The role of community art projects within and without the ... - Exedra

exedra • special issue • 2011violence, newcomers in the community, parent and child, upbringing and education,discrimination and racism, tolerance and togetherness which, through improvisation,produces material for the script.The RWT has no regular company of actors. For each performance the cast is formedby non-professional actors from the neighbourhood where the play is based, writtenand rehearsed. The local people joining the production usually have no connection withtheatre whatsoever and usually have never been on stage before. This means that a lotof work and effort is required for a long and very intense production process, whichconsists of two important phases. The pre-production phase consists of improvisationand discussion, which is such an important source of material reflecting life in thecommunity. It is this material that forms the body of the script. The production phaseconsists of the rehearsals and the technical production of the play. In both phases theactors from the community are the engine driving the process. They are an irreplaceablesource of inspiration.RWT does most of its work within the communities they address. Rehearsals andperformances are held outside the main stream Rotterdam theatre world. Instead thesetake place in community arts centres, community centers, youth clubs and schools. Intheir small van RWT goes all over Rotterdam, more often than not having to move pooltables and pinball machines to rig up a working theatre with lights, follow-spots andslide projectors, perhaps a dance floor, black-out curtains, and improvised dressingrooms. The Rotterdams Wijktheater has worked in the different boroughs of Rotterdamsince 1992.The last project in conjunction with a university is the book Kunst in de Wereld (Artin the World) by Merlijn Twaalfhoven. 4In his book, this composer and theatre maker proposes that art should be shown66