The Bird of Happiness

THE BIRD OF HAPPINESS

The project "Inspiration - art for change" aimed to

to stimulate greater social cohesion in Bulgaria through greater mutual understanding between the majority and cultural minorities with a focus on the Roma people.

In this project, State Puppet Theater Sliven, Bulgaria, and K:13 Scenekunst, Norway, were to work with Roma children over a period of time, where they would help develop the performance, make puppets and props, and participate as actors on stage.

Two classes from schools in the area, mainly consisting of Roma people, participated in the project, and were first at the theater festival "The Magic of the Wind" in the fall of 2023, where they got to know the State Puppet Theater Sliven and with us in K:13. All the students got to see our performance Romeo and Juliet.

Throughout the fall, the director and actors from the State Puppet Theater Sliven worked with the students at the school, where they developed and came up with a fairy tale to base the performance on.

The fairy tale "The Bird of Happiness"

And they participated in making puppets and props for the interactive parts of the performance.

The theater focused on a full-scale theater production, with actors, puppets, masks, singing, music, lighting and sound.

This was the children's first time at the theater, where many mainly only spoke Romani, a little Bulgarian, and a little English.

K.13 contributed to the development of interactive elements to enhance the experience between stage and audience, and we participated as actors in the performance.