4.1.7. Challenging Theatre

4.1.7.

Type Objectives

Duration Group size Materials Description Challenging Theatre

Theatre, group discussion -Realising how stereotypes can guide your way of thinking and lead us in wrong conclusions; - Reflect in the total knowledge and tools that participants gained through the whole sessions; - Enhancement of critical thinking and ways of communication.

40min 15-20 participants Printed materials Facilitators spend 2 minutes to explain the scripts of the theatres without revealing their content. There are 2 different scripts that are given:. ● Cultural Shock A group of European people move to a Muslim capital, afraid of the culture they will have to be in due to the western media representation of Muslim countries. During Ramadan, they listen to the Mosque every day and cannot sleep properly. They cannot find a place to eat lunch before dusk. They decide to have a meeting with the local governing body to resolve their cultural differences. Present us in a small theatrical play the meeting based on the above script. [Half of the group are Europeans and the other half the local Muslim representatives.] ● Corporate Takeover A big corporation wants to invest and build their factory in your village. The residents of the village do not know if they want the factory since they have a great clean river and a big forest around it. Before the meeting with the corporation's representatives, they are looking on the web for details of the factory. Present us in a small theatrical play the meeting based on the above script. [Half of the group are villagers and the other half representatives of the corporation.]

Facilitators ask each participant to choose one of the two theatres and to create two teams. Each team is asked to implement the sketch in the way they think is more suitable to show the problem/case based on the

Debriefing & Reflection

Learning outcomes

instructions that they have received from the facilitators. The participants are given 15 minutes to discuss in their groups and to prepare a small theatrical sketch. After each presentation, questions that may have risen are answered. After both theatrical presentations are over there is reflection and discussion taking place in order for the participants to express their thoughts on the activity and to see how media literacy is being used in the given cases. When the participants have discussed this, the facilitator encourages them to move to more open questions and motivate sharing for the conclusion. How did you choose the way in which you communicate? Was your acting based on stereotypes, if yes why? Would research on the web make you act in the same way? Could you see in the theatrical actions things that we were focusing on the session? Social and civic competences: Improving critical thinking and emphasising on the importance of justice, diversity and inclusion and available channels of pursuing them. Familiarise with the ways stereotypes affect decision making.

Cultural awareness and expression: Putting oneself in the cultural context of another group shall familiarise them with different perceptions and stereotypes and increase empathy and understanding.

Additional comments

Resources

Learning to learn: putting oneself in the position of another person and acting accordingly, broadens perception about other people’s understanding of things. For the activity to be successful, the group needs to pay attention to the given script and not to get side-tracked from it in order to stay on the topic. They will also need to manage their time in order to create the theatre in a way that will better express their thoughts. "World's Future in Your Actions", Andreea-Loredana Tudarache, A.R.T Fusion Association, 2017