Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe

2006-2007 - National youth network of theater and discussion clubs “Citizens of Europe” 1

Build a network from 7 youth club in Bulgaria for conducting non-formal civic education among their peers

With the support of Trust for civil society in CEE

Where?

In the cities of Zlatograd, Gotse Delchev, Blagoevgrad, Veliko Tarnovo, Gorna Oryahovitsa, Targovishte, Sofia

When?

September.2006 - October.2007

What?

Activities:

  • Meetings with the local community in each of the seven cities to provide project support.
  • One-week training in forum theater, journalist and project writer 150 young people and educators. Printing a manual for practical work of young volunteers
  • Conducting a survey to determine the most exciting local youth social topic
  • Building a forum theatrical performance on this topic
  • Issuance of advertising and information materials to each club; appearances in the local media
  • Overview of the youth clubs in Plovdiv with performances in front of the local audience - May, 2007
  • Dissemination of youth forum theatrical performances.
  • Youth Social Theater Festival “Now” - Sofia, sept. 2007

 

Specific measurable results:

  • 150 young people and youth educators,trained in forum-theatrical skills
  • Handbook of the young trainer
  • Respondents on average 100 their peers from the city to define the most painful youth problems
  • Advertising materials of youth clubs
  • Media appearances
  • 7 built youth forum theatrical performances
  • 60 youth forum theatrical performances in front of more than 6000 the spectator-participants

Except in their cities, the young people performed in Petrich, Sandanski, Simitli, Kresna, Zlataritsa, Gabrovo, Smolyan, Indigenous people, Dryanovo and Batak, and in Plovdiv and Sofia all clubs showed their theatrical production.

Community assessment:

Our actors became stars, in front of which the spectators are waiting in line for an autograph! At the discretion of their teachers, professional theater performances have not had such a strong impact on their graduates as that of the youth forum theater performances. As a result of the implemented project, the young participants and their leaders, were invited to participate in the projects of other local NGOs. The media are responsive to these attractive youth performances. Parents and teachers appreciate the positive change, occurred in their children

Is it applicable?

“This type of training module is very interesting and different, at the same time accessible and naturally fascinating I felt great. Loaded, satisfied, real living, filled with positive emotions. Meetings and sections were the most emotional thing of my life; The game together brought the rainbow into the gray everyday life… Every day was infinitely colorful”

 

Possibility for multiplication

The project proves, that the idea works. We would like it to be realized on a national scale; one of the forms of extracurricular activities in every school; an integral part of the activity of any school or community center theater staff

On 27.06.2008 the project was awarded with first prize in

National Competition Major ’07

of the Oil Centernormal education as the most successful youth project of the year

We play with the Flower Theater

Maya KISOVA , CAPITAL, 22.12.2006

Whether it is a question of pedagogical adequacy or another confirmation of the theories of cyclicity, but adolescence always requires special attention. The desire for independence and not always the right choice of direction are the same for all generations, and we all know the provocations - sects, traffic, drugs, communication problems due to the powerful penetration of virtual reality…
Twelve years already the team of Flower Theater, directed by the director Tsvete Yaneva, is a real mediator in the social and educational sphere. Interactive art and drama techniques imply flexibility and efficiency in establishing and perceiving values. Why? First of all, direct didactics is avoided. Next - the scenario approach is millimeters from the real situation. And the main goal is to turn young people from passive viewers into active participants.
What does one of their performances look like?? One of the topics of their latest project "National Network of Youth Theater and Discussion Clubs" Citizens of Europe " is the prevention of human trafficking. Pantomime sketches present the situation, which pushes a 15-year-old girl to the wrong step. Poverty of parents, tense atmosphere, deceptive job posting, bad advisers in the face of pseudo-girlfriends, naivety and not long after - prostitution abroad, violence, destruction of personality. Immediately after the show the joker Polyxena Kostova vigorously engages the audience in a discussion, but commenting on the wrong steps does not exhaust the desire to participate. The bravest take the stage and "Correct" the situation, to change the line of action. How, for example, a father can express his difficult emotional state from this, that he has been unemployed for several months? Should his low self-esteem necessarily lead to a scandal?? Isn't it better for the painful silence in front of the worn-out clothes of the grown girl to flow out in a conversation of mutual understanding?? Aren't parents the best advisors in the choice, if the young person wishes to work outside school hours? The eighty minutes pass imperceptibly, and the atmosphere never repeats itself.
Similar performances Flower Theater organized in Blagoevgrad, Veliko Tarnovo, Gorna Oryahovitsa, Gotse Delchev, Smolyan, Sofia and Targovishte. They became an occasion for the formation of theater-discussion clubs from 15-20 youth and local supervisors. The project is under the patronage of Trust for Civil Society in Central & Eastern Europe. The theater encourages these clubs to contact each other and exchange experiences. Their goal is to study and formulate the informal local social situation. And this will probably be an occasion for a new script and a new show…
What could be better than that?

 

Flower Theater invites you to the Festival of Youth Social Theater

On 20 September 2007, from 14.30 in Sredets House of Culture, Sofia is opening AGORA YOUTH SOCIAL THEATER FESTIVAL, final stage of the project National Youth Network of Citizens of Europe Theater and Discussion Clubs, initiated by the NGO "Flower Theater" and realized in seven cities of Bulgaria thanks to the kind support of the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe

We invite everyone, which are related to the education of young people in Bulgaria to participate in the work of the Round Table on the topic "Civic education", with which the event begins.

Immediately after it in the theater hall the forum theatrical performances of the participants begin. Created by young people on issues of concern to their peers, the performances were distributed in the respective cities in order to motivate the youth activity in resolving them and to draw the public's attention to them..

You can see:

On 20 September from 15.30

* "Invisible violence" - city. Blagoevgrad . For forced communication in the family and at school.
* «When you are 14» - city. Gotse Delchev For the soullessness.

On 21 September from 10.30

* "Clear" - city. Targovishte About the connection between the garbage in the park and the purity of the soul
* "Voice" - city. Veliko Tarnovo On domestic violence

On 21 September from 14.30

* «Entertainment - where?» - city. Gorna Oryahovitsa Problems for municipal authorities and youth
* "Traffic" - city. Zlatograd For human trafficking

On 22 September from 10.30

* "I want attention!» - city. Sofia About family problems
* "From the diary of life" - Theater Studio "Bell", Sofia For the price of the choice

The project is an attempt to create a model for conducting informal civic training on the approach «Peers train peers». The opinion of students and educators is very important to us.

WE ARE EXPECTING YOU!

Admission is free