THEATRE SUMMER CAMP 'PILIO 2025'
Museum Theatre! Theatre Inspired by Museum Exhibits
Facilitator: Asimenia (Sylvia) Misirli
complementary Workshop
Pilio, Greece, 27/08/2025 | 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Language Greek
Museum theatre as a genre began in 19th-century Sweden, inspired by folklorist Hazelius, who wanted visitors to experience their country’s historical past. He brought history to life through the creation of Skansen. Over time, museum theatre evolved into a popular educational program in museums—especially in Northern Europe, Canada, and the United States. Today, it is used by many museums and cultural organizations to bring action into the museum space and challenge the stereotype of the museum as a static institution.
In our approach, museum theatre is transferred from the museum into the school, offering students the opportunity to create their own theatre performance. This idea was inspired by the Come Alive Student Museum Theatre Festival, held annually since 2010 in Canberra, Australia. Around 150 students typically participate each year, taking on the roles of directors, actors, writers, and technical crew. Schools participating in the festival draw inspiration from the exhibits and collections of partner cultural institutions and create performances based on characters, events, or objects connected to those institutions.
A similar initiative has taken place over two consecutive years in schools in the region of Phocis, Greece. Students visited the Archaeological Museum of Delphi, created their own performances, and successfully staged two student museum theatre festivals.
In this workshop, we will explore in a hands-on, experiential way how museum theatre can serve as an educational tool with goals related to knowledge, skills, and attitudes. We will take a virtual tour of the exhibits of the Delphi Museum, study historical sources, develop characters and storylines, become familiar with the features of theatrical language and writing, and engage in educational drama and creative writing activities. By the end of the workshop, we will have written our own scripts—ready to be performed on stage.
After this process, we will be equipped to guide our students on this fascinating journey into the museum world, helping them create their own museum theatre performances that connect with their personal experiences and gain meaning through the lens of contemporary life.
Our central aim is to bring museum stories to life, to use the knowledge museums offer in an active, experiential way, and to critically approach the past—and through it, understand our present.
Asimenia Misirli holds degrees in Greek and English Philology, Theatre Studies, and Art History, along with postgraduate qualifications in European Literature & Culture, Lifelong Learning, Creative Writing, and Public History. She is currently a PhD candidate researching museum theatre as an educational tool in secondary education. She has worked in public education for over twenty years as a teacher of English (PE06), and for the last eight years, she has served as Head of School Activities for the Directorate of Secondary Education in Phocis. She has attended numerous seminars and workshops on theatre and performing arts in education and organizes relevant professional development opportunities for teachers in her region. She also coordinates awareness-raising initiatives on human rights using theatre techniques and other art forms across secondary schools under her jurisdiction. She collaborates with schools producing theatre performances as a general coordinator and writes or adapts scripts for use in educational settings. Since 2022, she has been implementing a Museum Theatre program in Phocis, developing a comprehensive educational framework for use by secondary school educators. Asimenia has collaborated for many years with the Hellenic Theatre/Drama & Education Network (TENet-Gr) as a local coordinator and workshop facilitator within the framework of the program “It could be me, it could be you…”.
Organised by the Hellenic Theatre/Drama & Education Network (TENet-Gr)
++302106541600 / info@theatroedu.gr / www.TheatroEdu.gr
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| Cities | - Αγ. Γιάννης Πηλίου
- Αγ. Γιάννης Πηλίου
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