Online Acting Courses
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Bespoke Projects
Creating Freedom can design workshops and projects around the needs and circumstances of your community.
Example:
A theatre project designed for 10-20 participants as well as volunteers, family members and/or care givers. 5 days, 3-5 hours per day. At the end of the workshop, the participants will present a theatre production to the community. Theatre productions are 15-30 minutes, depending on the abilities of the participants and the length of the workshop.
"This was the best thing that has happened in the 9 years I've been working at the centre; these 4 or 5 weeks changed everything."
Iman Hamdi, Social Centre Manager, NHS Horton Mental Health Rehab, UK
The methodology in the workshop, the Science of Acting, teaches participants how to use their imagination to create characters. They understand the thinking processes of the characters they are creating and, in doing so, understand their own thinking processes. Through this work, participants develop skills that are relevant for becoming more confident, socially engaged and independent and becoming employable.
Through this work, people with physical and mental disabilities are able to develop awareness, sensitivity, empathy, self-discipline, confidence, improved levels of attention & focus and the ability to resolve difficult personal issues and relationships. The final production is enjoyed by the community, giving he participants the experience of contributing to others.
"I thought it was going to be just putting on a good play to entertain people blah, blah, blah;
but now, I feel it’s doing something for us, I think it’s educating us. It’s a journey."
Rachel Day, Partipant in Project with blind & partially sighted people
"Alex is not just directing a play but healing their souls with his attitude, his stunning intelligence and his ability to get out of difficult situations with humour and tact. The lads did not figure him out right away but when they did they accepted Alex's authority and listened to him absolutely."
Drugoi, Russia’s top blogger
"Wonderful work, I don't know how you managed to produce this. A real service."
Dr. Joseph Pillai, Consultant Psychiatrist
"Very important work"
Professor Peter Fonagy OBE
Anyone can make art: This is our work.
The following videos are from a series of acting workshops and rehearsals over 6 weeks at NHS Horton Haven Rehabilitation Unit for people with long-term chronic mental health issues. A group of residents were taught acting using techniques from the Science of Acting. The characters, story and scenes were then developed through improvisations.
After the project, staff commented that general relations and morale in the whole center improved. Some participants moved on much faster than expected in their care pathway as a result of the project. On the second project many more staff got involved, having seen the results of the first year. Staff reported huge impact on the participants: people who had been monosyllabic for months were suddenly engaged and very communicative; there was a reduction in symptoms of psychosis and schizoaffective disorders; isolated individuals were engaged, smiling and laughing; staff-resident relations relaxed and improved.
Watch how participants create the video
Watch the film they made
Q&A
What does the community need to provide for the workshop?
Creating Freedom provides a director experienced with speical needs populations. We work together with your community, starting with an existing story or theme, to create the script. REAP should provide:
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10-15 participants in each workshop
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Parents, volunteers and specialists interested in the project
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Logistics management (making sure the participants arrive, snacks and lunch, sound systems, inviting audience, press, etc.)
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Space for working with the group
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Location for final production. Ideal is a stage.
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Fees for the director are with Karen Hannon
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Sound and lighting as needed
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Photographer and/or videographer, to preserve your memories
What outcomes can we expect for our participants?
First and foremost, our projects are fun for all participants and volunteers. Participants learn valuable skills through joyful play.
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Self-awareness, sensitivity, empathy - developed through exploring emotions of the characters and working with others
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Self-discipline - through the need to create a final production by a deadline, and play a part with correct timing
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Confidence - through seeing a work from start to finish and receiving positive feedback
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Ability to work with others - as the project occurs in a group
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Improved levels of attention and focus
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Ability to resolve difficult personal issues and relationships - through seeing how their actions affect others in real-time
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Contribution - the knoweldge that others are enjoying the work they created
Can you provide training for social workers and other care professionals?
Yes! Often we will run a morning session with care professionals, actors, directors, and family members to teach them our methodologies. We can adjust our training curricuulm to your needs.
Do you work with other populations?
Yes. In addition to our work with people with mental and physical disabilities, learning difficulties and special needs, we have done extensive work in prisons and work in refugee camps, as well as work with victims of crime and at film festivals and with groups of children who just want to have fun. We particularly love to work with people with disabilities, because of the immediate contribution to the community.
Q&A
An Explosion of Joy: How Our Projects Look
The following video shows our work with deaf-blind people on a 10-week project (1 session per week). The result was an interactive performance where the audience physically followed the artists as they moved in the theatre space singing sea shanties, banging their drums and dancing against the backdrop of a desert island. Props like UV paint, drums, coconuts and sand were used to create a multi-sensory experience for both the performers and the audience demonstrating the power of non-verbal communication.
"I joined Sense of Space to overcome personal barriers.
The workshops gave me the confidence to deal with my sight and hearing
difficulties and not try to conceal them in order to fit in.
It was a great boost being involved in a project where
the focus was always on our talents rather than our disabilities.
--Marcus Inniss, paticipant