History of the idea

It was the natural growth, and the graduation of our first Drama group, that made us add this new step to our Drama program. At its beginning the new program had two main aims:

To give the graduates advanced acting skills, and integrate them into professional work.

To create a pool of well trained actors and drama teachers who would be able to transfer their knowledge practically to others.

In the summer of 1996, The Palestinian Curriculum Development Centre in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and sponsored by UNESCO, commissioned a group of artists to work on drawing the different domains of the Arts into the Palestinian School Curriculum. Iman Aoun was commissioned to work on the Drama and Theatre part of the program. The DTT program was therfore looked upon as one answer to the growing need for Drama Teachers in schools.

At the end of that year, we added another layer / dimension to our program - to lead the trainees themselves straight to becoming Drama Teacher’s Trainers, they would then be able to work with the current teachers, and train them to become Drama Teachers.

What we did last year

In November 1996, we formed a group of 6 teachers from different schools in Ramallah, and worked with them for 40 hours, in a pilot program within the new DTT approach. At the same time, our DTT trainees were given new methods in working with these school teachers, that would enable them to transfer their knowledge in ‘drama teaching’ to these teachers. Peter Braschler, Swiss specialist trainer, led the workshop. The Subjects covered included: Basic Body Training; Group Leading; Tackling Difficult Circumstances ( i.e. lack of money, time ...); lots of theatre games. Each teacher was asked to train a group of students back in their schools - during and after the workshop - and do two plays a year with them. The teachers’ work is supervised by the DTT trainers. The group gathers 2 or 3 times a year for feedback.

This year’s plan

This year is an upside-down version of last year! Well the second half, at least. It breaks down like this:

a: Peter Braschler, assembles the school teachers and the DTT trainees for a period of revision and feedback on last year’s work. Then the trainees are given extra skills work development and introduced to some new techniques (which they will impart to the teachers in-school).

b: Later the DTT trainees go into the schools, but, unlike last year, (when they were assistants to the teachers), this time they take charge in working directly with students, with the teachers on hand to assist and follow the new techniques that the trainees learned from Peter.

Weekly, the DTT trainees meet at the Studio with Sameh, the joint director of the program - for guidance and to share experiences.

This program has a special place in our hearts, as it was one of the founding courses, and represented one of the founding principles, of our theatre.

Nevertheless, we are pleased to announce that with the graduation, in August 1998, of our third year graduates, this course, in its original form, will be bowing out.

However, do not for one minute think that this shows a failure or change of interest! On the contrary! It shows the completion of a cycle; It is as a result of our efforts and success in our teacher-training program, that we now have newly graduated AHSTAR teachers, ready to walk into Palestinian high schools, and step into our shoes (with, of course, our continual training and support).

First Year An Aperitif

Our first task in introducing the students to theatre's world of possibilities, is to dismantle their prejudices (and those of their parents). Once we have awakened their curiosity enough for them to slip through the door into our world, the real work can begin...

The first year is mostly an introduction using games and experiments, but with a clear aim; to take part with the upper-year trainees, in the end of year presentation performance.

Classes are four hours every weekend. The course consists of key skills including: Body movement. Character building through improvisation. Movement and voice. Trust and surrender through theatre games. The summer production. Students in the first year take minor roles that reflect the skills they have studied over the year.

Second Year A Hook

Students at this level move from the stage of curiosity to the stage of addiction. To feed it, and to test their stamina and commitment, in the second year we crank up the pace.

Skills covered in the second year include:Revision and clarification of first year work. Improvisations around objects. Body and voice. Scene analysis. Character understanding. The summer production - this time they takes bigger roles than their first year friends.

Third Year A Commitment

Here theatre has become their life-style and their future starts to take shape.They direct their energies toward improving the actor's essential tools such as senses, movement, voice and awareness. Performing scenes and monologues, takes precedence. We give them texts to work on in a free manner. The results are performed in July in an open marathon day.

Skills work for this year's third years (September 1997 - July 1998).Scene studies. Improvisation to text. Text analysis. Body movement and expression

We now have other courses running in parallel with this one, and we try to bring the different groups of trainees together as much as possible. Therefore, since the start of our Drama Teachers' Training program, we have budding drama teachers who help to run the Drama Teaching course.

As this year is the final year of this program, we will not be holding a full-scale summer production. Instead, the students will work on major scenes which will be presented to the rest of the ASHTAR group, and to an open audience.

To do this course participants can be a maximum of 130 centimetres tall!

The Actor's Preparation Program

The natural development and widespread success of ASHTAR's educational theatre program in the local society, also provoked an interest from those outside the educational sphere in studying theatre. So, we had no alternative but to devise a series of programs that suited them too.

We came up with The Actor's Preparation Program, a three month course of 10 hours a week.

We will be holding a new course in February but we already have some experience from a similar course we have held for the last two years.

Following is a breakdown of the content of the last course and our impression of it.

During this course the group focus on some of the primary basics of acting, i.e. activating senses, space awareness, body awareness and movement, self-discipline, dealing with 'self', the other and the group. Also, group interaction, object control, breathing and relaxation, activating memory and of course, improvisation exercises.

During the course the students work with our professional actors, together with the DTT (Drama Teachers' Trainers), trainees who assist the teachers by working with the students on scene studies. We work together on small scenes and monologues, culminating in a marathon of short performances to the rest of the theatre crew.

At the beginning, some of the actors had reservations about working with these new talents with their humble experience. Yet, misgivings faded when we came together for the first time. And, as we worked together it became clear that here was an opportunity for a two-way learning experience:

From the point of view of the students, their aim was how to develop the scene or monologue, in ways that utilised the new skills and awareness that they had acquired.

The professional actors, on the other hand, got the opportunity to time travel back to the time when we were just starting out. And, with every dramatic situation, we saw the variance of performance and artistic interpretation between a professional actor and a new-comer. This increased our own knowledge and brought a new breath that encouraged us to develop new talents and artistic visions.

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