STREET STORIES

Street stories educate children through theatre which is achieved through direct work with children from various ethnic background.

Eight (8) groups of children with mixed ethnic composition, work within the framework of the project ”Street Stories”. The groups are located in 4 cities in the Republic of Macedonia (4 groups in Skopje, 2 groups in Debar, 1 group in Tetovo and 1 group in Kumanovo).

Almost 200 children from various ethnic background and proportional gender representation are involved in all the groups.

Partners of the project are:

• the Ministry of Education
• the primary schools attended by the children which also provide the facilities for work (Debar, Kumanovo and Tetovo)
• cultural centres
• children’s parents
• teachers

The following is the dynamic of the activities:

• contacting the Ministry of Education
• contacting the schools
• selecting the children
• forming of a compact group
• collecting stories
• elaborating the stories through theatre games
• elaborating the stories in a form of a play
• producing the stories in a form of a theatre performance
• presenting the performance

The project ”Street Stories” gives the children possibility to learn about the theatre and in the same time, to respect other cultures, languages and ways of living through improvisations, various theatre games which help a compact group to be created, debates on different issues especially on contrasts (rural-urban, church-mosque, etc.), collecting stories from their nearest environment which later, with the help of the artistic coordinators, are put on stage as a final product, that is produced as a play whose authors, directors, stage and costume designers are the children themselves.

Street Stories in a positive manner influence the development of the awareness of the children through theatre.