General aims: The support and development of the creative ability of children so they can a) develop communication skills, b) play, express themselves, and be entertained with Playing-Through-Theatre that offers a solid context for communication, acceptance, and cooperation without antagonism and rivalry, c) present their own “stories” in the form of stage events that will originate from the attempt to coordinate more “I’s”, so that they can jointly come to a result through a procedure that evolves into “WE”…

The project deals with the issues of unity, communication, acceptance, and the importance of “We-Together”. More specific aims are: a) to approach alternative codes of communication, b) challenge children to make multiple classifications, c) multifacetedly empower coordination, necessary for the organization of thought, d) engage children in the production of “myth”, e) inspire, through several stimuli, the players to use symbolic thought to energise creative fantasy, f) encourage interaction and acceptance.

Short Description of the Workshop:

1) For preschool and early primary education students

The notion is presented symbolically to the children. Concepts are drawn upon “nature”. Thus, we choose theRAINBOW as a phenomenon of harmonic color synthesis that “embraces” the landscape after the rain. At first, we stage a “myth” about the “color countries”. The game begins with improvisation by the theatre pedagogues. The three-major colors appear and they are sunken in their “I” since each one thinks itself to be greater than the others. The action unfolds as they randomly clash and through this “contact” new colors are produced each time (their supplementary ones). They then understand that there is not only the “I”. The game begins…

Children at first take part in various sensory-kinetic proceedings so they can synchronize and communicate with each other. Their “stage” participation starts when some travelers (played by the theatre pedagogues) leave their “trails” (namely the 7 colors of the rainbow) in the area (color cards). The children step on those trails and thus their grouping begins. Games with movement, rhythm, but also rhythmic speech connect them at this phase aiming to understand what bonds them (namely their color) and thus make their first stage event. Moving on to a broader context, they start to meet also with children belonging to other “colors”. Through a series of new games, they reconfigure the teams so that each one has representatives from every color. In this way, whatever each child brought from its previous team is connected, and a new more pluralistic relationship is formed. Then, new events take place. Finally, children are motivated to overturn their color cards and place them on the ground (like a puzzle) where a rainbow is revealed. United, they complete the game.

2) For upper primary education students

The theme of "I - you - we ... together" is given to older children, in 3 parameters through exercises and games that aim at feeling comfortable, expressiveness and surpassing embarrassment.

a) Problems and difficulties in the prepubertal age: images representing various "scenes" on social, existential, school and other issues that trouble children of that age are displayed. They are expected to voice their opinion over the pictures, sometimes individually and sometimes in groups. Then, they are divided into groups and each team chooses, after collective reflection, the picture that interests its members more, to theatrically reenact it.

b) I-Am-Have-and the same thing- with the addition of "no" (i.e.I have not ... I'm not or I did not ...): three instances of man in every tense, provide a stimulus for a text composition that each group synthesizes and the then presents on the stage.

c) Love-Fear-Loss: Three universal conditions. Where does each child stand faced against each of those? What personal reductions does it do? How does the child takes a stand regarding those and shares them with the group? How does the child composes these conditions into an event?

HOW CAN A SCHOOL SIGN UP FOR THE WORKSHOP:

The workshop can be arranged after a request by the school.

Due to the high number of applications and the limited feasibility of the project, a raffle will take place. Priority will be given to the members of the Hellenic Theatre/Drama & Education Network (TENet-Gr)

Applications: Info@Theatroedu.gr