CREATIVE TOOLS for INCLUSION 

THEATRE of the EMPOWERED

at the Irish CT&ID Center

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​Applied drama is an empowering participatory adult learning method for social change, mobilizing communities to take collective action for positive development. 

In Irish Creative Training & Innovative Development Center we are developing various applied drama learning methods for migrant and refugee integration, seeking to maximize migrant`s participation and empowerment.

Based on the Pedagogy of the Oppressed of Paolo Freire and the Theatre of the Oppressed of the famous Brasillian director Augusto Boal, we developed the method of "Theatre of the Empowered".

This method has been adopted by Bo Maria Daskalova and is based on the concept of Augusto Boal`s "Theatre of the Oppressed", turning the passive spectator into an active spectACTor, who is in a position to change the outcome of the drama with his/her-own actions.

In the Irish Creative Training & Innovative Development Center we employ this empowering experience of the applied drama in order to go beyond the emotional catharsis of the classical drama. Our "Theatre of the Empowered" leads to a social catharsis, where the Oppressed are turned into Empowered in search for personal growth and community cohesion. 

Our positive experience with the "Theatre of the Empowered" (promoting active participation of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers) shows how the methods of Paulo Freire and Augusto Boal could be applied to impact more widely the individuals’ inclusion beyond the workshop sessions, increasing the long-term impact of a time-bound pedagogical project on both migrants and the host communities in Ireland and all over Europe.