The Travelling Puppet Show
The Nasiriyah Theatre Group
in coordination with War Child
The Nasiriyah Theatre Group has been in existence for more than ten years. It consists of a group of professional men and women who have performed all over Iraq at different times. It is a voluntary association, and all finances to date have been donated from the individual members. The Group has an accountant, regular meetings, a lawyer and people who represent various government and non-government sectors within the community. They hold regular meetings at one of the member’s offices.
The Nasiriyah Theatre Group, in response to the experiences that the people of southern Iraq have been exposed to during the war, would like to give something positive, encouraging, fun and entertaining back to the children. They have proposed to set up a puppet show that runs regular educational and imaginative shows for children of all ages in the governorate.
The aims of the puppet show are:
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Teaching educational values through the plays, to encourage children to be active members of their community.
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Teaching children about socially appropriate behaviour, morals and virtuous values when dealing with others.
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Dissemination of health awareness in children, particularly on the outbreak of diseases and locally relevant issues.
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Reinforcing subjects taught to them in a theoretical format. A different medium of learning will increase their understanding of important concepts.
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Providing constructive and educational leisure time.
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Introducing children to the importance of theatre and expression in everyday life.
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Providing opportunities for children with special skills to perform, to be trained in puppet animation, to learn script-writing and to design puppets/ characters.
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Addressing psychosocial and mental-health issues, such as fear and depression, through the themes of the show (open communication etc).
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The performances will deepen children’s optimistic feelings of the future by opening gates of hope and creativity.
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A long-term objective of this work is to plant the seed of theatre, acting and expressive arts into the next generation of Iraq.
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Another aim is to establish a theatrical workshop which contributes to the teaching of this art through cooperation with experienced people from other countries.
It is proposed that there will be two performances per day in schools in the local governorate. Trips to neighbouring governorates could also take place if they were requested. During the summer holidays there will be performances at special events and also in the various youth centres that have summer programmes for their local children. There will be a variety of performances depending on age, season and perceived need/appropriate topics. It is expected that over 15,000 children will see and benefit from this puppet show project over the course of a year.
Ten of the acting groups members will be involved in this project with between four and six people involved in any one show. The project will be sustained by a small fee of 250ID (0.20US cents, the cost of one banana) per child per show. The Theatre Group assessed local schoolchildren, and found that they would be willing and able to pay this small amount, and that they are occasionally required to pay small fees for other school activities. This money will pay for travelling costs, maintenance of equipment and basic salaries for the actors. This proposal requests funds for setup costs only.
It is proposed that a mobile puppet show theatre be built and hand puppets made. A vehicle will be used to transport the theatre and the actors to the different locations. The equipment and vehicle will be stored at a staff member’s house, and all resources will be the property of the Nasiriyah Theatre Group. Finances, receipts and monitoring of all purchases would be undertaken by the Nasiriyah Theatre Group Accountant and Steering Committee. This would be overseen by War Child until all expenditure is completed. War Child will contribute the time and costs involved in monitoring this project.
Plays are currently being designed, and a memorandum of agreement between the Ministry of Education, War Child and the Nasiriyah Acting Group will be drawn up once all aspects of the show are finalised.
Contact Details:
Alex Ross
Education Programmes Manager
War Child
Alexross99@hotmail.com
0088 216 7744 3212
Yassiral Barrak
Actor and member of Nasiriyah Theatre Group Steering Committee
Masters of Fine Arts
Yassiral_barrak@maktoob.com
(No English spoken)