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Palestinian-German Dialogue between theatre and theatre pedagogues continues

Between May, 9th and 16th 2015 the Palestinian-German Network Mashrah Theatre. Net met in Ramallah and Bethlehem to exchange views and experiences on theatre and theatre pedagogic in Germany and Palestine and promote mutual projects like co-productions, symposia, exchanges of students, pupils and teachers as well as guest performances.

The German part of the network was invited to the festival “Theatre of the Oppressed” which was organized by the Ashtar Theatre, Ramallah.  Klaus Hoffmann, Hannover, chairman of the “Arbeitskreis Kirche und Theater” of the protestant church, Germany (Committee Church and Theatre in the evangelical church), Professor Dr. Florian Vaßen, co-editor of the magazine “Zeitschrift für Theaterpädagogik Korrespondenzen“, Bettina Tonscheidt,  Frankfurt, drama teacher und member of the Landesverband Schultheater Hessen (State association for drama at schools in Hessen), Jörg Meyer, Lingen, lecturer and representative for the theatre pedagogy  course at the  Institute for theatre-pedagogics at the university of Osnabrück und the student of theatre pedagogy, Nina Hensel.

In Ramallah the group witnessed performances according to Augusto Boals forum-theatre, took part in workshops and discussed about the expectations for theatre and theatre-pedagogy in the given social contexts.

The network, founded in 2010, met at the Dar Al Kalima University College of Arts and Curlture in Bethlehem and discussed the results of the cooperation up to now and how to improve and intensify working together. For future acitivities a team of coordinators was nominated, represented by Iman Aoun (Ashtar Theater), Sameh Hijazi (Kalima College), Klaus Hoffmann (AK church and theatre) und Andreas Poppe (Institute for Theatre pedagogy, Lingen).

A decisive step in establishing a bachelor-course for theatre pedagogy at the Dar Al Kalima University College of Arts and Culture was taken which lays  the foundation for future exchange programs.

The Palestinian side was represented by Iman Aoun and Edward Muallem, head of the Ashtar Theatre of Ramallah, Mohamed Issa, head of the Yes Theater in Hebron, Marina Barham, head of the Al-Harah Theaters in Beit-Jala, Sameh Hijazi of the Dar Al Kalima University College of Arts and Culture and Rami Khader, head of the Divar Dance Theatre in Bethlehem. The Goethe Institut was represented by head Laura Hartz und the program coordinator Furat Ibrahim.

Further information about the network which has already promoted numerous Palestinian-German projects you can find on www.masrah-theater.net, www.ashtar-theatre.org, www.theaterundkirche.de und on Facebook.

German contact: Klaus Hoffmann - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.