The project

For identifying problems and real and feasible solutions in relation to the resources of the community members, the Foundation will use the forum theatre CENTRAS. On the basis of identified problems and solutions, community members will carry out activities in their comunities, as well as writing and implementing (micro)projects.

Phases of the project are:

information and awareness-raising campaign of at least 20 relevant institutions (schools, colleges, centers placement, day care centers, nursing homes, NGOs, etc.) and at least 2,000 young people, regarding the forum theatre;
the performances of 56 forum theatre in public places with at least 2800 direct beneficiaries;
Mthe selection and formation of the 14 teams of forum theatre (at least 98 of youth and adults involved), in communities and different locations, which will put in scene 14 serious social problems from comunities they belong.
each team will participate in the forum theatre at 2 planning sessions (micro) projects, based on the problems identified at the performances. There will be a total of 28 planning sessions, assisted by the method of direct learning, in action. The 14 projects will be implemented with resources drawn from the communities with identified problems. All of the 14 (micro) projects will be developed in team and will receive consulation for implementation, and until March 2015 will be deployed at least 2 of them.
each team will participate in the forum theatre at 2 planning sessions (micro) projects, based on the problems identified at the performances. There will be a total of 28 planning sessions, assisted by the method of direct learning, in action. The 14 projects will be implemented with resources drawn from the communities with identified problems. All of the 14 (micro) projects will be developed in team and will receive consulation for implementation, and until March 2015 will be deployed at least 2 of them.
forum theatre festival at the Constanta level, with competition and awards, followed by a Forum NGO that brings together as many NGOs from Constanta to discuss identified issues in your community and about the measures and methods on which the NGOs you may apply to avert its needs. The project "Be and you the spectator for your community" is funded by company HEINEKEN through the program of social responsibility HEINEKEN to communities,. The aim of the project is the active involvement of community members from Constanta area in solving some serious social problems with which they are confronted.

Forum Theatre, as the name suggests, is a form of theater that enables the interaction and debate, being in the same time a tool for social intervention. At first glance, it would seem that Forum Theatre is a type of theater, but the distinct attribute of "forum" creates a new way of expression and interaction with the public. The forum theatre play takes place so that a group of people exchange ideas and opinions, looking for solutions and action patterns appropriate to the situation in which the participants are involved. Forum Theatre focuses on the moments that people meet daily but don't take into consideration as a habit. Unlike life, theater allows those who participate in it to observe the scene as an outsider, to pursue the tragic situation, such as a witness hid behind the curtain and to understand where the ignorance, carelessness, labeling or discrimination can lead. Thus, after the first performance, the participant can say, "STOP! I did not like what happened here! If you would have acted sooner would not have gotten into this situation!"

The Forum Theatre method can be used in different contexts of non-formal education giving participants a chance to learn from direct experiences as it is a method that is based on experiential learning. The method can be used in all communities where there are people who are at risk of social exclusion, which meet situations of discrimination of certain categories of people, in any context in which we see people supporting stereotypes and prejudices, in which intolerance and compassion are feelings that cause suffering (such as educational system, family, public, street, neighborhood, Roma communities, prisons, etc.). The Forum Theatre is staging in public and in front of people that face a problem, in order to create a learning environment for the general public (children, youth, adults and the elderly). Topics addressed can be very diverse because the play takes scenes from reality of the audience.

Preparing the play

A group of volunteers, most often non-actors are well trained in the forum theater method through a specific training which develops the skills of theater with exercises, games and debates specific method. They identify a problem of oppression in a particular community or are informed by project managers, community facilitators and others who want to do a change. A volunteer team then develops a project around it, using forum theater method, a tool for participatory art that the experience proved very suitable for social interventions.

The theatre part

For the success of the performance is good to have between 30 and 70 spect-actors and to better promote the event to the target group. Effective deployment of a forum theatre play has three main stages: play, discussion and forums. First, the situation of oppression is presented in approximately 15 minutes with the characters and their interaction. Characters of the forum theater are constructed incomplete so that the public can identify that with these, even more, to feel the need to complete their actions, by replacing that character. The Forum part In the second stage, the moderator of the play, called Joker, facilitate the discussion about the presented situation, the causes of oppression, about the relationships between characters and the position of each performer in the play: oppressor, oppressed, their allies, neutral characters. The Joker's role is to motivate and encourage the public to come up with realistic solutions or improvements to the situation presented to them and to play on stage. In the forum part, the play is resumed and the public becomes active. The public can change all the characters, but the oppressor.

Interventions

Each spect-actor can intervene during the re-run of the play by clapping. Actors will "freeze" and remain motionless on stage while members of the public come and replace the actor in the play. The aim is for the public to act on the characters who did not take a stand and who can change in a positive course of action that can help the oppressed to take a decision that can sustain and develop him positively. Therefore the spect-actors can intervene in every scene of the play, one by one, replacing characters until it reaches the solution that will be voted by the public as the most realistic and useful in the present situation. After choosing solutions, discussions are taking place about how it might be implemented in everyday reality – in the community facing the issues discussed in the play.