Theatre of Legends - Theatre for Youths

<< Background >>After a previous analysis of the cultural and youth activities carried out in the different participating organizations, partners considered the contact with theatre experiences as a very useful tool to work on non-formal education and education in values, fundamental axes of the activities of these organizations. They wanted to work with young people on interculturality, diversity, equality, inclusion, creativity and many other values through the representation of different traditional legends of the participating countries, since theatre acts as a source of learning experiential knowledge and allows the scenic approach to certain historical periods, the characterization of spaces, clothing, people's behavior, traditions etc.; it allows to recover experiences and develop new ones, to analyze, express and evaluate them, impacting on the individual and allowing them to apply what they have learned in their daily lives. In short, with this project partners wanted to emphasize the importance of theatre as an educational tool, using techniques and experiences among the participants to make them reflect on various issues, especially on the importance of knowing and respecting different cultures on an equal footing.<< Objectives >>The main objective of this project was to highlight the importance of theatre as an educational tool for young people, developing new techniques that help to work on different values of the personality of the participants. Based on the Methodological Guide of Theatre Techniques for Young People two international workshops, with two final performances, were organized in Romania and Spain, during which young people had the opportunity to value and enhance multiculturalism and to foster mutual respect. One of the priorities is the importance of diversity, of knowing and respecting different cultures, to this end partners used the representation of different legends of the countries or cities of the participating organizations, which helped to discover some of the characteristics and curiosities of each place, together with the transnational experiences that were developed. Partners believe that putting young people in direct contact with other cultures was the best way to make them reflect on how to achieve a more inclusive, respectful and egalitarian society. Moreover, it was a very good opportunity to work on their knowledge of foreign languages, as they carried out the workshops and communicated using English as a common language.<< Implementation >>The following activities were carried out within the project: Activity 1 – Methodological Guide of Theatre Techniques for Young People. This manual is available in English, Spanish, Romanian and Hungarian, ensuring that it can reach and be used by as many people as possible. The main aim of this activity was to obtain a methodological guide and the necessary training so that the partners have all the adequate knowledge to develop the international workshops in their countries. Other expected outcomes of this activity were: the basis for replicating this activity in third countries and alliances were established to create a trans-European collaborative network. The following workshops were organized based on the guide: Activity 2 – Theatre Workshops in Harghita, Romania with a group of local participants and guests from Spain, and Activity 3 – Theatre Workshops in Purchena, Spain, with a group of local participants and guests from Romania. During these workshops, young people worked with local legends from the different cities/countries of the participating organizations, allowing them to fully immerse themselves in different cultures; representing and analyzing the situations, characters, scenarios etc. conveyed by these stories.<< Results >>The concrete outputs and other results of the project: 1 Methodological Guide of Theatre Techniques for Young People in English, Spanish, Romanian and Hungarian (PDF file uploaded to the project’s website and Facebook page); 2 international workshops in Romania and Spain; 23 young participants on the workshop in Romania and 26 on the workshop in Spain; 18 staff members/workshop leaders involved from the participating organizations, 2 final performance videos; 7 testimony videos from participants; 1 website in English, Spanish, Romanian and Hungarian: https://theatreforyouthproject.com/; 1 Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheatreOfLegends; 1 Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/theatreoflegends/; 2 in-person partner meeting in Romania and Spain; 1 interim and 1 final internal evaluation questionnaires on project activities; management and organization, exploitation and sustainability of results by partners; networking activities and linking stakeholders to project results i.e. representatives and members of local amateur theatre groups, storytellers and performers have been actively involved in the recruitment of participants and in the implementation of activities; brainstorming activity for a follow-up project.