The KUFER Theater Company has kickstarted the project “Mental health as a creative process: drama workshops with young people” in cooperation with SPID, BoliMe and KunstTeatar! The program of drama workshops will last a year through five separate cycles, with five different playwrights, a psychologist, a director and professional actors.

The project is intended for young people between the ages of 18 and 25, the workshops are free of charge, and the number of participants is limited. More information about the project is available at mzkp.hr.

The workshops are held entirely online, twice a week in the evening. Each individual workshop process lasts two months, and this two-month cycle is led by director and dramaturge Ivan Penović with another contemporary playwright and two actors, and with the professional support of psychologist and gestalt psychotherapist Mihael Kozina., Playwrights Ivana Vuković, Ivor Martinić, Nikolina Rafaj, Ivana Đula and Anita Čeko will guide each participant in the creative process of drama writing, provide tools for creating a dramatic character and learn how to transfer one’s own doubts, thoughts and emotions to paper and turn them into a dramatic situation or new dramatic text. The focus of the workshop will be on dramatic writing exercises and analysis of the original text.

In a safe environment and with professional artistic and psychological assistance, participants will go through a double process – dissolving the original text or idea and creating a new text based on their own experience. The staging of the newly created text will be in the form of a concert reading with the participation of two actors and the director, and the text will be staged in the premises of KunstTeatar.

Participants can apply for one of the workshop cycles:

1st cycle – from February 1 to March 12, 2022 (Ivana Vuković)

2nd cycle – from March 29 to May 7, 2022 (Ivor Martinić)

3rd cycle – from May 31 to July 9, 2022 (Nikolina Rafaj)

4th cycle – from August 16 to September 24, 2022 (Ivana Đula)

5th cycle – from October 4 to November 12, 2022 (Anita Čeko)

In addition to the drama workshops, participants will have the opportunity to take part in three participatory forums entitled “PRIČAMO x mzkp.hr” led by experts in the field of mental health of young people. The forums will be held online on January 22, May 26 and September 27, 2022 at 7 p.m., and the moderator of the forums will be the young actor Adrian Pezdirc, who is also one of the founders of the BoliMe initiative. At the first forum held on January 22, 2022, the guest will be psychiatrist Hrvoje Handl. Applications for the forums are available at the same link, and literally anyone can participate.

The project is co-financed by the European Union with funds from the European Social Fund.

The KUFER theater company is solely responsible for the contents of the post.

Applications for the workshops and forums are open from January 15! !