Unleashing Creativity

Drama and Play

Theatre reflects the reality and shows us different points of views and interpretations of life. At the same time, theatre is always reflection for the actors as well as for the audience, no matter if played in a official theatre, on the street or in a classroom. The audience recognizes themselves in the magical space that is shown on stage. By changing the perspective, actors can recognize stereotypical behaviours easier and thus find alternative ways of acting in problematic situations. This way theatre can help to clarify situations in a playful manner.

In addition to that the playful and unconscious way of dealing with the foreign language helps to overcome inhibitions to speak or to present oneself during the seminar. Acting and laughing together creates an atmosphere of trust. Finally, fun and a good feeling for the group are important things for every seminar.

In order to be able to use the different ways of expression which the theatre offers, the participants have to make their body able to express itself and therefore they have to know their body very well. Only at this stage different forms of theatre can be used and the participants can leave step by step the audience and become actors themselves. This is the only way how participants cab become subjects instead of objects and develop from witness of a happening to protagonists. This development from spectator to actor happens in different phases. The introduction to theatre is therefore exercise and experiment with the own Body.

Statues

With the help of statues different topics and situations can be visualized. This form of presentation gives a lot of space to interpretations, so that different aspects of a topic can be made visible.

Newspaper Theatre

The newspaper theatre is another technique of the theatre of the oppressed by Augusto Boal. The basis are newspaper articles, headlines but also books, speeches etc. The scene is created with the help of news and reports.

Forum Theatre

Forum theatre is a method of the so called theatre of the opressed, developed by Augusto Boal during the Junta regime in Brasil. Today it is updated through the Centro de teatro do oprimido, which was founded through Boal. The classical forum theatre picks up everyday experience with violence or discrimination, develops small scenes, and finally seeks for behavioral alternatives. This happens jointly between actors and audience.

Creative Teaching Storyboarding

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SPACE_r. The instruction of using city

SPACE_r. is a kind of performance about walking (spacer in polish) and discovering a different way of seeing and using public spaces. Invented by Performeria Warszawy.

Tools for better Expression

Workshops with stencil art, photography, radio or texts, they offer with very different media a possibility for expression. In our context it is the artistic expression regarding a societal relevant topic. Creativity starts with perception. Creative workshops help people that are used to work often cognitive, to perceive the people and environment different. Sometimes in creative activity we experience something new. The material, the body experience, the communication without words.

Creativity can be applied under cognitive sounding topics, in international encounters, but as well in school or non_formal education. Our experience is, that participants gain a lot from having the opportunity to express (or learn to express) in a variety of media and "languages".

Creative workshops can be integrated in another training like a 1-2 day part. Or be conducted as single event. In any case creativity needs space - appropriate facilitations.

Also important is the presentation of the products: a play, a vernissage, performance, a newspaper or blog.

Combination of cognitive and creative methods

In example the international training "A stroke in the landscape, the border in your mind" in the German-Polish border region. The first days were following the goals of getting to know each other and of work on the topic "border". Therefore we had discussions in the seminar but as well field trips like to the border patrol.

The following days the faciltators' team offered four workshops: radio, stencil art, creative writing and drama. The connecting element between them was a joint performance which should present the outcome of the creative process on the central place of the city. The public performance addressed several competencies that are as well relevant for further public involvement: Standing in the public, involving other people, experience yourself in a challenging situation, or teamwork.

In general we see the following advantages that speak for including creative methods in workshops and trainings:

• it strengthens self-confidence
• offers opportunities to step into dialogue with a public.
• leads to self-reflection and self-experience
• broadens the repertoire of possible expression of each person
• enables us to desribe complexity in terms of goals, problems, challenges, visions different
• is contributing to a balance of methods.
• is shared experience
• allows facilitators to learn more about the participants' personalities and their specific motivations

Examples

• Photo
• Performance
• Drama
• Stencil Art
• Performance

During:

Techniques

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• Unleashing Creativity
  • Statues
  • Newspaper Theatre
  • Forum Theatre
  • Creative Teaching Storyboarding
  • SPACE_r. The instruction of using city