Last December, a team from Concordia University in Montreal had undergone a 3 week workshop with us on Street Theatre. The objective was to learn Street Theatre skills and to be able to use this as a tool in community development in Montreal. The challenges that the community faces there is the third world migrant labour who live in ghetto-like conditions and who have not been integrated into Canadian society. The University under the leadership of Edward Little had embarked on this humanitarian journey.
The workshop was a very exciting process for us as well as the participants. We started it with the screening of some exciting film documentaries sourced from various parts of the globe. The common theme in the films was Human Rights. This was then followed by intensive theatre sessions. We had two different Street Theatre directors to give two perspectives to Street Theatre. Yasmine and Ashok fitted the bill perfectly. Yasmine with her background in Colombian Theatre and Ashok who also has varied international experience guided the students in two Street Theatre presentations. The participants were also involved in a theatre installation and a field trip which involved watching a village Street Theatre group in action.
The entire experience culminated with a series of performances in urban as well as rural settings. Once they went back, the Canadian group assimilated all their learnings and started working in right earnest. Currently they are in the process of performing in the Park Extension area of Montreal. It will be interesting to see how this process develops for the community there.
– Rajesh.P.I
Let's act better 