Our forum theater “Stories of the Stork… and What We’d Tell Him!” has been performed on several stages in Tyrol in the past few months, and we’re thrilled that the most recent performances were also a huge success with two more performances to come in November at BRUX / Freies Theater Innsbruck.
Together with numerous volunteers who shared their own experiences, we brought the topic of perinatal mental health to life through this unique concept. The play was planned, refined, and rehearsed over several weeks in workshops, and the result is impressive — a huge THANK YOU to all the wonderful actors and actresses, as well as to theater educator Armin Staffler!
As part of the Alcohol Dialogue Week from 5 to 11 May, our Healthy Minds Team visited a special form of theatre that not only takes up social challenges, but also makes them tangible and shapeable, namely the Forum Theatre according to Augusto Boal and David Diamond, implemented in Innsbruck by Armin Staffler and his team from act:it – a service of kontakt+co Addiction Prevention, which uses innovative theatre methods to ensure that people can actively deal with social issues, discover their own scope for action and actively shape change. The focus is on Forum Theatre as a low-threshold, creative means of political education and empowerment. This short video explains the procedure using a project on the topic of “alcohol” (more or less, 2023):
The concept: A short scene depicts a challenging, mostly negative everyday situation, in relation to our project, for example, a mother with postpartum depression who is not understood by her family or in the help system. Afterwards, the audience is invited to step onto the stage themselves, take over a character and try out other plots. This creates discussion, a change of perspective and new ideas without wagging a finger, but with plenty of room for one’s own experiences.
It was clear to us that this form of theatre not only makes visible what often remains unspoken in everyday life, but also invites us to get involved, think along and explore new scope for action together. Therefore, we would also like to integrate the concept into our awareness campaign and invite you to the development of a play on the topic of Perinatal Mental Health (PMI)!