“How did this war start for me?” Processing Trauma Using Documentary Theatre in the Theatre Project "Voices"

• In Event: Healing Trauma and Creating Friendships Through Ethnodrama and Other Forms of Research-Based Theatre

Abstract

This reflective essay discusses the method and shares examples of the Documentary Theatre Process employed by Junges Theater Köln. I describe how our Documentary Theatre Process was crystalized during the development of Voices, an immersive, museum-based production about the experiences of Youth and Adult Ukrainian War refugees produced in Cologne at the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum and the Museumsdienst Köln. A major focus of my reflections is how the museum setting interacts and deepens the impact of the live theatre production and how the young people heal through performance and grow and develop as actors and human beings.

Author

• Svetlana Fouer, Young Theatre Cologne