5th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ABOUT THEATRE/DRAMA

AND REPRESENTATIVE ARTS IN EDUCATION

&
REGIONAL CONVENTION OF INTERNATIONAL
DRAMA/THEATRE &EDUCATION ASSOCIATION-IDEA

“Theatre as a social intervention-

Creation of a volunteers’ network in Syros”

“Theatre in education: creating new roles in the 21st

century”

Athens 17, 18, 19 March 2006

 “THEATRE AS A SOCIAL INTERVENTION-
CREATION OF A VOLUNTEERS’ NETWORK IN SYROS

Miltos Sakellariou, Heartener of the theatrical group “Thiseas

Kykladon”, Prevention Counsellor of Centre “Thiseas Kykladon”.
Introduction

The philosophy of Prevention and, especially, of the

Prevention Centre that I work for, for the last eight years
approximately, comes out of the belief that community is the
institution which can contribute in the most convenient way to the
decrease of the use of psycho drastic substances.
The matter of confronting the problem of psycho drastic
substances with addictive properties, which conventionally are
established as “drugs”, is nowadays an important problem with
serious consequences in Greece. It is clear that the available social
mechanisms of control and relief are insufficient for the
confrontation of the problem, so the need for this confrontation
always exists. The efforts of social policy that focus on the
“decrease of demand” lay special emphasis on the matter of
Prevention.
The problem of using substances is complicated concerning
both its reasons and its confrontation. By extension, a basic
principle of Prevention interventions is that they must look on an
individual as a “Whole”, as an unbreakable biological and
psychosocial ensemble. They also have to approach people in a way
harmonised with the special needs of each population-target,
diversified as they are, not only concerning their social and
demographical characteristics, but also concerning their social and
cultural environment.
A modern Prevention policy, by confronting the reasons of
addiction confronts at the same time other social problems too,
which have to do with mental and body health. To this effect, the
Prevention Centre places its function amongst a wide social policy
which promotes health and strengthens those mechanisms that
forward self-esteem, social responsibility, volunteerism, the
development of personality and of personal abilities and, finally, the
promotion of wellbeing.
The prevention Programmes intend to generate chain, multiplicative
reactions, so as to create prevention nucleuses, volunteers’
nucleuses in the local community.
The Prevention Centre, according to what is mentioned above,
intervenes mainly with long-drawn-out, many-faceted, locally
orientated programmes in particular population-targets (parents’
training groups, educators’ groups, adolescents’ groups). For each
population-target there is particular training-sensitising framework,
considering their needs dictated by their role, their evolutionary
development period etc.
However, in life these population-targets coexist in the
community, at school, in family. This means that all interventions
about the improvement and the change of the present, non-
satisfying situation could have this direction. We need to think of
the population-targets as a complicated, particularly interesting
system, in which the way these populations relate and interact,
either at school or in family, is based on orders and directions from
top (parents, educators) to bottom (adolescents). This idea echoes
reality, which rests on control and adolescents’ discipline, and turns
a blind eye to communication. The Systemic approach about the
function of living systems does not agree with this rationale (Briggs-
Peat). Besides, more and more researchers and scientists point out
that communication, interaction and composing approach are the
essential objects in the post-industrial period.
Thinking about all these things, we wanted to discover
common points where people sensitised by the Prevention Centre
(parents, educators and adolescent students) could coexist in mixed
training groups, in mixed groups of volunteers. For the last three
years in Syros we have tried to make out the conditions that the
mixed groups would function on, by creating a mixed theatrical
group, a mixed walking group and, finally, the four-day festival of
parents’-adolescents’-educators’ coexistence, organised in Syros for
the last three years.

The stages of the programmes realisation are schematically:

 Stage 1
Plan of action made by
the scientific group of the
Prevention Centre -
Responsibilities
Stage 3
Creation of mixed groups
of parents, educators and
adolescents

Stage 4
Stage 2 Presentation to the
Training of parents’, community
educators’ and -Theatrical play
adolescents’ groups -Chroussa Festival

EVALUATION

The process of the mixed groups’ creation is analytically:

A. ADOLESCENTS

Totally eleven groups of pupils from Syros and Tinos, from 2003
to 2005, realised Health Education Programmes with the
educational material “Finding my feet” and “Adolescents’
discussions” of the Scientific University Institute of Mental Health.
They also realised some innovative activities (the pupils’ magazine
“Complete Ignorance”, summer groups, walking groups).
In 2003-2004 two adolescents’ groups, from the 1st High School
of Syros and from the High School of Tinos, finishing the
programme sessions, decided to cooperate and through common
sessions in both islands they stamped the processes of their groups
by publishing the school magazine “Complete Ignorance”.
This cooperation led to the creation of a space of interaction and
discussion, not only for these adolescents, but also for all the pupils
of the Cyclades, since, financed by Thiseas, the magazine was
printed and delivered at the secondary schools and the high schools
of the prefecture (access to the magazine “Complete Ignorance”:
www.thiseaskyklades.gr, periodically).
In addition, in 2004-2005 worked five walking groups of
adolescents, of educators-co-ordinators trained by the Prevention
Centre, and parents. Seventy-five pupils from the 1st and the 3rd
Secondary Schools of Syros and from the High School Of Tinos
joined the programme. During the programme “Walking on my
island’s paths-Discovering myself”, the adolescents were given the
chance, through team work and while walking on the paths of their
island, to discover themselves, to get trained on self-development
dexterities and to relate with their teachers and their parents in a
new way. The special thing about the sessions was that they were
adapted to outdoor conditions, taking advantage of the nature’s
stimuluses. The parents have been the backers of the programme.
The two summer adolescents’ groups (2003 and 2004 in
Syros) were trained with a programme called “Travelling in the
Aegean Sea and in life”, adapted on the summer island
environment. During sessions of ten weeks, they worked on sailing
and sea-travelling dexterities, as well as on dexterities useful for
“life-travelling”. As it was planned from the beginning and
everybody had agreed, the one group realised a trip by small boat
and camped on an isolated beach of Syros for two days. During
these two days, the youths were given the chance to apply their
sailing knowledge on practice on one hand, and to participate in
self-preservation activities and in an appreciation of the whole effort
on the other hand.

B. PARENTS

There have been six parents’ groups in Syros, from the Parents’
Associations of the secondary schools of Syros. Those parents’
children have participated in adolescents’ groups with three circles
of education (ten two-hour sessions in each circle) about the
subjects: communication within family, limits, stages of the family
and social changes, personal differentiation and change, wellbeing-
relating.

C. EDUCATORS

Four groups of educators functioned in total, from the secondary

and the high schools of Syros, with three training circles (eight two-
hour sessions in each circle), whose subjects were: communication
at school, school and family, mental and sentimental health at
school.

D. MIXED GROUPS - MIXED THEATRICAL GROUP

 Through these parents’, educators’ and adolescents’ groups,
whose training I was responsible for, a mixed theatrical group of
script writing was created in Syros in 2003-2004, with trained
parents, educators and adolescents, who wrote through group
processes a theatrical play called “The Slap”.
The object of the coexistence in the mixed group was to examine
the difficulties in the communication among them and possibly to
outline those changes that would ameliorate their relations. And to
stamp all these in a theatrical play.
After an incident given to the group (a slap from a teacher to a
pupil), the members of the mixed group started negotiating it
according to each one’s role. The process was based on turning to
account the small group, whose members would be able to express
feelings, ideas and thoughts. The participation of each member in
the group’s processes by incarnating roles and inner voices and by
sharing personal experiences and feelings with the small group,
gave to the plenary session the chance to compose the theatrical
play. The past training of the members of the group with parents’,
educators’ and adolescents’ seminars has been favourable, because
we had worked on subjects concerning communication at school
and in family, concerning conflicts, the resolution of conflicts, an
adolescent’s dexterities in the 21st century, negotiation, stages of
the family and social changes, triangles within family, personal
differentiation and change (twenty two-hour sessions).
Next year (in April 2005) the mixed theatrical group undertook
and staged the theatrical play at the Apollon Theatre of Syros with
great success. Through the rehearsals and the preparation of the
performance, the mixed theatrical group had a fertile and creative
winter, unprecedented for everyone.
The play starts with a short (two-minute) video presenting in a
lively way the traditional school, the pupils’ boredom and desk
teaching. The pupils’ reaction, the throwing of a book on Mr
Papadopoulos’s head by his pupil Peter, sets off a conflict at school.
Mr Papadopoulos, the teacher, slaps the pupil who has thrown the
book on his head and the Teachers Society together with the
Principal expels Peter. The expulsion leads Peter’s classmates to
prepare a school sit-in, while Peter’s parents, having learnt about
the slap incident, go to school and threaten that they will bring a
charge to the teacher who used force. The catharsis comes through
the teacher’s factual apology in front of Peter, which brings peace at
school. The crisis in Peter’s motivates the parents’ couple to
redefine their relationship and, of course, the relationship with their
son. The system-school is finally led to changes, according to which
pupils, educators and parents search for new ways of
communication and coexistence. The performance finishes with the
presentation of an eight-minute video, where this change appears
through real activities realised at schools of Syros in cooperation
with Thiseas Kykladon Prevention Centre, introducing a new,
experiencing way of teaching, with the stimulus of the island paths,
which pupils, parents and educators walk on and discover, while
being sensitised on environment and ecology matters.
This cooperation between children whose ages begin from fourteen
years old and parents and educators older even forty years has
been something that made us all full of emotion and joy.

D. CHROUSSA FESTIVAL

The meeting of all these groups took place at the Chroussa

Festival, a new institution in Syros, which has been established for
the last three years as a point of meeting and communication
among parents, children and educators.
The camp at Chroussa is a traditional cluster of buildings
surrounded by a fenced farm of fantastic scenic beauty,
administered by the Benevolent Society of Syros. Chroussa lies
quite far from inhabited settlements. After a decision of the
Municipal Council, the camp was allotted to Thiseas kykladon for as
many days as wanted, so we were able to use exclusively all its
facilities for our activities.
The four-day living together at the camp in Chroussa and the
activities planned created a completely new encounter. Experience
workshops of mixed groups brought adults and children even closer.
June 2004: The adolescents present the pupils’ magazine
“Complete Ignorance” to the parents and the educators that
participate in the festival.
June 2005: Presentation of the theatrical play “The Slap”.
Presentation of the paths programme in the community within the
bounds of the festival.
The experience of last summer surpassed all expectations. 102
trained persons participated in total, 57 adolescents from Syros and
Tinos, 35 parents and 11 educators, as well as the theatrical group
of Thiseas, who camped under the pine-trees and undertook in
common their self-preservation. They cooked, they played, they
sang, they lived, they shared the experience of making possible and
realising the dream for another way of life and communication.

APPRECIATION

Finally, during the appreciation, everybody declared that they

lived a signal experience, that they felt they were able to
communicate for the first time with parents, teachers and
adolescents respectively, that they wish the continuance of this
activity. This is clearly stamped by the texts written at the closing of
the four-day festival.
“We found a little time, while packing and before taking the
way home, to express our feelings concerning the meeting realised
among parents, educators and children at the Chroussa Camp. We
have chosen this moment, when our feelings are still “fresh”, before
having been settled in us, before we elaborate and filter them. We,
the children, at first felt curiosity and hopefulness about the
meeting. It was something completely new for us. We would make
such conversations with parents for the first time. We would
exchange opinions and thoughts with the. Although previously we
didn’t know each other, we had common apprehensions and
questionings. The parents we found were not very different from
those we left at home. We think that they have the same beliefs
and intentions for their children. The first discussion helped us
understand each other in general terms and to break the ice very
soon. The messages we exchanged were important and optimistic.
The generation gap exists, but there is at the same time a way of
communication between us. The taste left in the end was sweet,
crystal, full of tender feelings”.
“During the whole programme, each one separately we
obtained some basic principles and we managed to become better
listeners and to learn the substantial meaning of the word
“independence”. We managed to find our feet and to improve the
relations between us. We achieved a new level of communication,
which helps us get closer, to realise the importance of every single
moment of being together with people we love and of doing things
that please us. We learnt to love ourselves and to protect us from
what we consider dangerous for our mental health and, above all, to
accept ourselves as we are. Moreover, we learnt that honesty and
trust must be present at all the aspects of our lives and
relationships. Discussion is the only way to manage to communicate
with the others and understand them”.
“Finishing our common route, we met all together, parents,
children, teachers and trainers, being together in Chroussa, where
we found out the progress we have made. We sometimes
disagreed, we sometimes agreed, but in both cases we have made
creative discussions. A common feeling of solidarity and
understanding has arose from all this. We have made conclusions
about both the parents’ and the children’s behaviour. In the end,
leaving this coexistence, we took in our luggage our self-knowledge
through self-criticism, and the belief that this common route, which
has had so many positive results, can be continued in life”.
“Walking for the first time in the room where the sessions
took place, we felt curiosity and anxiety about what was about to
happen. Among acquaintances and unacquainted, the fact of a
restrained attitude being an obstacle to our first touch was normal.
Little by little and without us understanding, the time and the
atmosphere changed “I” to “We” in a sweet and soft way. Constant
effort and discussion helped us unite our dreams and our
sensibilities for a better world. We have been enriched with ideas,
we have exchanged experiences, we have become full of spite, we
have achieved better understanding and we have seen the world in
a new way. We want voluntary work and participation in
programmes that will show off and preserve our cultural heritage
and tradition (paths, cobbled roads, bridges)”.
Given the strong interest by all the sides and especially the
enthusiasm of the youths who participated in the festival in 2005,
we then prepared the Chroussa Festival 2006, which was an even
more enriched experience. In 2006 the mixed theatrical group of
Thiseas began to write a new theatrical play and the paths
programme continued, with adolescents, parents and teachers of
Syros participating.
Synopsis-Conclusions

Breaking the stereotype of population-targets and their

training, which focus on the adoption of more functional ways of
communication with themselves and the others (useful but not able
to make another suggestion for life in today’s world which we live
in), we found out what there was in the traditional community:
coexistence and being together of generations in society, either
through work or through institutions, manners and customs.
Nowadays this being together does exist anywhere, neither in
family nor at school, in spite of their happening to be all together at
such places. Substantial communication and transaction are very
rarely met.
Through training people in groups concerning dexterities for
better communication, sharing thoughts and feelings, adoption of a
system of values, we are led to more functional ways of
communication in family, at school, in the community. However,
this remains incomplete whether not completed with the common
experience that comes out of application and practice, that is to say
the transition from theory to action.
Through mixed groups and the content formed in many levels
of coexistence (theatrical group, walking groups, festival), a new
way of relating among parents, adolescents and educators came
out, promoting principles, values and dreams according to which
human relationships can be more functional when based on human
communication and cooperation. This became feasible after training
of all the participators respectively to their needs, participation in
mixed groups and, finally, participation in voluntary activities,
forming a human network in the community of Syros.
These groups have worked creatively, making up theatrical
plays, festivals, walks etc. Through all these actions, they have
experienced another way of relating with each other, breaking the
norms of the roles they have to play together or separately, at
school or in family.
The function of the Thiseas Kykladon Prevention Centre has
been important, because it has acted like a catalyst at the
processes needed, so that the people of the community could form
a new social “web”, take action as active citizens-volunteers and
relate with each other in a different way.
The approbation of the entry of the theatrical group “Thiseas
Kykladon” in the 18th European Juvenile Theatre Festival in
Grenoble, France in July 2006 has been an acknowledgement and at
the same time a challenge for new aims, serving this approach
among parents, adolescents and educators even more.
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