Theater United
Young people from Armenia, Bulgaria, Poland and Ukraine united by theatre
When people travel, usually they carry the most important things with themselves. There was a living proof that everyone was carrying art and imagination along when he or she enlisted in the Puppet Theatre Workshop in Wolimierz (southwestern Poland) this year.

The event was held in an old train station in a tiny village, near the town of Mirsk, in an area with a lovely nature and a lot of historical sites like ancient cathedrals and castles. The main organizers were Magda and Alicja, together with the puppet master Viktor and his always-around-team.

The initiative was part of the program Youth in Action and the represented countries were Armenia, Bulgaria, Poland and Ukraine. There were six enthusiasts from each country and they had in front of themselves ten days together – from September 17 to September 27. The exchange of ideas had already started with the preparation emails and the preliminary visits, despite all the appearing organizational difficulties.

The integration activities were combined with inspired searching for self-knowledge. The participants created their own masks and puppets and the work sometimes continued late after supper, of course, accompanied with laughter and dances. Each of the countries prepared a national evening to bring closer their culture to the others. The songs, the dances, the games and the theatre etudes were amazing, but the peak of the workshop was in the last day when a grand parade and several theatre pieces were showed on the central square of Mirsk. The public enjoyed also a short after-party with soap balloons.

Along with the large number of photos, two movies for the workshop were shot and will be available online soon.