Theater For Tolerance: DIARY

THEATER FOR TOLERANCE

LIKE US, Part 1 (Berlin)

DIARY 29. 07. - 10. 08 2013 / The making of DIVINE HOLIDAYS

Mon. 29.07. - The First Day

The Israeli group lands at Tegel Airport 8:55. The French group arrives at 10:45. At 13:15 all participants meet for the first time at the central station in Berlin and go by train to Gollwitz/Jeserig together. We reach the venue Gollwitz manor around 4:00 p.m. Two suitcases from the French group are missing the Israelis are over tired since they have been awake since 11:00 pm the night before. After a short welcoming coffee and cake we get together in the garden. We explain the house rules and make the room division. We make sure that kids in each room are from different countries.We meet at 6 pm for dinner together. We get together at 7 pm once more. We start with an introduction round after which we do the exercise Speed Dating: two groups sit opposite each other and ask three to five questions of the person sitting across from you. After approx. three minutes you change your seat to the right and you ask again the questions with the new partner. The atmosphere is lively. We carry on: five groups are formed. Every group must use their information about their partners for a scene in these groups. The group can do anything they want with the scene: Dance, sing, act, mime etc. We end the day at 10:00 pm. with a feedback round.Everyone spreads out in the house and in the garden now and enjoys the leisure time. The first uncertainties seem to be overcome.

Tue. 30.07

Our day starts with Warming-Up after breakfast together at 8:30.Israel Wizer leads a bodywork and speech games for 45 minutes. We will keep this rhythm up until the day of the performance. After that we begin with scene work.The participants divide up into groups and the goal for this morning is to decide with their group on a historical event that has meaning in their lives. They should present a representation of this event in 3 frozen pictures. We, the project leader watch the groups working, and are available for questions. When needed Israel Wizer and Daphna Czernobilsky are available to translate into Hebrew, Mathijs Van Dooren is available for French as an interpreter and Daphna Czernobilsky and Nela Bartsch for German and English. After lunch the kids work in groups of 2: The participants are asked to use from a list we prepared before, the meaning of their names in a scene. Every group can decide it what form they will work and everybody presents their scene. 12 scenes are shown. Next we ask the whole group to answer each for themselves the following questions:

- I am the bothered by...- I am the curious about...- I would love to...The answers should be written down anonymously and handed in to us before dinner at 6:30pm. It is very hot and everyone wants to go to the supermarket and shops. We give our okay. Those who want to go to the supermarket can borrow a bike from Gollwitz manor. We - the project leaders and teachers - sit together and go through the answers that the kids wrote, filtering out and finding common keywords from their answers. These answers we write on a large sheet of paper and hang it up. The group that went to the supermarket arrives back around 9:00 pm: there was a delay, because they got lost. Nevertheless we continue to work. The kids are divided up in new groups, 5 groups all in all. Each group is asked to choose three keywords and invent three scenes, one for each keyword. The following announcement is made: - The groups should work independently.

- Any group that is ready should show their scenes to us.

- We then will give constructive criticism and suggestions for the further work.

- At the end of day all the scenes that are ready are presented to the group.With a new perspective for the next of morning we end this day shortly after 10 pm.We offer the possibility to go to swim 7:45 am in the nearby lake. All participants collect for fun time in the back yard court. We adults retire for the follow-up meeting.

Wed. 31.07.

The evening was long and loud but it seems that the group is more connected now. The curiosity of the group about each other’s language, culture and religion has grown. After a conversation about last night’s loudness in each of their home groups, we start with our one-hour body and speech game training. Everyone works concentrated and highly motivated. An improvisation is done on the topic of identity. The groups work on scenes together in the same groups as the day before. So as the day passes a variety of scenes are developed and as they work participants must find ways to communicate even though there are language barriers. In difficult cases we - the teacher translators and project leaders - provide assistance. We start with the mutual presentation at 5:30 pm. After dinner we talk about the scenes once again, and make an evaluation about the group’s atmosphere:

- How was it to work and create scenes in the group?

- Did you feel heard and taken seriously in your group?

- Did everybody feel comfortable in the group?The Kids continue to work. On this day seven new scenes have been developed. The day ends around 9:30 pm.

Thur. 01.08. A couple of few early risers venture with us to the lake. The rest of the participants slowly show up for breakfast. The groups sit together predominantly by nationality but some curious ones venture to their neighbor ´s tables. After the morning training the groups start with the task provided on the day before. If necessary and/or desired suggestions and support from us, or communication problems and any uncertainties about content can be addressed to the project leaders and teachers.After lunch the groups continue to work. Any group that has completed a scene comes to us and presents it to us. We give dramatic and acting tips, help with the construction of the dialogs and give suggestion in dealing with the respective languages on the stage within the scenes. After dinner and a trip to the lake, the participants present their scenes resulting from the work they have done the last days at 9 pm. We heads sit down together and work out a rehearsal plan for the next day.

Fri. 02.08. The usual girls join us for a morning swim. After breakfast and warm-up we hang up the exact same plan. Between 11 am and 5 pm we will work on the scenes that still need to be worked on. Meanwhile, the others are asked to independently continue to rehearse their scenes. Some participants come together spontaneously and develop new scenes. Before dinner we run through all scenes, which have developed in the last few days, for the first time. The order is still arbitrary. The connecting story must still be found. It is very hot. All want to go for a swim before dinner. So, we end the rehearsals at 5:00 pm. After dinner we celebrate together Kabbalat Shabbat.

Sat. 03.08.

After the usual warming up the project leaders and teachers split up and work once again on scenes with the groups that still needs help. The other participants are encouraged to meet independently and to develop scenes on the topic of cultural identity, religion, and prejudice. In the early afternoon it is so hot, that we decide to take a break and go to the lake. At 5:30 pm we meet again and try a new arrangement of all scenes. At 7 pm we end the rehearsals and meet up in the yard for grilling. There is a heavy thunderstorm that forces us back inside. Later, around 9 pm, we sit all together for a discussion. We summarize the week and talk about the upcoming workweek in Berlin.

Because we will be no longer rehearsing at the place we will be staying at in Berlin, we will structure the days differently. In the coming week, it will be important to assemble the existing scenic material into a story. We will make decisions, what scenes we take into the production and then invent and create the transitions as well as the beginning and the end for the piece.

Sun. 04. 08. Our last breakfast in the meeting place Gollwitz Manor. The rooms are cleaned up and at 11:30 am we get on the bus to Brandenburg/Havel. Nela goes to Berlin with the car. At 3:00 pm we all arrive at the youth hostel Alte Pumpe in Berlin-Tiergarten. After a lunch and after the rooms have been divided up, we meet for a rehearsal on the site. It is unfocused, the Israelis and the French want to "see Berlin". 6:00 pm - we finish rehearsals. The French and the Israelis are impatient. Berlin is calling them. We ask everybody to be back by 10:00 pm, and… all arrive back on time!

Mon. 05. 08.

The participants divide up into four groups for the trip leaving at 10 am. The German participants have prepared a tour of Berlin: Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial, Bernauer Straße, Alexanderplatz, Reichstag, and Victory column. We all meet up again at 3 pm in the school. Since the small Auditorium has been used for the enrollment ceremony we need to prepare the room first. In the morning, we - Israel, Daphna, Nela and Mathijs - meet in order to sort out scenes, and find the framework for the story for our piece. We present this to the group and we rehearse the idea in the new space. Afterwards we discuss how the scenes in the new space can be staged. The participants continue working with these proposals. 8 pm - we go back to Alte Pumpe for dinner.

Tue. 06.08.

10 am - warm up in the small Auditorium. Afterwards we go through scene by scene and develop the connecting scenes. During the lunch break, the lighting equipment is brought to the auditorium. We rehearse then and need to stop at 6:00 pm, because the light technicians have to set up the lights, lays the cables and the set up the lighting box. The participants take time during the breaks to teach each other idiomatic expressions and phrases in each other’s languages. We go to the Pumpe for dinner and design the poster there.

Mi. 07. 08.

At 10am warm ups in the small Auditorium, then we put up together the stage platforms. In the evening, the LEDs wiring is broken. Therefore we must find a solution. We decide to borrow lights from Hebbel Theater. These arrive at noon and then they are set up and placed. We begin to work on a suitable ending and opening for our performance. Around 6 pm we try a first run through of the piece. Meanwhile Israel does the light design. After dinner, we talk about our first impression and discuss the sound effects and what props are needed.

Thu. 08. 08.

10 am - warm up. 11:30 am - technical run through

05 pm - 1st final rehearsal, review and corrections

Fri. 09. 08. - The Day Of The Performance

11:30 am - 2nd final rehearsal in the presence of the school director and vice principal of the Leibniz High School.

03:00 pm - dress rehearsal.

07:00 pm - premiere and afterwards discussion with the audience.

09:00 pm - dismantling the stage.From 10:30 pm on farewell party in the guest house Alte Pumpe.

Sat.10.08. – The Last Day

After breakfast, the room must be cleared out and cleaned. All are frantically busy packing.

11 am - After the suitcases are safely stored in a room and all room keys are given back, we sit in the courtyard of the Alte Pumpe together for a brief final round.

Despite fatigue the participant’s anticipation of the second part is clear. All are proud of what they have done and achieved during the time together: and they show off with what they have learned in each other’s languages.A long round of evaluation is impossible: the French group’s flight is at 3 pm. The Israelis have a later flight and everyone wants to still have time to shop in Berlin. The German participants join in. As they say their good byes one senses their excitement about meeting again in France.