Young Muslims in Croatia are an active community operating in many different fields. We have different projects and organizations, and we invest a lot of time in preserving our own culture. We are also trying to dispel the prejudices that society generally has towards Muslims. So when we were given the opportunity to promote multiculturalism through theater, we couldn’t be happier.
Blogpost by Anisa Zahirović, Croatian Team
We came up with the idea from theater practitioner, drama theorist, and political activist August Boal who founded the concept of Theatre of the oppressed. By interacting with the audience, we try to come to a joint solution to the conflicts we present to the audience. The actors play a scene of violence and then comment and correct it together with the audience. The purpose of the Theatre of the opressed is not to come up with a unique solution, but to offer as many possible solutions to similar situations. Actors create a safe environment where the audience feels comfortable and encourage them to act against injustice and violence. Once the audience is acting in an imaginary situation, they are more likely to act similarly in the real world.
The principle of Theatre can be used for various purposes. We decided to use it to break the prejudices against Muslims in Croatia.
The project plan is almost done. We are currently looking for a space where we would have rehearsals. We expect to start our first trials in the next month. We are very excited and we can’t wait to get started!
Greetings from Zagreb!