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Following on from the first series of ‘Open Playground’ events, we are excited to host four new events providing an online space in which participatory theatre makers and facilitators can connect with their peers and try out new ideas.

In response to practitioners who attended the first ‘Open Playground’ events, each new playground will focus on a different form of participatory theatre with an emphasis on exploring the possibilities of delivering these forms online (full details below):

Playback Theatre (22nd October)

Living Newspaper (29th October)

Forum Theatre (5th November)

Devising (12th November)

Each ‘Open Playground’ will be facilitated by a member of the Collective Encounters’ team, with contributions from a guest practitioner. These sessions will go beyond workshop games to explore how practitioners are delivering the fundamentals of these forms online.

These ‘Open Playground’ events are not training events but facilitated forums in which new and emerging practice can be tested and shared.

For background information on some of the challenges and unexpected benefits of delivering participatory theatre online please read: Delivering Participatory Theatre During Social Distancing: What’s Working?

These ‘Open Playground’ events form part of Collective Encounters Centre for Excellence in Participatory Theatre sector support programme during COVID-19.

12 November: Devising with Abi Horsfield

Devised Theatre is a method of theatre-making in which the script and/or performance is developed collectively. Often beginning with games, improvisation tasks and playing with ideas, themes and other stimuli, devising is collaborative and experimental. Through the devising process, collaborators can get to the heart of the stories they wish to tell and experiment with ways of telling them. A great way of everyone’s voice getting heard, devised theatre can often present multiple and differing perspectives on an issue in a single performance.

Abi Horsfield is a community theatre/arts professional with over 25 years’ experience of theatre facilitation, performance and project management. Her long career has seen her deliver workshops across 300 projects in 27 challenging countries such as Ghana, Thailand, Uzbekistan, the Philippines and Nigeria. As part of her work for Collective Encounters, during lockdown Abi has been delivering an Open Award in Devising with adults online.