The Second Regional Workshop on Forum-Theater for activists from Ukraine and Russia

The Second Regional Workshop on Forum-Theater for social activists from Ukraine and Russia took place at IZOLYATSIA. Platform for Cultural Initiatives, in Kiev from November 9th to 11th.

Within the framework of the international project "Bridges of Solidarity", which was initiated this year by the Regional Office of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung "Dialogue Eastern Europe" in collaboration with the Ukrainian NGO "Theater for Dialogue", the Second Regional Workshop on Forum-Theater for social activists from Ukraine and Russia took place at IZOLYATSIA. Platform for Cultural Initiatives, in Kiev from November 9th to 11th.

The workshop was based methodically on the works of Augusto Boal, a Brazilian playwright and public person, who established the “Theatre of the Oppressed”, a form of the forum-theatre, in the 1970s-1980s.  One of his works, the book “The Rainbow of Desire”, was translated into Russian and distributed among the participants at the beginning of the workshop.

During 3 days, 13 young people from different regions of Ukraine and Russia learned the basics of the "Theater of the Oppressed" under the guidance of the Ukrainian-Russian team of moderators: they learned to build trust between each other and also to work with various scenic techniques of expressing feelings, emotions and sensations. During the group discussions, which accompanied each thematic block of the workshop, the participants reflected upon their newly gained experiences during the group work and pair lessons/partner work. Using the example of simulated situations, the participants also learned how to understand the "oppressor-oppressed" relations, their unstable nature, and also how to find the reasons of their problematic situations and to develop strategies for conflict solution through the methods of the Forum theater.

The outcome of the workshop and main essence of the participants’ intense work was the production of the forum-theatre play called "32th Listobria". It was performed on the improvised public stage of the art space IZONE and presented conflicts and problematic situations, which were discussed during the workshop and happened to be relevant both in Ukraine and Russia. The focus of the performance is patriotic education at school.

Perhaps the biggest achievement of the workshop was that the organizers managed to bring together the people who, under conditions of war, embitterment, distrust and ubiquitous propaganda, would hardly ever have met. According to the participants, many of whom left their country for the first time, the most valuable outcome of the project was overcoming their fears and dismantling stereotypes towards Ukrainians, Russians, Chechens and representatives of the LGBTQ community.

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