SMASHING TIMES

DONEGAL
Smashing Times Theatre Company with support from Donegal CDB Peace and Reconciliation Partnership are delighted to announce an innovative new project called Acting for Change. The project uses drama and theatre activities in Donegal to engage participants from a cross-border and cross-community perspective, bringing people together to explore themes that are a consequence of the conflict in Northern Ireland and the Southern Border counties. This project is supported by the EU’s PEACE III Programme and managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by Donegal County Council and part-financed by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund through the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation. As part of this project Smashing Times are working in collaboration with a range of organisations including the Irish Peace Centres, the Mid-Ulster Women’s Network, the Balor Arts Centre, Ballybofey and Plain Speaking Community Theatre, Omagh. As part of this project we are conducting a series of workshops (see below), a professional theatre performance and a one-day seminar.

Ten Storytelling Workshops through Drama to encourage the sharing of people’s experiences of the legacy of conflict and to promote peace and reconciliation with cross-community and cross-border participation.

The workshops are conducted by professional theatre artists from Smashing Times Theatre Company and are open to all. Participants do not need to have any previous knowledge of drama. Each drama workshop is two-and-a-half to three hours long and explores issues around reconciliation, equality, anti-racism and anti-sectarianism, such as what underpins stereotypes and myths about ‘the other’. Exploration is through active participation in theatre exercises and improvisations using the creative, participative and experiential processes of drama. Adults and young people develop a stronger awareness of the issues through a quality arts experience.

Interested In Taking Part?
Smashing Times Theatre Company would like to hear from individuals, schools and communities interested in taking part in this project. If you are interested in having a workshop take place in your local school or community or in attending and participating in the One-Day Seminar or attending the performances and post-show discussions please contact:

Freda Manweiler,
E: freda@smashingtimes.ie
T: +353 (0) 1 865 6613
M: +353 (0) 87 221 4245

Friday 14 January 2011, 9.30am to 4.30pm
Regional Cultural Centre,
Cove Hill, Port Road, Letterkenny, Co Donegal
T: +353 (0) 74 912 9186
W: www.regionalculturalcentre.com

As part of Acting for Change in Donegal the company are running a one-day seminar. The seminar is a cross-community, cross-border and cross-cultural day of exploration and celebration and increases opportunities for participating groups to link and develop joint strategies through workshops, discussions and networking. The day features an improvised collage performance on themes of reconciliation and equality. As part of the preparation for the seminar if your group is interested in developing cross-community and cross-border links with other groups in addition to attending the seminar please contact Freda Manweiler (see above).

Freda Manweiler,
E: freda@smashingtimes.ie
T: +353 (0) 1 865 6613
M: +353 (0) 87 221 4245

Smashing Times Theatre Company, in collaboration with the Irish Peace Centres, are delighted to announce an innovative new project called Acting for Change. This project is part-funded through the EU’s PEACE III Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body. The project consists of 16 drama workshops – eight to promote anti-racism and eight to promote anti-sectarianism - to be conducted with schools, youth groups and communities in Armagh, Newry and Mourne, Banbridge and Craigavon. This project is part-financed by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund through the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation (PEACE III) managed by the Special EU Programmes Body.

The workshops, conducted by professional theatre practitioners from Smashing Times Theatre Company in association with programme workers from the Irish Peace Centres/Corrymeela Community, aim to use drama to break down silences and raise awareness of and address issues surrounding racism and sectarianism. The workshops will take place in areas including those experiencing economic disadvantage and interface areas.

The awareness-raising participative drama workshops are very accessible and informative as participants do not need to have any previous knowledge of drama and are open to all those interested in taking part. Each drama workshop is two and a half to three hours long and offers an introduction to issues around racism and sectarianism exploring for example what underpins stereotypes and myths about ‘the other’. Exploration is through active participation in theatre exercises and improvisations using the creative, participative and experiential processes of drama. Adults and young people develop a stronger awareness of the issues through a quality arts experience.

Smashing Times Theatre Company would like to hear from schools and communities interested in taking part in this project. If you are interested in having a workshop take place in your local school or community please contact

Freda Manweiler freda@smashingtimes.ie
or 00 353 1 8656613 or mobile 00 353 87 2214 245.

Smashing Times Theatre Company hosts national and international theatre workshops for artists and studio workshops in the Stanislavski System of Actor Training on a regular basis. For further information contact Freda Manweiler at 01 8656613 or email: freda@smashingtimes.ie

INTERNATIONAL THEATRE ARTISTS WORKSHOPS
As part of our work to engage with international theatre artists, in April 2009 Smashing Times Theatre Company worked with theatre practitioner Chrissie Poulter of the Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College, to bring to Ireland the Brazilian/French theatre artist and facilitator Julian Boal so that he could provide training and inspiration for Irish Artists.

The workshops were presented as part of the Prometheus Project developed by Chrissie Poulter, Samuel Beckett Theatre, TCD using materials from The Aesthetics of the Oppressed by Augusto Boal, and was organised by Smashing Times Theatre Company and presented in association with Smashing Times Theatre Company and Focus Theatre. The training was organised by Smashing Times as part of its commitment to the ongoing training of theatre artists and to support those who wish to engage the process of theatre making in the context of contemporary life in Ireland.

A Three Day International Theatre Artists Workshop titled Hamlet and the Baker’s Son conducted by Julian Boal on Monday April 5th 2-6pm, Tuesday April 6th 4 7pm and Wednesday April 7th 2009 at the Samuel Beckett Theatre, TCD and attended artists and teachers.

A Public Interview with Julian Boal in conversation with Chrissie Poulter, Tuesday 7th April, 1pm to 2pm, at the Abby Theatre, Dublin, exploring how we can use the work of Theatre of the Oppressed in Ireland today, presented as part of the Prometheus Project. The talk with Julian Boal was chaired by Chrissie Poulter as part of the Man to Man series of talks at the Abbey Theatre and Julian spoke about how artists can use the work of Theatre of the
Oppressed in today’s world particularly in times of recession.

Public Performance with participants from the Three Day Workshop with Julian Boal to demonstrate some of the techniques of the Prometheus Project and to pass on ideas to the wider public, and held on Thursday 8th April, 11am to 1pm, at the Samuel Beckett Theatre, TCD. To end the week this was an open discussion where the public were invited to attend the final day of the drama workshop programme and to witness a selection of the work developed by the participants who took part in the training and to ask questions of the participants and Julian himself with the aim of passing on information and techniques from the Prometheus Project.

‘Night is falling on the world. So what are we to do? Remain Silent? I have sincere respect for those artists who dedicate their lives exclusively to their art – it is their right or their condition but I prefer those who dedicate their art to life . . .Our taking of a theoretical position and our concrete actions should arise not because we are artists but because we are human beings’ Augusto Boal, The Aesthetics of the Oppressed

Overall this project provided an opportunity for artists based in Ireland to engage directly with an international theatre artist of a high calibre and provided the opportunity for artists to develop new skills in professional theatre practise re Theatre of the Oppressed techniques, skills that are relevant for artists working in the area of theatre and social engagement.

Julian Boal is the son of Augusto Boal, the world famous Brazilian theatre director and founder of Theatre of the Oppressed who sadly passed away recently. Smashing Times was delighted and very pleased to be involved with bringing Julian to Ireland for the four-day programme of workshops and talks which were held in Dublin’s Abbey Theatre and Trinity College. A main focus of the workshop programme was to explore Legislative Theatre practise as well as exploring how different techniques of Theatre of the Oppressed help develop a dialogue between spectators – (those who watch and take action), and between people and their government (be that national or local, school, employer etc.