The aim of this workshop is to give birth to a dramatical text representative the feelings of 20 women coming from 10 Balkans countries. It will be used as a tool in Peace Process.
The text ambition is not only to be performed at the end of the workshop by women both writers and actress, but also to be diffused and shared with other women in these 10 countries and in other countries as well.
Since 18 years Zarina Khan very often works with people who never write or perform theatre. She is convinced that not only artists have to practice one of the most fundamental right : The Freedom of Speech.
5 basical principles of Zarina Khan’s method :
Dramatic acting finally finds its issue in a live performance first, then in a book. This is a unique time when a group opens to the world, to share the beauties of the distance they have covered of their "way".
Their words will travel and build bridges between cultures confirming every women’s indispensable place in the history of humans.
A place for the children’s freedom of speech and their need to have an active role in society.
Since its foundation, the Zarina Khan Theatre Company developed a workshop method for play writing and acting for all the different levels of education (from kindergarten to university). It works on the basis of the joint work between the students, their teachers or educators and outside participants.
The texts resulting from these workshops are used for performances not only in the country the workshops took place but, in other European countries as well. They are also used for books, audiovisuals, songs, and movies linking people together, and creating a cultural network of ideas and action in France and abroad.
For Zarina Khan , it is about putting into practice one of the most fundamental rights of children : The Freedom of Speech.
The child "consumer" suddenly finds himself "creator", developing a fictitious character he wishes to nourish with his own feelings. Protected by the character, the child can let it speak freely, opening his secret imaginary world and discovering his uniqueness. The child develops in this way his self confidence and self esteem.
In this space reserved for creation, the child is listened and looked at for what he is. The child will find his place in a group that reassures him. The child will be aware that a world surrounds him and that he is part of it.
For those who write, words become the liberating factor that enables them to participate in world transformation ; giving them the awareness of their mission of solidarity. Their words will travel and build bridges between cultures confirming everyone’s indipensable place in the history of humans.
In 1993, the Zarina Khan Theater Company organised "Theatre and Freedom during the War" and created a workshop on play writing and acting in Sarajevo. From this workshop the Dictionary of Life ( life, love, death, ect. explained to an extraterrstrial being) was born.
It was then published in French, English, Spanish, German, and Bosnian and translated into 21 other languages. Dictionary of Life went on tour in Europe marking the presence of a theatre that participates in city life and that highlights the civic responsability of each one of us.
The 13-minute-video "The Dictionary of Life in Greece" proposed by the Forum in Barcelona (in Englih, Spanish and Bosnian) shows, during a tour in Greece, several steps in the creation of the Dictinnary of Life in Sarajevo war. One can see the joy of the children when creating and the liberation born from this theatrical catharsis.