JEŽEK A ČÍŽEK - HOMELESS PEOPLE THEATRE - AND ME

This diploma thesis is about the first Czech homeless people theatre. It?s called Ježek a čížek (means The hedgehog and the siskin). The first part of the work concerns on facts and a evolution of this theatre. The second part attends to subjective view of one member from the executive team - me. The theatre was founded in 2000 and it?s still working. The theatre prepared 13 productions, playd around 140 performances and nearly 300 actors ? clients passed through them. There were organized 4 international festivals of homeless people theatre and the group also played several times abroad. The theatre started to work as a volunteer activity and it has become a professional NGO, which offers also social and working assistance. It was astonishing performance called Which is the color of nothing? (Jakou barvu má nic?) which encouraged me to join that project. I was in common with theatre and also with the work with socially poor people. Working there from 2003 till 2005 I had a chance to meet closely the members of the group. The goal of the theatre was preparing of a performance. It was directed sensitively and it required from actors ? clients to be open and playfull. Their life experiences are full of absurdity and cruelness. Actors ? clients have my apprecation because ? although they have no safe place to live ? they are able to change their stereotype ?homeless? role and raise on the level of creativity for their own pleasure