Helping hand

Recently a group of actors and theatre-lovers headed to Hambantota to work with a very enthusiastic group of students from Hambantota, Tissamaharama and Suriyawewa who were united by their shared loss due to the December 26 tsunami. Over the last three years, these children have moved on to become peer leaders within their regional youth communities through the StageHands Project.

The StageHands Project is a theatre-based program, launched by CentreStage Productions, that uses the performing arts for psychosocial development, trauma therapy, social development and education. The project is interactive and workshop-based, targeting various participant groups and addressing specific community issues.

The travelling team of actors, animators and facilitators (StageHands) visits identified areas and conducts workshop activities over a weekend initially and then monitors those communities by subsequent visits. The StageHands Team also establishes 'community facilitators' who are trained by the team to use the techniques within the community.

Based on the work begun at the initial StageHands Theatre workshop held in Tissamaharama, the second StageHands Project (stage 2) also sought to provide advanced training to previously trained students in order to create a more developed youth community that would be equipped to use theatre to deal with community issues.

Over the weeks leading up to the workshop, the team held several discussions and devised dramatic scenarios to equip the trainer/performers with requirements of the forum experience. Some of these devised scenarios were transcribed and scripted as outlines for model performances. The StageHands team was given training in devising and developing new theatre-based techniques that students could apply within their communities in order to voice their opinions and seek solutions to community issues.

The StageHands team for the recent project comprised a bilingual group of trained facilitators, namely, Avanti Perera, Arnold Pietersz, Nagitha Mapalagama, Heshan Perera and Dinesh Hapuarachchi. They were led by Jehan Aloysius.

The Troupe
CentreStage Productions (CSP) is an amateur theatre troupe, formed by Jehan Aloysius in 2001 with the hope of using various theatre techniques to produce and promote cutting-edge original theatre in Sri Lanka. They recently produced Pyramus & Thisby which played to packed houses.

Their focus has always been on young people, and their initial aim was to foster their skills in all forms of theatre – from the very act of scriptwriting to acting, direction and production. However, since 2005, they have decided to focus more on the use of theatre as a tool for initiating social change as well.

The Beginnings of the Project
The Boxing Day Tsunami was a turning point for CentreStage Productions. Shortly after, Jehan was invited by the British Council to work with John Martin of the Pan-Centre for Intercultural Arts, for training on theatre for development. Subsequently, Jehan has been associated with Children of the Sea and Finding Marina and has completed advanced training under John Martin on the use of 'Forum Theatre' in rural communities and has continued to work with children affected by the tsunami and the conflict in various camps around the island over the last two years. Interested in supporting their work? Write to: stagehandsproject@yahoo.com.