GREEN DRAMA:
Influencing Choices and European Youth Work
Training Course
06.-11.03.2009
Hyvärilä Youth Centre, Nurmes
Metsäkartano Youth Centre, Rautavaara
Finland
INTRODUCTION
Environmental Education through Drama:Green Drama
Text: Jaana Hiltunen, Heli Konivuori
Translation: Tarja Malmi-Raike
What is Green Drama?
Sometimes environmental issues, and personal values related to them are being dealt with and clarified using self expression and other elementsof drama (learning through Drama). This method of working we call the Green Drama. The Green Drama shares values and goals with the environmental education. The ultimate goal is to transform individual actions and lifestyles to be more environmentally friendly.
In the Green Drama everybody can be involved in the action. A theatrical performance is not being produced, and there is no audience present. Instead, group interaction, active partnership and personal experience are essential. These are also key elements in drama in general.
The learning experiencein the Green Drama is based on the previous knowledge and experience of the active partners. Together they create an evolving story combining various viewpoints. At the same time everyone can evaluate his/her own thoughts and opinions. We don’t see the Green Drama as an art form, since in it environmental issues come first instead of f.eg aesthetic or other artistic elements.
What does a Green Drama Session look like?
First an environmental issue or theme is chosen. Then it is processed through various activities and exercises. A Green Drama session begins with a warming up followed by exercises related to the issue on both a common and a personal level, and a finish. Warming up is important in creating a positive atmosphere where active presence, contact and interaction are possible. It also introducesthe general framework for the chosen theme.
The instructor of the session also has an important role to play. She/he monitors the process, helps in keeping it going, and creates a safe working atmosphere. The instructor also encourages the partners to experiment on new ways of acting, and respects individual insight. The Green Drama has been successfully performed by different age groups from 13-years on.
Role-taking and Improvised Performances inGreen Drama
Role-taking is important both in drama and in the Green Drama. It means stepping into a role, and acting accordingly in an imaginary situation as if it was real life. Role-taking is a good way of widening your own horizons when stepping into somebody else’s shoes. Carrying a role you can safely say and do things you wouldn’t dream of in the real world. The Green Drama role-takingis a far cry from the theatrical role play, but functions as a valuable tool in the learning process.
Improvised performances can introduceus the role play characters and their actions in various hypothetical situations, or illustrate the next step in a continuum of events. The performances using acting or mime are not rehearsed or planned ahead. Sometimes set lines or other attributes are given. The other workshop members form an audience. The content and the message come first in a Green Drama performance.
Source
Hiltunen&Konivuori.2005: Vihreä draama – draaman keinoin kestäviin elämäntapoihin.
Hiltunen&Konivuori.2005: Vihreää draamaa tavaramaailmassa
THE GREEN DRAMA
(Source: Hiltunen, Jaana and Konivuori, Heli, 2005: Vihreä draama,
Translated from Finnish to English by Helena Karhu)
The Green Drama is about Environmental Education, which uses means of drama education and it aims to change a person’s behavior. The ultimate goal is to transform individual actions and lifestyles to be more environmentally friendly.
THE CRITERIA OF GREEN DRAMA
- Environment educational goal and theme
- Form of participatory theatre, which enables the participation of all the people who are present in the situation.
- Dialogue in the group process
- Startling experience
- Reflection
- Trying new ways of behavior/action
Methodology of Environmental Education, which takes advantage of the basic elements of theatre, playing, games, action and experiences.
It bases on environmental topics, not aesthetics or making art. It is not an art form, and it is played without audience.
Environmental Education + drama = Green DramaTHE GOAL OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
Educational perspective, which emphases equality and justice, is the foundation for sustainable development and environmental education.
*AWARENESS – To clarify and to increase the understanding of environment and the human impact on it
*ATTITUDES – To help to clarify the values and feelings towards the environment
*SENSITIVITY – To help to reach a personal connection with environment through own experience
*SKILLS – To give practical tools to solveenvironmental problems
*PARTICIPATION – to give a possibility and to increase motivation to actively participate in improving the local neighborhood and environment
A person is in interaction with his/her environment, and is influencing it during the whole lifetime. Therefore Environmental Education islife-long learning process, which is not only for children and youth. Also adults need space for personal reflections to support the knowledge, to become aware of the personal values and to realize the effects of ones own actions.
WORKING METHODS OF GREEN DRAMA
The methods of drama education are perfectly suitable for Green Drama and Environmental Education. Drama education enables the learning through experience, has background in the learner’s own experiences / geographical world and knowledge, and uses the person’s natural ways to express him/herself. Methods leave room for individual creativity, new thoughts, and focus on deeper understanding through one’s own ways of thinking and problem-solving. This is central for the goals of Environmental Education.
Drama enables action and dialogue with one’s own self and with others. The body, expressions, and “inner world” of the participants are used as working tools in Green Drama. Thought, images, verbal expressions, body language, senses and presence are important elements. Varied, participatory dialogue and group work is essential in Green Drama, like in Drama Education.
The structure of the Green Drama program consists of (1.) warming up(2.) working with the theme, and (3.) `”Final Act” . These work stages include for example the methods and practices mentioned below.
- Warming up
Icebreakers and focusing to the theme,getting-to-know-each-other-, contact-, concentration- and sense-activities, body- and movement exercises and other so called group activities, stories, music, painting and drawing
- Working with the theme
improvisation, mini-performances, creation of role characters and scene, functioning in the role and getting to know it, concentration- and sense-activities, story, games, songs, poems, drawing, writing, discussions
- “Final act”
Promise, concentration- and sense-activities, body- and movement-exercises, games, stories, music, writing, poems
Methods to make drama are various. The activities used in Green Drama were chosen from field of the drama education because they promote well the goals of the environmental educational and because they are challenging, but not too difficult. Here few working methods are introduced more carefully:
WORKING WITH ROLES
Role-taking/Role-playing is the most important method of drama and it is used in Green Drama too. The point of it is, that one steps into a role which is pre-decided together, for example “Eco” or “Öky” and the participants are acting in the situation like it would be real.
Through the role one can try out and train new issues and ways of action. Stepping into a role enables access to ones own, or other peoples, inner world and opens perspectives. It is safe to say and try things through a role.
In Green Drama, working with role is not the same as in a theatre, but is used as a good tool to learning.
IMPROVISATION
In improvisation one is acting in an imaginary situation. The performances are not rehearsed, but they can be planned in advance. Besides acting, also pantomime can work. To help with planning, the trainer can give for example some lines or other frames. In Green Drama, the most important is the content and the message.
DRAWING ROLE
The participants are drawing characters together in small groups. They can also write down some common features of the character, for example name, gender, age, hobbies. The characters will be used in the role playing.
THE instructor –IN- role
The instructor can lead the situation by taking a temporary role. For example,when she/he is playing an elf.
STILL-IMAGE
The participants create in small groups a still-IMAGE, “a photograph” about an event or an action. The pictures are shown to other participants. Other participants wait eyes closed, until the group is ready with the picture. If groups want, they can comment the pictures or develop them. Still-pictures can be made as improvisation.
ESSENCE MACHINE / MOVING SCULPTURES
One of the participants goes in the middle of the room and starts to make a movement or sound of his/her choosing. Other participants join the machine/SCULPTURE one by one and become a part of the machine/SCULPTURE, repeating their own movement or sound. A common MACHINE will be formed. The machine can also be put to pieces in the end. Each participant steps out from the machine when they like.
THE LEARNING PROCESS IN GREEN DRAMA
The learning in Green Drama is based on the idea of life-long learning. It is based on the earlier experiences, knowledge, abilities to think and find connections. Awareness and clarification of life experience, knowledge, values and personal goals enable the continuous development of understanding.
Green Drama connects cognitive-constructive learning and means of humanism. According to a humanistic learning concept, the learner is an active partner in the learning process. The goal is to change the practices, to develop understanding of self, testing strategies, and to assimilate new attitudes together with mental growth and realization of personal possibilities. Like in drama, the process is emphasizing the importance of social interaction, creativity, own initiative and realization of ones own potentials.
Green Drama is used as a tool in social influencing. It can function both as a learning tool of needed knowledge and skills, and as a changing power of society. One can perceive relationships of interaction and ones own role in the surrounding world through Green Drama.
Green Drama sets free the creativity of the participants and therefore enables reflection and self-knowledge. With the help of reflection, the participants can put their experiences into words and concepts. This helps in organizing ones own thoughts and learning process. It enables the realization of the goals of Environmental Education, and especially the needed change in the actions/behavior of the participants.
ON THE GREEN DRAMA PROGRAMS:
The Green Drama –book includes the following 10 programs in Finnish:
*Connection of Three Corners – the dimensions of sustainable development
*Influencing Choices –ways of life
*Shopping for Beginners – shopping habits
*Suspicious Lifecycle – the lifecycle of a product
*World without Waste – the waste management
*Weird Object of a Fairy – consumerism
*Dark Thing! – energy matters
*Responsible Steps – traffic
*Furious Water Routes – water
*Big Quarrel of the Fairies and Trolls – eutrophication
The Green Drama activities issue sustainable lifestyle and ways of life from different perspectives. The activities can be used as described, or each trainer/multiplier can adapt the activities suitable for their group. The activities can be used as orientation, inspiration, or repetition of the learned subject. All the activities have been tested in practice.
The description of the programs include the goal, theme, target group, group size, duration, needed equipment, special requirements of the room space and other tips. Scissors and tape are needed in all the activities.
Each description includes the purpose from the environmental educations or drama works perspective.
Most of the programs are suitable for youth and adults, except the “Weird Object of a Fairy” –activity, which has been used with 7-10 year olds. The age of the target group is only suggestive. The programs can be used with younger participants, if the amount of knowledge of the group is sufficient. In some of the programs the participants might need some basic knowledge, knowledge of the concepts and certain level of thought. Most of the programs have been developed so, that perceiving the big picture and reflection are needed to reach the goal of the activity. This is why some of the activities are not suitable for very young participants.
The programs have been developed so that the minimum size of the group is 8-10, and the maximum is 25. The exception is the activity “The Connection of Three Corners”, in which the maximum group size is 12. The duration of the programs is 1,5 – 2 hours. The programs are supposed to be made without breaks.
Part of the programs include get-to-know-each-other games in the beginning. They are always being made, when the participants don’t know each others. If the group members know each others, different concentration activities and energizers can be used for orientation to the theme and to gain attention.
In the end of the programs, the participants make promises for the better future of the world. There are different ways to make these promises. The feedback of the participants can be asked in the end of the program or later. The trainer can adapt the programs for example by adding to the end of the activities a feedback discussion for reflection: How are you feeling now? What thoughts this activity raised?
It is important to keep always in mind the general goal of Green Drama, and to remember environmentally friendly ways of working also during the process.
INFLUENCING CHOICES
Goal: / To increase awareness about ones own consumer habits and their environmental effectsTheme: / Own consumer habits, different lifestyles
Target group: / From 13-year olds to adults
Group size: / 8-25 persons
Duration: / about 2 hrs
Materials and space needed:
-copies of the annex number 1 and 2
-board
-marker pens
-newspapers
-tape
-pens
-small pieces of paper
-a dice
-3 boxes with the following texts: FACTS, OTHERS and ME
Comments:
Eco = character, who is functioning super-environmentally friendly
Öky = character, who is functioning without caring about the environment. (translator’s notice: This word Öky is a Finnish one without suitable English version, but for example LUX could be used, which would come from “luxurious”)
When starting to draw Eco and Öky, you should define the gender of the character for the groups.
a)Orientation to the theme and space:
- MYSELF AS A CONSUMER –introduction, getting-to-know-each-others
Everybody is standing in a circle. Everybody is thinking of a word, which describes themselves as a consumer. This will become a new “family name” for the person. This game could be made more difficult so, that the word should start with the first letter of their first name. Everybody in the circle says in their time their own last name, and makes some movement. Others repeat the name and the movement.
- YES – GAME –concentration, getting-to-know-each-others
Everybody stands in a circle. The leader starts the exercise by taking an eye contact with someone in the circle. When the person in the circle notices this, the person will nod his/her head and say “yes”. After this, the leader will walk towards that person to change to his/her place in the circle. Next, the person who lost the place needs to continue the same practice. This exercise lasts, until everybody in the circle has changed their place.
In the next round, in stead of saying “yes”, the person needs to say the name made up in the previous exercise.
- FACES OF THE CONSUMPTION –introduction to the theme
Everybody stands in a circle. A person who begins will be chosen. He/she chooses a movement, which others repeat. The starter gives her/his turn to another one by touching him/her to the shoulder. This will be repeated.
In suitable moments, the leader will interrupt the game by saying “stop”. The leader will read a claim (annex 1.) to which the participants are answering no / yes. The persons answering “yes” have to go down on their knees, and the ones answering “no” have to stand up and raise their hands up. The leader gives the right answer, after which the game continues. (Please see the annex 1.)
b)Working with the subject / basic level:
- STORY OF ECO AND ÖKY –getting to know different ways of life
Eco- and Öky –puzzle: Division into groups