People’s Theater is a charitable non-profit organisation aimed at youth and children. It is committed to the prevention of, and protection against, violence and aggression, and encourages peaceful conflict-resolution. In cooperation with schools in the surrounding areas it implements its program through means of theater plays based on the “Happy Hippo Show” concept developed by Shamil L. Fattakhov (from Russia).

These theater skits display typical situations in which violence and aggression can appear, e.g. in the classroom. The situation is acted out until just before an escalation would take place, at which point the scene is frozen, and feedback from the kids is requested. The Action Team of People’s Theater then develops a suitable ending for the skit in cooperation with the children, who are also drawn-upon for ideas, and invited to act out the final scene, or act as Director to the actors.

Through communication and interaction within these simulations, values such as honesty, patience, justice, open-mindedness, and trustworthiness are both encouraged and developed within the children. They are also encouraged to explore peaceful resolutions to situations of conflict – a skill which undoubtedly not only benefits them during their childhood and adolescence, but also throughout their whole lives. These shows are incorporated into normal primary and secondary school cirriculum, and the performances are always followed by further discussion and material on the subject.

For more information please visit: http://www.peoples-theater.de (German only)

Panacea Productions is planning to accompany People’s Theater over a span of time, to document their everyday life and to gain insight into the motivation of the crew members throughout the project. During this time, Panacea plans to film various performances by People’s Theater, and also to interview the members about their experience within the shows.

Another project still within production is the creation of short films, in cooperation with both the members of People’s Theater, and children from various schools. Utilising the scripts from skits within their People’s Theater performances, short films would be created similar to those performances, which would then be made available to schools and teachers. These films would be able to be used either as follow-ups, or in the place of a live performance itself. This project would mean that People’s Theater’s outreach would not be restricted by geography, and the character-building and conflict-resolution activities within its program would be available as a useful tool to all.

Some impressions of the project: