Jitka Vrbková et al.
Inclusion through Theatre: A Journey of an Actor with Down’s Syndrome to Cognisant Artistic Creation and Social Acceptance
Is the actor’s otherness (or disability) a challenge, or rather an advantage – an opportunity to create a new specific theatrical poetics?
These and other questions are addressed in this publication within the background of three years of artistic research into the theatre work of adolescent actors with Down’s syndrome at the Theatre Aldente.
The introductory part ʻIntroduction to the Topicʼ reflects different approaches to this kind of theatre work in the Czech Republic and abroad. The most extensive part, ʻA View from the Inside: The Journey of an Actor with Down’s Syndrome to Cognisant Artistic Creationʼ, describes the theatre training and the creation and re-performances of three productions from the perspective of director Jitka Vrbková and her collaborators. The last part ʻThe View from the Outside: Inclusion through Theatreʼ is written by external observers – psychologist Lenka Pivodová, special educator Ilona Fialová and theatre director and educator Zoja Mikotová – and reports on the positive inclusive influence of this theatre work on both the actors with Down’s syndrome themselves and the audience of the majority society.
This publication reports on the three-year artistic research project of the Theatre Faculty of JAMU “The Artistic Research of the Production of Theatrical Performances with Down‘s Syndrome actors as an Effective Mean of Social Inclusion” co-financed by TA CR within the ETA Programme.
