Nanjing Theatre Workshops
We organised a series of community theatre workshops and performances with people of all ages from the city of Nanjing, China in May and June 2016. Intersection team members including theatre lead Jane Plastow participated in a knowledge exchange visit and the initial workshops in May 2016. Following this visit, the process was led by local facilitators Ping Chen, Ziyi Li and Kai Yu, supported by our China Research Associate Dr Chen Liu.
Both the Chinese facilitaors and participants said that participatory theatre methods are new to local people in Nanjing. We divided our participants into three age groups: a younger group (16-25), middle-age group (26-45) and older group (aged 48+). In the workshops, these three groups of people discussed environmental issues, intergenerational relationships and (un)sustainable consumption separately, and came up with creative ways to show their concerns to other generations, such as using shadow play and mimicking commercials. They came together for a final weekend workshop to form an intergenerational group of 43 people and to create new theatre work performed by people of all ages.
An audience of around 60 family members, friends and local stakeholders attended the final performance on 26 June. After the performance, there was a discussion about environmental problems in Nanjing, different generation's ways of life, and people’s experiences of participating in this type of theatre project.
You can find out more about our creative partners in Nanjing and the scenes developed by local people by following the links below.