Doing Social Theatre. Exercises and Projects [ITA]
A. Rossi Ghiglione e A. Pagliarino, Dino Audino editore, 2007
What does “doing social theater” mean? It means making theater “outside the theater,” that is, in a social context (suburbs of metropolises, disability, school, psychiatry, prison, etc.) with people who do not necessarily have the goal of becoming professional actors, but who find in theater the opportunity to give voice to their creativity, their experiences, their interests, and needs.
This manual is intended as a practical work tool and as an opportunity for methodological reflection in the field of Social Theater, and is aimed at anyone who wishes to approach this type of work or simply those who need to consult a long series of theatrical exercises, commented on and well cataloged. The text is based on the experience of the Master’s Degree in Social and Community Theater promoted by the Faculty of Educational Sciences of the University of Turin. The reader will find an introductory first part divided into two chapters: the first explains what social theater is and how it is done; the second addresses the fundamental issue of conducting the theater workshop in social theater contexts. The second part presents a good number of exercises belonging to the sphere of theatricality, which are presented in the form of easy-to-consult sheets. The corpus of exercises is cataloged according to specific work areas: the body, expression, and dramaturgical creation. In the concluding chapter of the manual, space will be given to the presentation and analysis of two intervention projects in the regional area (Piedmont), exemplifying some classic areas of action of social theater. It will be highlighted how the exercises proposed in the second chapter can be placed within concrete intervention paths in which specific work techniques have been used depending on the context involved.
