Shadow Theatre Training and Instruction Report

Shadow Theater in 2018 was listed as an intangible cultural heritage that needs our utmost care, according to UNESCO.

Theater companies that play exclusively with shadows are quite rare, so having one among our partners was of great importance.

One of the key focus areas of this intellectual outcome was to educate and raise awareness about shadow theater as a tangible creative profession for wide audiences, including people with disabilities of any kind. The partners themselves were the first ones who underwent the training process, which allowed them to transpose the learnings and skills onto their local training events. That resulted with a series of local performances which included a broader network of participants of different profiles.

Lastly the newly formed teams joined their creative forces to work on a transnational joint performance during the final conference in Pécs. Shadow theater activities took place on different levels, inserting our project activities vertically and horizontally. We’d look at already established models and methods through the prism of shadow theater as an inclusive performing art. Such a case was the adaptation of the Fir Shares Principle for the performing arts sector. We’d look at shadow theater as a new means for expression, aside from words, images, videos, sounds and how that new perspective is inclusive in its core.

Shadow theater topics were also integrated in the Training Course as an overlaying module, pointing out that art knows no boundaries and anyone can be a performer.