This project has arisen from our understanding that initiatives concerning teacher training in drama/ theatre have been organised for a long time in every country involved in the project. Ministries as well as Education and Culture Agencies in many European countries are updating their school programmes. Beginning by examining the methods already in use in each of the project partner countries (Italy, France, Belgium and England), a comparison of training has been carried out. From this we have been able to identify common methodologies.

These will be proposed to the teachers in each of the four different countries involved in the project in order to enable them to improve their teacher training in the fields of drama / theatre.

 

Stages of the project:

Seminar in Torino (Italia)
30-31/10 e/et 1/11/1998

October 30th, 31st
and November 1st, 1998

Seminar in Warwick (Great Britain)
19-20-21/2/1999
February 19th, 20th, 21st, 1999

Seminar in Bruxelles (Belgique)
19-20-21/3/1999

March 19th, 20th, 21st, 1999
Seminar in Paris (France)
4-5-6/6/1999
June 4th, 5th, 6th, 1999

Courses and experimental seminars in the four partner cities
November and December 1999, January 2000

Preparation and production of the CD-Rom
February-July 2000

European course in Turin (Action Comenius 3.2)
July 2000

 

A theatre for new generations

by Graziano Melano
Director of Teatro dell’Angolo

 

Young people and the theatre.
These are words usually found in speeches made by politicians, actors or educators and have different meanings depending on who is using them. For politicians the young audience is an indistinct group, with the potential to absorb culture, but culture of an undefined nature.
For actors the young audience can be difficult or stimulating, but in any case often hard to reach.
For educators, the theatre can be used as a teaching resource to assist learning. There is partial truth in all of these and our society can be enriched by viewing cultural activities through the prism of youth.
In many European countries theatre for young people has recently become more important, and has its roots in popular culture including sporting activities. Increasingly a number of youth projects are being developed to stimulate creativity in theatrical writing, acting, directing or scenography. Young people respond to this positively as they come together to explore unfamiliar but challenging themes.
Statistically, few young people attend theatrical performances, preferring musical or sports events instead. Where they do take part in theatrical activities, young people often prefer to take the role of protagonist. This helps them to demonstrate their talents even though they may be technically inexperienced. Theatre rewards those who take chances.
This freedom to experiment is hard to find in everyday life, and therefore theatre provides a meaningful and gratifying sense of purpose for young people still trying to make the transition from school to the adult world.
Schools play an important role in theatrical training, providing the intellectual basis of understanding drama as well as the practical experience of the theatre. Educators can sharpen young peoples’ critical faculties so that their appreciation of a play has more significance to their personal circumstances.
This can allow a deeper emotional and spiritual exploration of the real world through the artifice of drama. The language of drama employs voice, movement and fantasy to animate the text. The content of drama is only released in performance; actors are the interpretors of dramatic language.
Those who wish to teach this language, must experiment themselves.
Teachers involved in the Trans Europe Theatre project immersed themselves in an evolving and creative world. It was a journey through the history, poetry and techniques of theatre.
The Project helped the educators to bring their expertise and knowledge to young secondary school students who organised theatrical projects in their classes. On exhibition days, classes compared their work and the teaching methods were refined over the course of the Project.
This experience could form a starting point for a network of mediators for the theatre and education, a network which would work with performers and producers to extend the influence and imaginative power of theatre into the lives of young people.