situationTake a point of view on the problem, or the conflict situation. Each participanttakes a role and a position of an outsider. They go to a chosen still image or aproblem situation, either far, or close, to the characters. The facilitator toucheseach one of them, and asks them who they are, and what they think about thesituation.

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GossipsAfter each one of the improvisations, the rest of the group takes a collective roleof gossiping neighbours or relatives. Move and let the gossips grow. (Gossips canbe alternatively used for the constellation).

Forum TheatreWhat should we do in these conflict situations? Choose one of the themes orimprovisations with the group to explore further. It should be the one that intereststhe group the most, or crystallises the different themes. What could or should bedone differently? Who would, could or should change the situation? What shouldhe or she do and how? Try different alternatives. After the intervention ask:What would the consequences have been?Did it work?Was it realistic?The forum theatre can also be the starting point for the following day’s sessionof planning alternative tracks for the story, picking different themes. How tocontinue from here to the drug issue?For continued work:

TV Discussion ProgrammePsychologist Ben Fuhrman discusses with the son of the family at the age of 30(or with the parents), how he overcame these problems he had when he wasyoung.

Still ImagesAlternative childhoods. What suggestions do you, as parents, give to this family?Create images of an ideal childhood for the boy in small groups. Group discussion:would these images have worked for this family? Would they have been possibleor realistic?

DiaryEach participant writes the diary of the now 30-year-old son of the family. In thediary he reflects on how he feels about his childhood and how he thinks it couldhave been. Where is the boy now at the age of 30?

REFLECTION OF THE DRAMA:For a group of drama workers:

Creating the MomentGo to a physical posture and a specific spot in the space, where you whereduring the drama, that was especially powerful for you. The facilitator asks eachperson where they are, and why did they choose that spot.

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Questions and Discussion • Are there some popular films or programmes that have dealt with these

issues? • Take examples from the guidelines of different prevention programmes or

research.

Further development (discussion)What did work and what not work in the drama?Suggestions for the continuation of this session, or the next session of this drama.How would the story go on? What should we concentrate on? How should the drugtheme be tackled?For a “real life group”, e.g. group of parents:

Sharing and EvaluationEach person in turn tells in a circle what they have learned from this drama.What did I start to think?Can this kind of life style create drug or substance problems in the family? Can it createother kinds of problems?

Personal CommitmentsWhat should I commit to do in the future? Make a few decisions for yourself. Youcan share them with the others if you like.

Community Efforts (future planning) • What should we do as a community? Discuss first in small groups, then

present to the large group. • What would be an ideal community of parents (etc.) like? Brainstorm

principles. Decide for action – next achievable steps. What should we donext in reality?

Information and ResearchFor discussion, take examples from the guidelines of different preventionprogrammes or research. Could we apply them or create our own? Alternatively,you can take this information before the group making their own future planning,but you would then create less joy of discovery and possibly less personal andgroup commitment or feeling of ownership for the programme.

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Aleksi. How do I know someone is using drugs?

Drama Pretext

ALEKSI

Origins: This pretext was created by Turku Polytechnic continuing education/“Drama in the community” course students and the teacher, Jouni Piekkari, in2001. Later it has been used in the Drama Way training of Finnish Red Cross’Turku youth shelter work team in the spring of 2003.

Theme: Drama pretext on the theme of possible substance (drugs, alcohol)abuse and how friends, family and other involved people around a young personrelate to it.

Image by Jouni Piekkari

JouniPiekkari

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The Concept: The modern strategies of health education targeted towardsyoung people emphasise that education about substance abuse (drugs, alcohol,smoking) should not be limited to the target group youth only. Rather, to gainsustainable results, any campaign should work with the whole network aroundthe young person (school, youth workers, parents, shop keepers etc). Also theemphasis is in the preventive work, concentrating on the social support duringearly age (Primary school and pre-primary) (Huoponen et al. 2001).

This drama pretext concentrates around a 15-year-old boy, a son of a singlemother. The idea of this pretext is to create a drama story that can be furtherexplored and used by a whole network in a chosen community to share differentpoints of view and to create collective understanding and involvement aroundthe issue of substance abuse. It can also be used to help different groups meeteach other and share the problem. It would be ideal that the people participatingin creating this process drama could discuss it, just like they discuss TV soap-operas at work places, school, e-mail etc.

This drama pretext is under development. If you choose to use it in your owncontext, we are happy to get feedback on how it works with different groups!

Objective:

• To explore the social dynamics around the issue of substance abuse. • To think who should we ask help from? How do we create understanding

in a situation collectively? • To share different points of view.

Target Groups:

Also combined groups (teachers/parents; youth shelter workers/teachers; youngpeople of different ages; youngsters and youth work students) to facilitate differentviewpoints inside the work group.

Time needed: 2.5 hours

Some Possible Learning Areas

• Improvisation • Creative writing • Recognising analogies to famous TV-series depicting everyday life • Problem solving, getting information on a problem • Making family agreements • Understanding different age groups’ needs • Making real life strategies for change • Identifying the bottle necks of communication between different interest

groups (parents, youngsters, school personnel, etc.) • Learning about youth and school cultures (adults)

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Facilities and Equipment

This process drama pretext can be realised by one facilitator and a group of 6-30people. Alternatively there can be an assistant that plays different roles (partner-in-role) of mother, school house keeper, headmaster, Aleksi, etc.

• flap board and markers, • 50-70 small pieces of paper (10 x 10 cm) • blue tag • pens • a cd-player and appropriate dance music • Aleksi’s cap • removable walls or tables (for the toilet) • a classroom with different light possibilities (an overhead projector can be used)

In the text the suggestions for the narration of the facilitator (the teacher) arewritten in cursive.

Drama ContractThe purpose of this drama is to explore the social relations around a young 15-year-old boy. In this drama, everyone will have an opportunity to take differentroles. No one has to be in one and the same role for a long time. There will alsobe other kinds of exercises apart from acting. All we have to do is live with thestory of Aleksi and participate in these exercises. No one is forced to do anything,but it will be very helpful and comfortable for us if you will participate actively inmaking of the story. Do not be afraid to talk or do things, unless I ask you to besilent in the exercise. First we will do something to warm us up. Is everythingclear to you, can we start OK?

Circle of statementsThe group stands in a circle. The facilitator reads the following statements forthe group.

If anyone thinks that the statement is somehow or completely true, theymust take a step forward. Then each one of those who moved will find anotherone who took a step, and make eye contact. Then they will move back to thelarge circle. This happens silently, no commenting:

• I should always help my friend to not get into trouble. • It is easy to see if someone is under the influence of drugs (or alcohol). • I know someone who is using or has used drugs. • Adults do not understand what kind of a world the young people are living in. • There are a lot of communication problems between the??? • It is important that the schools organise discos and other extra-curricular

activities. • Parents should be involved in the activities of the schools. • The sons or daughters of single mothers are more at risk of social exclusion

than those who have both parents at home (this question is very provocative,so consider using it carefully!).

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Storytelling + Role-on-the-WallAleksi is the main character of our drama. He is a 15-year-old boy, and he lives inthe town of ——

(Ask: What could be the name of this town?). He usually writes his name withan X (Alexi): he feels it is cool that people see that there is always some mysteryto him. He hates being an average guy.

Aleksi lives with his mother and they get along well with each other, theyactually really love each other. Aleksi also loves his father, though he does not livewith them anymore. They see each other every week and do some things together(what do they do?). His mother has a new boyfriend, (ask the participants to givehim a name), but Aleksi does not like him, because always when he comes, helistens to country music. X really loves line-dancing.

In his class, Aleksi is everyone’s favourite. Even the teachers usually like him.What makes a boy of this age be popular in his class? What are the characteristicsthey like?

Aleksi’s favourite subject in school is English and his the best in his class in it.His mother has promised him, he can go to a language course in England thenext summer. Mother will pay one third, Dad one third, and Aleksi himself onethird of the trip. Aleksi earns money for the trip by —— (ask the participants:

How can boys of this age earn money?). There is only one condition: Mother hassaid that Aleksi must behave well during this year to convince her that he can beresponsible during the trip to England. So, there still is a long winter to go untilsummer. Aleksi was so excited about the trip that he could not resist tellingabout his plans to everyone. Well, even the mother’s new boyfriend X helped himto get some weekend work as a… (What?)

Role-on-the-WallThe group is asked to give ideas to draw an image of Aleksi together. What kindof a hat does he have? What kind of clothes? He has printed his own T-shirt: Isthere a text on it? What does it say?

Write more information on Aleksi around the image: What are his hobbies?Aleksi also plays in the school band: what kind of music? What is the name of theband?

You can draw the image of Aleksi during the storytelling, and add new charactersand facts to it as the narration goes on. You can ask some of the group to draw,or ask for drawing advice from the group.

Storytelling and BrainstormingAfter many years, the pupils are allowed to organise a school party again. Untilnow the headmaster has not been willing to let them organise it, because therehad been some problems in earlier years. Some of the parents will come andsupervise the party.Ask the group: What kind of problems have there been?Who will come to supervise the disco? Define the character a bit: Who is she or he?Why do they come?

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Creating a SpaceGo to small groups of three persons. Give each group ten small pieces of paper.

You are now the school party committee consisting of the chosen group ofpupils that begins to dream up the School Party of the New Millennium – thebest party EVER! No budget or imagination limitations!

Each group writes the things, objects, programme or decoration that theydream of for their party on the pieces of paper. These pieces are then put intotheir places in the space (use the blue tag) on the walls, floors, etc.

Defining the Space / StorytellingThe facilitator asks someone from the group to give a tour in their dream space.Give applause to each idea! “Well, the pupils did not get quite everything. The parentsand teachers did not allow them to have…and…, but it still became quite a fiesta,because they had quite good sponsors (who were the sponsors?)”

Still ImagesThe party starts. All the participants are asked to move in the space along themusic, to do all the things that can take place there, relate to each other etc.When the music stops, everyone freezes.

One person is taken out of the situation to choose three people who are inthe same situation or in relation to each other by touching them. The others areasked to unfreeze. They are asked to tell different interpretations of what ishappening in the image. The exercise is repeated three or four times: an hourlater, two hours later…

Gossips“Someone is missing: Aleksi is not at the party, even though several hours have passed.He is supposed to play in the school band, which is just about to start playing. He hassaid that he will “prepare well for this party…someone had seen him at the shoppingmall in the afternoon talking to some people. Where is he? Who were the people hewas talking to? What should we do?”The participants move randomly while gossiping and speculating on what is going on.

Teacher-in-Role / Partner-in-Role“Suddenly…there is loud shout C´MOOON EVERYBODYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! At the door”

The facilitator or someone prepared or dressed for the role of Aleksi, makesa dramatic and an extravagant entrance, he starts to dance and act wildly, obscurelyand theatrically.

Group DiscussionGroup discusses or gossips on the situation alike earlier speculating on Aleksi’sactions. The facilitator creates tension in the group by provoking the group withopposite opinions like “But how do we know? He is just happy. That is typical ofhim…” etc.

“Suddenly while they were talking, they realise that Aleksi has disappeared. Someonesays that he had gone to the toilet”

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Defining a SpaceConstruct a single toilet (for both sexes) using the tables. There is a small windowin the toilet. Improvise a queue of waiting youngsters, who are in a hurry to getin, but do not know about Aleksi’s problem. Some people, who have seen Aleksi,come and tell that Aleksi is there.

Group Improvisation and Teacher-in-RoleThe group tries to knock and hear answer. “He is lying there, but he is awake. Whatshould I say?” Facilitator echoes the “answers” of Aleksi. Aleksi does not want tocome out.

Small Group Improvisations (alternative solutions)and Evaluation of the Solutions (group discussion)

What do you think these youngsters would do in this situation?Do they risk Aleksi’s trip to England?Who would they ask to help or would they choose to do something else?Go to groups of four people.

Create improvisations of possible solutions or acts, these young people couldsuggest to each other and then try them out. The improvisations are presentedto the large group. Facilitator asks:What did they suggest? How would it work?What would be the result of this?Is this a typical way for young people solve this problem?What would be the best thing to do in this situation?How would Aleksi react if his mother refused to let him go to England?

Poems and Individual Creative WritingEach participant is given a piece of paper.

“When they finally could open the toilet door, they noticed that Aleksi had writtenpoems all over the toilet walls!”

Each participant writes a poem that Aleksi had written on the wall. The poemsare read in the circle, so that the participants change papers and read poemswritten by other people. Alternatively, everyone can wander around and readtheir poem out loud in turns.

Circle of StatementsMake the same statements as in the beginning. Ask if anybody has changed his orher mind.

Suggestions for ActionWhat should we do in a situation, in which we suspect that someone is feeling illdue to drugs but we don’t know for sure? What should we do or think in ourown lives to be better prepared in this kind of situations. Small groups of threeor four people make from two to four statements or suggestions for action.

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These are read to the whole group. People write them down and hang them ontheir wall or calendar at home or work place.

OR: Sharing in circle: What did I learn? What did I understand about the problem?How does it relate to real life? Was it realistic? What real life problems did it bring up?Is the communication easy between the different interest groups around a young person?QUESTIONS: How many of you finally thought that Aleksi was really intoxicated?Was this just because you thought the drama was supposed to deal with theissue of substance abuse?

Other Directions and Developments of Drama:Depending on the time used, there are many possibilities for beginning to developthe drama. If the group chose that Aleksi had really used drugs, we can explorehow he got involved with them.What happens if this is revealed? Was this the first time or just one of many times?The group can create improvisations on this, or the drama teacher can createthe next steps of drama pretext on these suggestions.

Still Images or Improvisations and Forum TheatreWhat happened at home the following day? Who was there?Create an improvisation on how mother (and possibly other people there) reacted.Forum theatre: How should she have reacted better? Try different alternatives!Family relations: Improvisations in small groups OR Drama pretext: Conflictswithin the family, mother’s new boyfriend, the real father, etc.Alternative futures: Where would Aleksi be in ten years? (Still images,improvisations, writing Aleksi’s Diary individually)

Childhood experiences: the problems in later age are said to have originatedin earlier age: what kind of problems might cause serious problems later? WasAleksi at all“under the threat of social exclusion”, because he seemed to be quite social?Reality workshop: share some of the real life experiences of the participants(parents, educators or other adults). A future workshop or a brainstorm of ideasfor action.Forum theatre can be created on the basis of the real life experiences of theparticipants; either distanced if the group does not know each other well, orstraight if the participants volunteer and feel comfortable and safeExploring a chosen theme or topic suggested by the participantsfurther. Lectures, group studies, asking a police or a psychologist come in…

Literature (in Finnish):Huoponen, K. et al. (2001): Päihteiden käytön ehkäisy. Opas koulujen ja sidosryhmien

yhteistyöhön. Opetushallitus, Stakes ja Terveydenedistämiskeskus, Helsinkiwww.stakes.fi/

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4. Literature

Literature & other sources on participatory,applied or educational drama

This list may help you in finding some useful literature and other material fordeveloping your practice as a drama worker. The list includes different genres ofapplied, educational and participatory drama. We also tried to help you by classifyingthe materials under the following categories:

• “BASIC” (very useful and practical materials) • “OTHER” (additional reading and other approaches, e.g. for study

purposes) • “THEORY” (for those who are interested digging deeper into the topics)

There is also some more general reading on education, socio-cultural work,evaluation of drama practice etc. on the list. The materials mentioned on the listare at the moment mainly in English and in Finnish.

1. Drama in Education (DIE)2. Theatre in Education (TIE)3. Forum Theatre4. Invisible Theatre5. Legislative Theatre6. Theatre for Awareness / Theatre for Development7. Devised Theatre / From Fact to Fiction8. Playback Theatre9. Sociodrama

10. Celebratory Drama11. Hospital Clownery12. Site-specific Theatre13. Drama, Myths and Ritual Forms of Performance14. Live Action Role Play (LARP)15. Street Theatre16. “Community Theatre” / Theatre in the Community17. Text-based Amateur Theatre18. Improvisation Theatre19. General Viewpoints & Other Topics

a) Genres of Applied Dramab) Drama in Multicultural Contextsc) Sociocultural Animation; Meaning and Purpose of Cultural Workd) Evaluating Drama

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1. Drama-in-Education (DIE)

BASIC:

Kanerva, P. ja Viranko, Viivi (1997): Aplodeja etsijöille. Näkökulmia draamaan sekätaidekasvatuksena että opetusmenetelmänä. Laatusana oy/Äidinkielenopettajien liitto, Helsinki.

Owens, Allan ja Barber, Keith • (1998): Draama toimii. JB-kustannus, Helsinki. • (1997): Drama works. Planning drama, creating practical structures,

developing drama pretexts. Carel Press Ltd, Carlisle. • (2002):Draamasuunnistus. Draamatyö, Helsinki. • (2001): Mapping drama. Carel Press.

Østern, Anna-Lena (toim): Katarsis. Draama, teatteri ja kasvatus. Atena, Jyväskylä.

Neelands, Jonothan • (1990): Structuring drama work. A handbook of available forms in theatre

and drama. Cambridge University Press. • (1992) Learning through imagined experience. The role of drama in the

national curriculum. Hodder & Stoughton, London • (1984): Making sense of drama. A guide to classroom practice. Heinemann

Educational Books, Oxford.

Woolland, Brian (1993): The teaching of drama in the primary school. The Effectiveteacher series. Longman, London and New York.

OTHER:

Bolton, G.: • (1984): Luova toiminta kasvatuksessa. Tammi, Helsinki. • (1998): Acting in Classroom drama. A critical analysis. Thornes (Publishers)

Ltd, Cheltenham, England. • (1992): New perspectives on classroom drama. Simon and Schusters

Education, Cheltenham, England.

Bowell, P ja Heap, B.H. (2001): Planning process drama. David Fulton, London.

O´Neill, C: • Drama worlds. A framework of process drama. Heinemann, Portsmouth. • (1991): Drama structures. A practical Handbook for teachers. Stanley

Thornes (Publishers) Ltd, Cheltenham.Fleming, M. (1996): Starting Drama teaching.

THEORY:

Heikkinen, Hannu (2001): Pohdintaa draamakasvatuksen perusteista. Kirjassa: Korhonen,Pekka ja Heikkinen, Hannu (2002): Draaman maailmat oppimisalueina.Draamakasvatuksen vakava leikillisyys. Jyväskylän yliopisto, Jyväskylä.

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Østern, Anna ja Länsitie, Janne (toim.) (2000): Kasvot ja naamio. Vuosikirja 1999-2000. Draamapedagogiikan yksikkö, Opettajankoulutuslaitos, Jyväskylänyliopisto, Jyväskylä.

Wagner B.J. (1976): Dorothy Heathcote. Drama as learning medium. NationalEducation Association of USA, Washington D.C.

Hornbrook, David (1991): Education and dramatic art. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.

Johnson, Liz & O´Neill, Cecily (toim) (1990): Dorothy Heathcote. Collectedwritings in education and drama. Stanley Thornes (Publishers) Ltd,Cheltenham.

2. Theatre-in-Education (TIE)

BASIC:

Jackson, T. (toim) (1993): Learning through theatre. New perspectives on Theatrein Education. T.J.Press (Padston) Ltd/ Routledge, Cornwall.

Schutzman, Mady ja Cohen-Cruz, Jan ( ): Playing Boal. Theatre, Therapy, Activism.Routledge, London.

3. Forum Theatre

BASIC:

Rohd, Michael (1997): Hope Is Vital. An interactive theatre and community dialoguetraining manual for educators, youth, community workers and artists. OwingsMills.

Boal, Augusto: • (1979): The theatre of the oppressed. Unizen Books, New York. • (1992): Games for actors and non-actors. Routledge, London. • (1995): Rainbow of desire. The Boal method of theatre and therapy.

Routledge, London. • (1998): Legislative theatre. Using performance to make politics. Routledge,

London.

Diamond, David: Theatre for Living. Julkaisematon.

OTHER:

Häkämies, Annukka (1999): Pinokkio. Sairaanhoidon opiskelijoiden päättötyöprojektiforumteatterin keinoin. Kirjassa: Mielenterveystyö ja opetus – matkalla kohtimuutosta. Mielenterveystyön opettajat ja ylihoitajat ry. Kirjayhtymä Helsinki,Tampere.

Schutzman, Mady ja Cohen-Cruz, Jan ( ): Playing Boal. Theatre, Therapy, Activism.Routledge, London.

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www.headlinestheatre.comwww.formaat.org

Nikkilä, Päivi: Teatterin tekijä sorron yössä. Teak, verkkolehti.http://www.teak.fi/teak/Teak199/6.html

THEORY:

Nikkilä, Päivi (2002): Augusto Boalin sorrettujen teatterin teoria sekä sen sovellus:Forum-esitys ”A Woman of no importance. Pro gradu. Helsingin yliopisto,teatteritieteen laitos, Helsinki.

Riekki, Janne (pro gradu)

4. Invisible Theatre

BASIC:

Boal, Augusto: • (1979): The theatre of the oppressed. Unizen Books, New York. • (1992): Games for actors and non-actors. Routledge, London.

5. Legislative Theatre

BASIC:

Boal, Augusto: Legislative theatre (see in 2.)

Piekkari, Jouni (1995): Rautala-projekti Top Toijala! Raportti asukaslähtöisen suunnittelunkokeilun kännistysvaiheesta Rautalan asuinalueella Toijalassa. Toijala.

Headlines theatre web-site: www.headlinestheatre.comSee also 6.

6. Theatre-for-Awareness / Theatre-for-Development

BASIC:

Backman, Idalotta ja Piekkari, Jouni (1994): Teatteria todellisuuden toreilla. Kirjassa:Ervamaa, Tomi & Piekkari, Jouni (toim): Sambia sinisin silmin. KehitysyhteistyönPalvelukeskus, Helsinki.

Kennedy, Samuel (1995): ”A Woopsy, woopsy, BANG; BANG”. A manual for doingpopular theatre in the Eastern Caribbean. Eastern Caribbean PopularTheatre Organisation ECPTO, Dominica.

Pattanaik, Subodh (2000a): Psyco-cyco theatre. Natya Chetana, Bhubaneswar.

Piekkari, Jouni (2002): Paikalliset äänet osallistavassa kulttuurityössä (pro gradu).Tampereen yliopisto, musiikkitieteen laitos.

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OTHER:

Kerr, David (1995): African popular theatre : From pre-colonial times to the presentday. Studies in African literature. New Series. Heineman, New Hampshire.

Mavrocordatos, Alex ja Martin, Pathika (1995): Theatre for development: listening tothe community. Kirjassa: Nelson, Nici ja Wright, Susan (toim.): Power andparticipatory development: theory and practice. Intermediate Technology,London.

Pattanaik, Subodh (2000b): Natya Chetana´s creative response super cyclone ’99(A Report). Natya Chetana, Bhubaneswar.

Mirii, Ngugi wa (toim.) (1986): Community based theatre skills. Bulawayo workshop1986.

ZIMFEP, THEORY:

Mda, Zakes (1990): Marotholi travelling theatre: Towards an alternative perspectiveof development. Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol 16, no 2, June.

Mda, Zakes (1993): When people play people: Development communicationthrough theatre. Zed, London. Bulawayo.

Mlama, Penina Muhando (1991): Culture and development. The popular theatreapproach in Africa. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala.

7. Devised Theatre / From Fact to Fiction

BASIC:

Oddey, Allison (1994): Devising theatre. A practical and theoretical handbook.Routledge London.

Bray, E. (1991): Playbuilding. A guide for group creation of plays with young people.Currency Press, Sydney.

OTHER:

Björkman, Ingrid (1989): Mother, sing for me: Peoples theatre in Kenya. Zed Books.

O’Toole, John ja Donelan, Kate (toim) (1996): Drama, culture and empowerment.The IDEA Dialogues. IDEA Publications, Brisbane.

Aaltonen, H. ja Østern, A-L (2001): Organising young people´s dramatic practices.Jyväskylän yliopisto, Jyväskylä (University of Jyväskylä).

THEORY:Oddey, Allison (1994): Devising theatre. A practical and theoretical handbook.

Routledge London.

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8. Play Back Theatre

BASIC:

Fox, Jonathan (1994): Acts of Service: Spontaneity, Commitment, Tradition in theNonscripted Theatre. Tusitala Publishing

Salas, Jo (1999): Improvising Real Life. Personal story in Play Back theatre. TusitalaPublishing.

OTHER:

Fox, Jonathan ja Dauber, Heinrich (1999): Gathering Voices: essays on playback theatre.Tusitala Publishing. (1999): Tarinateatteri – Playback Theatre”. TarinateatteriMielikuva, Tampere.

www.helsingintarinateatteri.comwww.tarinateatteri.net/tamperehttp://www.tornio.fi/eve/tarinateat.htmhttp://kansalaistalo.jns.fi/tarakka/mika_tarinateatteri.htmwww.playbacknet.org

9. Sociodrama

BASIC:

Blatner, Adam (1997): Toiminnalliset menetelmät terapiassa ja koulutuksessa.Psykodraaman tekniikat käytäntöön sovellettuna. Gummerus, Jyväskylä.

Jennings, S.(toim)(1992): Dramatherapy. Theory and practice for teachers andclinicians. Routledge, London.

THEORY / OTHER:

Marineau, N. (1989): Jacob Levy Moreno 1889-1974. Father of Psychodrama,sociometry and group psychotherapy. Tavistock, London.

Nieminen, S. ja Saarenheimo, M. (1981): Morenolainen psykodraama. Historiallinenja filosofis-psykologinen analyysi. Psykologien kustannus, Helsinki.

http://www.mopsi.org/psykodraama.html

10. Celebratory Drama

BASIC:

Coult, Tony & Kershaw, Baz (1983): Engineers of the imagination. Methuen Books.

www.welfare-state.org

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11. Hospital Clownery

Adams, P. (1998): Gesundheit. Healing Art Press, Vermont.Jackson, Hildur (toim.)(1999): Creating harmony. Conflict resolution in community.

Gaia Trust, Holte.

12. Site-specific Theatre

BASIC:

Oddey, Allison (1994): Devising theatre. A practical and theoretical handbook.Routledge London.

13. Drama, Myths and Ritual Forms of Performance

BASIC:

Welfare State International web-site: www.welfare-state.org

Piekkari, Jouni (2002): Paikalliset äänet osallistavassa kulttuurityössä. Tampereenyliopisto, Tampere.

Neelands, Jonothan (1998): Three theatres waiting: Architectural spaces andperformance traditions. The Nadie Journal, 22(1).

OTHER:Fox, Jonathan (1994): Acts of Service: Spontaneity, Commitment, Tradition in the

non-scripted theatre. Tusitala Publishing

www.uaf.edu/theatre/litooma/

THEORY:Backman, Idalotta (2003): Teatterikorkeakoulu, Helsinki.

Edwards, F. (1976): Ritual and drama. The medieval theatre. Luttenworth Press,Guildfor and London.

Schechner, R (1985): Between theatre and anthropology. University of Pensylvania,Philadelphia.

Turner, Victor (1982): From ritual to theatre: the seriousness of play. PAJ publications,New York.

14. Live Action Role Play (LARP)

BASIC:

Käll, Hans (1999): Matka keskiaikaan. Opas live-roolipelaajalle. Otava, Keuruu.

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15. Street theatre

BASIC:

Mason, B. (1992): Street theatre and outdoor performance. Rotuledge, London.

16. Community Theatre or Theatre in the Community

BASIC:Kennedy, Samuel (1995):”A Woopsy, woopsy, BANG; BANG”. A manual for doing

popular theatre in the Eastern Caribbean. Eastern Caribbean PopularTheatre Organisation ECPTO, Dominica.

(See also 6.)

17. Text-based Amateur Theatre.

BASIC:

Sinivuori, P. ja T. (2000): Esiripusta aplodeihin. Opas harrastajateatteriohjaajille jailmaisukasvattajille. Gummerus, Jyväskylä.

Koskela, Virpi (1999): Elämäntehtävä Legioonateatterin opetukset – Kokemuksia jaajatuksia ohjaajan ja kouluttajan roolista. Kuikka, Suvi (toim.): Friikki.Nuorisoteatteritoiminnan opas. Vapaan Sivitystyön liitto.

18. Impovisation Theatre.

BASIC:

Johnstone, Keith (1996): Impro. Kirjallisuutta: Johnstone, Keith. Impro.Improvisoinnista iloa elämään ja esiintymiseen. Helsinki: Yliopistopaino 1996.

• Impro. Improvisation and the theatre. Methuen drama, London. • Impro for storytellers. Faber & Faber, London.

Spolin, Viola (1987): Improvisation for the Theatre. A handbook of teaching anddirecting technics. Northwestern University Press, Evaston, Illinois.

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General viewpoints & other topicsa. Genres of Applied Drama

Teerijoki, Pipsa ja Lintunen, Jarmo (2001): Kohtaamisia eri tiloissa – osallistavanteatterin näyttämöt. Kirjassa: Korhonen, Pekka ja Østern, Anna-Lena (toim):Katarsis. Draama, teatteri ja kasvatus. Atena, Jyväskylä.

Østern, Anna-Lena (2001): Teatterin merkitys kautta aikojen lasten ja nuortennäkökulmasta. Kirjassa: Korhonen, Pekka ja Østern, Anna-Lena (toim.):Katarsis. Draama, teatteri ja kasvatus. Atena Kustannus, Jyväskylä.

Teerijoki, Pipsa (toim) (2000): Draaman tiet – suomalainen näkökulma. Jyväskylänyliopisto, Jyväskylä.

b. Drama in Multicultural Contexts

Heikkinen, Hannu (2001): Process drama and multicultural education. IN: Mistrík,S.; Haapanen, H; Heikkinen, R; Jazudek, N. Ondrushková & Räsänen (toim):Kultúra a multikultúrna vychova / Culture and multicultural Education. Iiris,Bratislava.

Stuhr, P (1995): Social reconsturctionist multicultural art curriculum design. IN:Neprud, P.W. (toim.): Context content and community in art education;beyond postmodernism. Teachers College Press, New York.

c. Sociocultural Animation; Meaning and Purpose of Cultural Work

Kurki, Leena (2000): Sosiokulttuurinen innostaminen. Vastapaino, Tampere.

Piekkari, Jouni (2002): Paikalliset äänet osallistavassa kulttuurityössä. Pro gradu.Tampereen yliopisto, musiikkitieteen laitos, Tampere.

d. Evaluating Drama

Østern, A-L. (toim) (2001): Laatu ja merkitys draamaopetuksessa. Draama-kasvatuksen teorian perusteita. Jyväskylän yliopisto, Jyväskylä.

Owens, Allan ja Barber, Keith: Draamasuunnistus. Draamatyö, Helsinki.

Østern, Anna ja Korhonen, Pekka: Katarsis.

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Information of the writers of the articles

EstoniaKADI JAANISOO is a student of the history of Estonian culture in Tallinn

Pedagogical University Culture Department. She has been connected tothe Forum Theatre since 1999 and at the moment she also is a VAT TheatreForum Group actress and has taken part in most of the performances allover Estonia. Just as Soosaar, Jaanisoo has also got her experiences in leadingForum Theatre workshops, she has taken part in many Forum Theatre.

PIRET SOOSAAR is a student on the history of Estonian culture in the TallinnPedagogical University Culture Department. She has been connected toForum Theatre since 1999. At the moment she is a VAT Theatre ForumGroup actress and has taken part in most of the Forum Theatre plays,which have been performed all over Estonia in different schools and youthcenters. She has experiences in leading the Forum Theatre workshopswith youngsters. She has taken part in many Forum Theatre.

MARGO TEDER graduated in 1997 from the Tallinn Pedagogical UniversityCulture Department and his specialty was directing. Since 1997 he hasbeen a VAT Theatre professional actor and has participated in almost everyone of the VAT Theatre plays. The VAT Theatre mainly performs for childrenand young people. Margo has been connected to the Forum Theatre since1999, and has participated in Joker training. He has also been developingthe Forum Theatre in Estonia from its very arrival. At the moment he is adirector and a Joker in the VAT Theatre Forum Group.

MARI-LIIS VELBERG graduated in 2004 from the Tallinn Pedagogical UniversitySocial Work Department, where her final thesis topic was “Forum Theatreas a possibility to handle social problems among school youngsters”. Shehas also been working as a support person for the Tallinn Children’s SupportCenter since 2003. Mari-Liis has been a Forum Theatre actress since 1999,when the first forum theatre courses were held in Tallinn, Mustpeade Maja.She has participated in several Forum Theatre plays and has taken part inmany Forum Theatre training sessions.

SpainANNA CAUBET is co-founder of Pa’tothom and teaches there; she is an

actress and also acts as a Joker in different groups.

JORDI FORCADAS is a graduate of stage direction and a co-founder ofPa’tothom. Along with Anna Caubet and a team of specialists, he appliesdrama techniques in different social collectives (with children and parents inschools, social centres, youth centres, penitentiaries and immigrant shelters).

DAVID MARTÍNEZ, An actor and a theatre creator, mainly works in awarenessraising theatre workshops and provides theatre classes for young peoplein secondary education and to non-Spanish speaking immigrants. He is amember of the directive Drama Way Catalunya in co-ordination with “Fornof teatre Pa’tothom”.

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PortugalMARCO FERREIRA is an actor and a theatre creator in Companhia de Teatro

na Educacão do Baixo Alentejo in Serpa in Portugal. In his work he usesvarious forms of participatory and applied many drama methods like devisingemansipatory performances and celebratory drama.

FinlandULLA HALKOLA is an education coordinator and organisational developer

at the Centre for Extension Studies at the University of Turku. She is alsoa professional psychotherapist in private practice and a photographer.Phototherapeutical methods and also drama methods are important toolsin her work both in education and psychotherapy. She is a chairman forthe “Finnish PhotoTherapy Association” since the year 2004.

TARJA KOFFERT is a professional psychotherapist and psychotherapy trainerboth in family and individual therapy. She works a lot with young peopleand their families. As well as Ulla Halkola she is also an organisationaldeveloper and counsellor. She has developed phototherapeutical methodsand drama methods in her work. She is an active member in “FinnishPhotoTherapy Association”.

TITI LILLQVIST is a freelancer community worker trainer of coming dramaand youth workers. She is specialised in drama in youth work, historical-tourist drama and community and development work.

JOUNI PIEKKARI is a specialist of participatory drama and community work,who has developed curriculums and projects in these fields on polytechnicand university trainings levels and in non-governmental organisations inFinland, Zambia and Estonia. By background he is an ethnomusicologist.

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AAAAAppendix:ppendix:ppendix:ppendix:ppendix:

Drama a Way to Social Inclusion CD

1. Drama - a Way to Social Inclusion – practical process descriptions for drama workersBook edited by Jouni Piekkari

2. Drama - a Way to Social Inclusion – practical process descriptions for drama workersPowerPoint version by Jouni Piekkari

3. Some Genres of Participatory and Interactive DramaPowerPoint version by Jouni Piekkari

4. Art, Educators, Communities – a Participatory ApproachPowerPoint version by Jouni Piekkari

5. Photo as Step to Drama, Workshop in BarcelonaPowerPoint version by Ulla Halkola and Tarja Koffert

6. Facas nas GalindasPowerPoint version by Marco Ferreira and Baal 17, Companhia de Teatro doBaixo Alentejo

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