A documentary theatre performance.
World premiere.

There are nine of them. They live in Naples. They love theatre. They've auditioned for Sorrentino's films, had roles in Netflix series, and were awarded an Italian Oscar for directing a short film.

Alessandra works in a juice bar, Domenico polishes cars in the family business, Daniela works as a cashier in a pizza restaurant until late at night, Luigi teaches high-school economics, Lorenzo plays football for money, Alessandro is a DJ at a disco. 

They want to stand out, to be the best, to be seen. They want to live their dream. 

Nine young artists from the eastern, poor part of Naples. Nine personal stories in powerful metaphorical images. 

In December 2021, Jana Svobodová arrived at the invitation of the  Fondazione Campania dei Festival, within the framework of the project Quartieri di Vita, to work with young people from the Teatro Nest district in East Naples.

The young artists underwent an "extreme listening" workshop. It is a method that leads artists to independent creation based on the principle of mutual respect. The actors on the stage themselves control the lights and sound, they decide when they will speak. The text was created in the form of interviews with the director and will be performed in the Neapolitan dialect.  

Média

https://fondazionecampaniadeifestival.it/spettacolo/quartieri-di-vita-e-le-universita/

Credits

Concept, director: Jana Svobodová 
Sharing their personal stories and performing on stage: Alessandro Berlino, Luigi Cardone, Luigi D’Amore, Daniela De Vita, Michele Ferrantino, Claudia Fico, Lorenzo Izzo, Alessandra Mantice & Domenico Moccia.

Dramaturgy: Andrea Velotti 
Dramaturgical assistance: Ondřej Hrab 
Lighting and light design: Pavel Kotlík, Desidera Angeloni 
Assistant director: Romana Sekáčová 
Video: Jakub Hrab 
Production: Romana Sekáčová, Carla Borrelli  
Translation, language assistance: Camilla Carol Farias 
Special thanks: Brunella Fusco, Petra Březáčková 

The production was co-produced by the Archa Theatre (Prague), Teatro Nest and  Fondazione Campania dei Festival (Neapol), initiated by the Czech Centre in Rome.
 
Premiere in Naples as part of the  project Quartieri di Vita, at the Teatro Nest on 25 November 2022.

Supported by:

It is said that Inter arma silent musae. But is this really so? Ukrainian artists found themselves in a very difficult situation due to the Russian aggression. We watch the news from the battlefield with horror, and we simply do not hear the artists who are at war. They have lost their audience at home and their voices do not reach us. 

Together with other European cultural organizations, we joined forces with our partner the art centre Jam Factory in L'viv. Its director, Bozhena Zakalyuzhna, invited several Ukrainian writers and playwrights to create new texts that would report on "ordinary lives" in the battered country. 

For the Akcent Festival, we selected a text by young Ukrainian writer Anastasiia Kosodii. 

Eight Short Compositions from the Lives of Ukrainians for a Western Audience is a powerful emotional statement that has a modern form and at the same time deep roots in the Ukrainian cultural tradition. 

For the presentation of this text, Archa chose a very modest production format, so that the stories could be heard on their own right. 

Original text by Anastasiia Kosodii is projected during the performance in Czech and English.

The scenic reading is followed by a debate with the author Anastasiia Kosidii, theatre director and author of the concept Jana Svobodová, creative team and the audience. The debate will be moderated by Henk Keizer.

Henk Keizer is a Dutch expert on site- and social-specific arts and a promoter of participative and collaborative art practices, especially in rural areas. Recently he initiated a new network called A.R.E.A.; Arts in Rural European Areas. Many Ukrainian people found a save place in rural areas. AREA members decided to cooperate with The Jam Factory in Lviv. Anastasiia Kosodiy’s work called “ 8 Short Compositions“ is besides the Archa Theatre in Prague presented in Denmark, the Netherlands and UK, Sweden and other countries will follow. Henk works in the Danish countryside, relates to Elefsina 2023 and gives lectures at the Archa Theatre Summer School. www.network-area.eu

Credits

Text: Anastasiia Kosodii 
Scenic concept: Jana Svobodová 
Co-created and presented on stage by: Sofia Velez, Mariia Kosiichuk, Lotta Karlsonn, Rosa Berman, Amanda Doherty 
Light design: Pavel Kotlík 
Music: Lotta Karlsonn
Assistant director, production: Romana Sekáčová 
English translation: Pavlo Hrytsak 
Czech translation: Miroslav Tomek

The text was created with the support of the Jam Factory Art Center, Lviv as part of the "Untitled Document" theater project. 

Jam Factory Art Center 
https://jamfactory.ua/

An international conference that focuses on how social-specific theatre techniques can be used in education. Experts from France, Serbia, Hungary and the Czech Republic will present their projects, which reflect the different ways in which these tools are implemented in each environment and their communities. European experts will thus meet in an interdisciplinary discussion about this unique field and where it is headed. 

Co-organised with partners of the The What’SAP - Exchange of Social Art Practices  project: ProProgressione (Hungary), Kulturanova (Serbia), Compagnie DK-BEL (France) & Archa Theatre (Czech Republic) .

Conference is open to teachers, artists, university students and those interested in the topic of implementing theatre tools into educational system.

Programme

PART I. (morning session) 

Welcome by Ondřej Hrab / Director of Archa Theare / CZ 
Why is Archa devoted to socially specific theatre.
 
Educational activities of Archa Theatre / Jana Svobodová / CZ 
Introduction of the Centre for documentary and social specific theatre. 
 
Section chair: Intersections that unite us. Theatre For Schools / Jaroslava Swoboda / CZ 
Creative alliance of artists and educators: pedagogical view.
 
Keynote: The Art of Interaction / Ádám Bethenfalvy / Hungary  
The relationship between a piece of theatre and the audience as one of the central questions when discussing socially engaged events. 
 
Keynote: Ministry of Education: Social specific Theatre and Theatre in Czech Education / Jakub Drbohlav / CZ 
Perspective of Czech education Strategy 2030+ and its implementation on socially specific theatre and theatre in education in general. Tools to promote it from the system’s perspective.  
 
Szabi's journey: the journey of one movement / Bridging Distances: Creating closeness / Sandra Maksimović / Serbia  
A teacher in the project. A trainee, a participant and a performer. Observing and thinking about the theatre in education from different perspectives. 
 
Impact of art / Fahima Djouadi / France
On underprivileged youth in French suburb areas    
 
Panel discussion: Status, challenges and future of socially engaged art in Europe  
Panelists: Jana Svobodová, Jakub Drbohlav, Sandra Maksimović, Veronika Vidláková, Fahima Djouadi, Jindřich Krippner 

 
PART II. (Afternoon session) 

What'SAP – Exchange of Social Arts Practices section 
Quick energizer with one of the project trainees 
 
Section chair: Opening of What'SAP section / Barna Petrányi / Hungary 
Our project: a summary. 
 
What’SAP: journey of a socially engaged trainee / Piroska Móga and collect. / ProProgressione / Hungary 
Creating a great community where every participant can ask for help or support whenever needed. 
 
When someone sees the theater for the first time / Uroš Mladenović / Kulturanova / Serbia 
On bringing plays to the schools in rural areas in Serbia and Kosovo. A special experience for an artist. 
 
Challenges of the artistic and methodological process in social specific theatre / Jana Svobodová, Hana Kokšalová / Archa Theatre / CZ 
First hand experience delivered by the Czech artistic team of more than a year long continuous process of working with a group of young vietnamese community.
 
On French creative experience with dance / Sophie Bulbulyan / DK-BEL / France
How professional and handicapped dancers benefit from mutual experience and creation. 
 
Panel discussion led by section chair: Ups and downs in bringing theatre to schools 
Panelists: Jana Svobodová, Olga Králová, Uroš Madenović, Piroska Móga, Uroš Mladenović.  

 
Conclusion

Speakers and panelists profiles:

Adam  Bethlenfalvy
Adam Bethlenfalvy has worked in the field of Theatre in Education as actor, director and trainer in the past two decades in Hungary and the UK. He has also taken part in research activities in the field as one of the founders of InSite Drama, in collaboration with Adam Cziboly. Currently Adam is course director for the Drama in Education teacher training course and Associate Professor at the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, Budapest. His book titled Living Through Extremes in Process Drama was published in 2020. 

Fahima Djouadi
Graduated with a Master's degree in Educational Sciences "Social Action", she currently holds the position of head of the youth center and cross-functional initiatives at the City of Pantin, close to Paris. She leads a multidisciplinary development team and is responsible of five public facilities and a cultural place called “Microfolie”. She coordinates neighborhood projects within the city's social project and synergizes different actors (institutional partners, associations, services municipalities) who work in the field of youth and inter-age in order to energize the potential of the territory. Her various experiences have allowed her to nourish her knowledge, to strengthen her skills, to build a network and to set up various innovative projects both at the scale local and international, using different media (artistic, cultural, leisure, sports, fun, etc.). She was the president of the DK-BEL Company between 2008 and 2016.

Hana Kokšalová 
Hana is a young artist who studies in the Digital Media studio at the Faculty of Art and Design of the University of Warsaw. She works on the border between visual and live performance art. Hana has participated in the What’SAP project as a trainee.

Jakub Drbohlav
Jakub is currently Deputy Director for Management of the Education System at Czech Ministry of Education. He is leading multiple projects implementing “Strategy 2030+”, Czech Republic’s current education strategy, namely Reform of the Initial Teacher Education, History+, project aimed at changing how modern history is taught at Czech schools, and setting up and scaling new program of initial training for headteachers “School Leader.” Before that, Jakub studied theoretical philosophy and worked as a management consultant. 

Jana Svobodová 
Jana graduated from Prague Theatre Academy. As a theatre director Jana Svobodová has focused on projects that are based on cooperation between professional artists and representatives of specific social groups. She worked with refugees, Roma community, citizens of the rural town, inhabitants of the South African townships, hip-hop artists or scientists. Since 2004 she has been focused on the theme of foreigners who are looking for a new home in the Czech Republic. Her projects have been presented at festivals in the Czech Republic as well as in US, Japan, South Africa, Germany, Austria, Poland, Slovenia and other countries. The production Ordinary People she created together with Chinese choreographer Wen Hui was presented at the main program of Festival d’Avignon 2019 and Festival d‘Automne in Paris 2019.  Her latest show Those, who speak for themselves (2021) is based on the authentic stories of twelve young women of different social background.  
Together with Ondřej Hrab she creates the dramaturgical strategy for the Archa Theatre in Prague.
She is the artistic director of the Centre of Documentary and Social Specific Theatre and artistic director of the international festival AKCENT. 

Jaroslava Swoboda 
A lecturer and an educator with more than 20 years of experience. In addition to conducting teacher trainings and „soft skills„ courses in formal and non-formal educational setups she has been involved in several project of Theatre in Education / Drama in Education led by Centre for Documentary and Social Specific Theatre in Archa Theatre in Prague. She is currently researching at the Charles University, and have long been passionate about, the formative influence of theatre and drama in various socio and professional learning environments.

Piroska Móga 
Born in 1990. Actor, director, leader of the independent theater company: Y Group. In her artistic creations, she is constantly looking for what makes a person human, and how we can create a community out of society. Since 2018, she’s been creating and participating in TIE performances, and working with underprivileged youth. Piri is the author of the idea of the What’SAP, and the artistic leader of the project from Hungary. However, she takes herself as a trainee and hopes that she never has to stop learning new ways of art. 

Sandra Maksimovic
Sandra Maksimović is a teacher and drama pedagogue in elementary school and artistic leader of the independent theatre group Kulturociklin. Since 2014. she has been involved in both formal and informal projects of theatre in education and documentary theatre. For her work in implementing creative drama process into classroom she has been awarded as Best educator of Serbia 2020. Work of the group Kulturociklin has been presented as an example of inspiring work at numerous international conferences.
Currently she is the mentor of the “Kulturagora” project whose goal is to empower peer educators and involve them in the community in which they live.

Sophie Bulbulyan 
French choreographer living in between Paris and Athens, Sophie Bulbulyan is the co-founder of the DK-BEL Company. Since it was founded in Villiers-le-Bel in 2004, DK-BEL seeks to promote art to the most vulnerable audiences.
As artistic director she leads DK-BEL's actions around 3 main values:
1.  Artistic creation for ALL and coming together: Developing the social bond
2.  For humanity to be at the heart of all projects: Changing perspectives
3.  To be part of an international network through the sharing of art: Opening up to the world
 
All actions initiated by DK-BEL defend the values of empathy, sharing and kindness, with the aim of having an impact on today's society.  The main focus is on INCLUSION through art.
 In 2015, she was one of the two choreographers of the show "Drops of Breath", the first underwater dance performance in the world, which took place in Greece. 
With DK-BEL, she takes part of many European projects (Creative Europe and ERASMUS PLUS) which allowed DK-BEL to be introduced in European networks around Art and disability.

Uroš Mladenović 
Uroš is an actor and youth worker. He finished the Academy of Arts and he is enrolled in doctoral studies in dramatic and audiovisual arts (Novi Sad). He performs at the Serbian National theater Novi Sad, Bitef theater Belgrade, and various independent productions. Since 2014, he is leading Teleport theater and drama school, dealing with youth artistic education. He is a member of the Association Kulturanova (Novi Sad), as the artistic director and actor/artist. As a drama pedagogue, he is using methodology of documentary theatre for creating youth dialog on social topics (nationalism, loneliness, diversity, alcoholism, forgiveness etc.), especially in small areas, ending with public performances. Laureat Prize for “Little Prince” for outstanding results in the field of drama art.

Veronika Vidláková
I work for non profit organization Centre for the democratic teaching. I am a lecturer of programs and workshops for teachers and students. I do methodological support for teachers and their classes. I also cooperate with another non profit organization – Forum for experiential learning where I co-create and lead workshops for teachers based on experience. I am very interested in personal development and how it can support teachers in their challenging role.  I love to play, to discuss, to go deep and to create safe space for sharing our gifts and experiences. And that is why I love my job:) 

What’SAP - Exchange of Social Art Practices project is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

#WhatSAP #SocialArtPractices #SociallyEngagedArts #ArchaTheatre #Kulturanova #CompagnieDKBel #ProProgressione

The production by the Czech-German association focuses in its original way on the topic of climate change. 

The year is 2500. The research team leads you on an adventurous journey to 2022, a time when dreams have come true... Look with humour five centuries back into the year 2022 and play the role of the inhabitants of the Earth at that time. You have it all and you can have more! A pocket full of junk, a purse, a bag, the living room, the whole house! To have or not to have? Asceticism or dancing on a volcano? Are you innocent victims or ruthless accomplices? What from 2022 will be necessary in ten years, what in five hundred? What's left? Trash or treasure? What about Christmas? Have you bought all your gifts yet? 

Loosely inspired by the Czech cult series Visitors (1986, Ota Hoffman, Jindřich Polák). 

Spielraum Kollektiv is a free theatrical group of creators around Linda Straub and Mathias Straub. They create original productions for the contemporary audience. It mainly focuses on documentary theatre and theatre with ecological themes for adults and on musical material theatre for children. Typical is the search for new possibilities of form and the involvement of the viewer to strengthen the theme, theatrical and non-theatrical interdisciplinarity.

https://spielraumkollektiv.wixsite.com/mysite/home-cs

Credits

Concept: Linda Straub, Jakub Folvarčný, Mathias Straub, Philipp Schenker, Heda Bayer, Teresa Weiser 
Director: Jakub Folvarčný 
Sets and video projections: Mathias Straub 
Costumes: Barbora Burdová 
Performers: Linda Straub, Philipp Schenker, Hana Malaníková 
Music: Myko 
Light design: Patrik Sedlák 

The project is supported by: Czech-German Future Fund, Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Taupunkt e. V., Klub Solitaire e. V., 4+4 Days in Motion, the Archa Theatre and the Prague German Language Theatre Festival, Tandem.

The premiere of the online version was presented by the Akcent Festival during the lockdown on 21 November 2020. 

The premiere of the German version was presented by the Prague German Language Theatre Festival online at the Zábradlí Theatre a week earlier. 

The Useless Things project emerged from the cooperation between Spielraum Kollektiv and Taupunkt e.V. / Off-Bühne Chemnitz and is part of the year-long +3° project, in which Spielraum Kollektiv focuses on the global climate crisis and the main ecological problems associated with it, and looks for different ways of communicating it in artistic form. 

venue map: Pragovka Art District, Kolbenova 923/34 A, Praha 9 – Vysočany

Sound-light installation 

As you walk on the border between an art installation and a theatrical performance, you will enter a forest. The military district of Březina is an area inaccessible to the public, one that is fighting a small but persistent enemy. A small bug that the harvesters' heavy weapons come up against. The landscape is collapsing, becoming alien. Everything must be destroyed without any remains. In the darkness of the forest two foresters try to bring light to a hopeless situation. How do you revive what is dead? Lifeless pieces of old sets become concrete objects, and out of the mosaic of authentic testimonies of the men responsible, who often have opposing views, a story is born. 

concept: Amálie Poledníčková   
light design: Ondřej Zunt, Petr Sychra 
music: Stanislav Pecháč 
performers: Barbora Dolanová, Amálie Poledníčková  
foresters: Radim Maleček, Přemysl Šulc 

Media 

Na cestě ke světlu (k živé instalaci Kůrovec v Divadle Archa) – Pavlína Drnková, podhoubi.cz, 23. 4. 2022 

The production was created as part of the Archa Theatre residency program supported by the EEA and Norway funds. Special thanks: Divadlo na cucky, Olomouc, Jiří Krliš and Richard Andrýsek.  

Supported by:

"We know more about the surface of the moon than about the bottom of the ocean." This statement is often made when talking about the deep sea. Mineral wealth on land is almost exhausted, so mining companies are turning to the ocean. 

The final part of the successful trilogy about mining and extraction, the two previous parts of which were presented at Archa, will take us to mining operations at the bottom of the sea. 

The multimedia performance is an attempt to capture a moment that is perhaps pivotal in Earth's history. How deep can mining companies dig and what do we as human beings really want to dig up? What are the opportunities and what are the risks? What do we get from it? 

In the spring of 2021, three ships gather in a remote location in the Pacific Ocean. One of them belongs to the Belgian mining company DEME-GSR. Four kilometres below the surface, their mining robot dredges the seabed, looking for metal ores. An international team of marine biologists and geologists watches closely from another ship. A third ship completes the fleet: aboard the well-known Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace activists protest against this potential industry of the future. 

From their small flat in Brussels, Silke and Hannes linked these ships via satellite. Each ship's crew represents one pillar of the public debate: industry, science and activism. From the recordings of phone calls, Silke and Hannes gradually piece together an intimate portrait of a new industry that can be both a source of hope and a threat. 

The first and second parts of the trilogy Mining Stories and Pleasant Island were presented by the Archa Theatre in 2019 as part of the 4+4 and Akcent festivals. 

https://silkehuysmanshannesdereere.com

Credits

Created and presented by: Silke Huysmans & Hannes Dereere 
Dramaturgy: Dries Douibi 
Sound mix: Lieven Dousselaere  
External observer: Pol Heyvaert 
Technicians: Korneel Coessens, Piet Depoortere, Koen Goossens & Babette Poncelet  
Production: CAMPO  

Co-production:  Bunker (Ljubljana), De Brakke Grond (Amsterdam), Noorderzon - Festival of Performing Arts and Society (Groningen), Zürcher Theater Spektakel (Zürich), Beursschouwburg & Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), PACT Zollverein (Essen), Théâtre de la Ville (Paris) & Festival d'Automne à Paris 

Supported by:

In this piece, Bert and Nasi dance the end of their relationship, imagining what a future without each other migt look like. Above the stage, and projected onto a screen, two parallel narratives run alongside each other: the of the earth and the end of their collaboration. In the vein of their previous work it is a poignant, sad, and funny account of the ongoing ecological crisis. Their dance is a reminder and a celebration of our own mortality and that of everything around us.

"Time unravels and stretches on into infinity, but the end has never seemed closer". Lyn Gardner, Stagedoor
“Both insistently silly and unreservedly heart-rending” Guardian ****
"like shaking your muscles out, like a long-waited exhale of a show", Ava Wong Davies, Exeunt

WINNER Total Theatre Award for Judge's Discretionary Award 2019 
WINNER Be Festival's Audience's Award 2019

Credits

Bertrand and Nasi are two performance makers who met in 2015.
Devising projects in an age of austerity, their work is stripped right back and sits somewhere between live art and theatre, but if you held them against a wall they would probably say it's theatre.
In 2020, they were awarded with the Forced Entertainment Award in memory of Huw Chadbourn.

https://bertandnasi.com/

Supported by: