Theater in Relation

The project “Theater as a Tool for Change: presentation of the play Bernadette’s Bastards and a series of workshops and meetings for teachers and staff of care and educational centers” combines artistic, educational, and social activities. Its starting point is the play Bernadette’s Bastards – a moving performance about the experiences of young people growing up in institutional care, violence, exclusion, and the need to be seen and heard.

The project will include three presentations of the play, meetings with the audience, and a series of workshops led by specialists from the EduKABE Foundation. These activities are primarily aimed at teachers, educators, caregivers, and individuals working with children and youth. Participants will have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of recognizing signs of harm, supporting individuals with trauma experience, and building safe relationships based on mindfulness and empathy.
The project also includes initiatives to increase event accessibility. One of the play’s performances will be available with audio description and Polish Sign Language translation.

We believe that theater can be not only a space for artistic experience but also a tool for building social sensitivity, developing competencies, and supporting positive change.

The project is implemented by the Open Form Theater Foundation in cooperation with the Pinokio Theater in Łódź, the Stanisław Wyspiański Silesian Theater in Katowice, and the EduKABE Foundation.

Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state special purpose fund

“Youth” is a theater-educational project aimed at young people aged 12–15. The starting point for the collaborative work was Linn Skåber’s book “Youth. Confessions of Teenagers,” but the most important creative material turned out to be the experiences, reflections, and stories of the participants themselves. During the two-week day camp, workshops were held in acting, creative writing, voice projection, and set design. During this time, the young people examined their relationships with peers and family, social pressure, dreams, fears, and the search for their own place in the world.

The result of the process was a performative reading, the script of which was created entirely from the participants’ statements. An important element of the performance also became the banner-manifestos created by the young people and a song that served as the collective voice of the group. The project created a space for bringing together people with different life experiences, building relationships, strengthening agency, and discovering theater as a place of dialogue, collaboration, and authentic expression.

Summer at the Theater is a program of the Zbigniew Raszewski Theater Institute funded by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.