Just finised the first week of the theatre workshop with the youth of Chongon, and San Geronimo.
it was an incredible experience, and actually my first time holding a workshop like this, so there is a lot of learning that im processing as i write this.
we had around 25 regular participants in the workshop, most of which were 14years and older, we even had an older couple in their forties show up and take part towards the end of the week! The workshop was aimed for youth, the posters clearly stated 14 years and over, but of course the reality of this rural community and the location we used in the town center, children and junior youth show up as they do, and well, the first day I was a bit too relaxed about it and they joined in for most of the warm-up games, so when it came to the second day it was hard to say no kids...but it all ended up working out in the end, with the kids watching the activities or doing their own thing in seperate groups.
For basically every participant there, this was their first experience of theatre, they had never seen a play before but they were interested in drama. I was amazed at their hunger to learn, they enthusiasm and warm-heartedness. Most of the workshop (which was 3hours long each day) focused on confidence building games, games that were collaborative in nature, with no main ‘leader’ or ‘winner’ but rather the team has to co-operate as a unit in order to achieve the goal. We would then reflect after each game about what qualities we were developing, the relationship to drama, and most importantly how the game related to our own lives. For example, after playing an exercise called ‘Flocking’, where a small group changes leader and movement often, one participant in the reflection circle said, ‘This exercise represented to me the different stages of life. There are times when you have to follow others, like your parents and do as they say, and other times when you have to lead and make decisions for yourself, but you have to work together and stay united.’
The participants thrived on the daily improvement they witnessed in the games as it built their self-confidence and the dynamic of the group. The jump- rope sequence for example, requiring the group to run under the rope in pairs without missing a beat, was an activity the group struggled with on the first day, but after a discussion on what it means to have courage and believe in yourself, why it is important and how it applies to our lives, the group suddenly stepped up and ran through the rope one after the other in time, bringing a tremendous sense of joy and confirmation to the participants. One participant responded, ‘This game showed me that first you have to believe you can do it, then everything is possible.’
There was also specific times were the group would devise and perform their own performances based on social issues they are facing. This was strengthen by a good deal of time reflecting in small groups on the following questions,
* ‘What would you want the world to know about your community?’
Their responses include:
‘We’d like them to know the values that we practise – like friendship, respect, solidarity.’
Another group commented, ‘We’d like them to know that we are collaborators and are kind. People from Chongon are hard-workers and have talents too.’
* ‘What would you want to change about your community?’
One group answered, ‘We want to change the macho-ism that exists in our community. There are too many gangs, and fights that lead to nothing.
* and the final question ‘What themes or issues would you want to be included in a video or play about your community?’
‘There is a part of the community that is dedicated to consuming drugs and alcohol. We want to make a drama that shows the effects of their actions on the community.’
All of the groups brought up again and again that drugs, alcohol and gang related violence were the key issues they wanted to express in a play or video based on their community. After this reflection, in the same groups, they created short plays on the above issues. The reflection time allowed them to go deeper into the stories at the heart of the issues, and the improvement in their performance style was apparent compared to the other days.
We ended the workshop with a performance of these scenes, and then a cine-forum showing the lastest videos produced by the Media Project, which was received warmly by the participants. By the end of the workshop the group dynamic was so strong and unified that most did not want to leave and asked when the workshop would happen again. The second phase of the workshop was explained to them, which focuses on working with specific actors and rehearsing for the next series of videos.
By the end of the workshop our goals were achieved, as we now have a sizeable group of actors from the Chongon area who are ready to work with us on the next series of videos. It's going to be great to have people from the community as actors, rather than those from Guayaquil, which we had been using previously. I think its really going to help bring more people to the cine-forums and hopefully allow the forum portion at the end of the screening to be deeper and more reflective with the audience...
Areas to work on...perhaps more reflection time after each game, I tended to do too many games for the time frame we had. I’m also learning about my speed of communicating and its relationship to this culture, or the fact that the youth are totally new to theatre and have no reference point, so often i would find myself speeding ahead, asking them questions they had no connection to, and both the translators and the participants could not follow...even basic games that I use as warm-ups, a lot of hand and ball co-ordination games, are totally foreign here, all the games are using your legs not your hands, and the girls generally dont take part it them, so that was an interesting area for me and to build up the girls confidence. I'm learning how to work slowly and more deeply, and thinking of concrete examples from their world to reiterate a point...that’s one of the new findings for me...more to come...
