DPS invited by AVP to work with Iraqi refugees in Jordan.

Ann Ward, an amazing practitioner of peace in the world is organizing a major Alternatives to Violence Project in Jordan. The project will be working with young people living in Iraqi refugee camps. The project has invited Steven to come and share the DPS applications of theatre with AVP.
If you would like to help support this project, which needs funding to help get Steven and the other facilitators there, you can send contributions to my Paypal account at dramaticproblemsolving@gmail.com
Thank you.

Peace Garden Project

Students from United World College cominbed efforts with Dramatic Problem Solving, Barking Horse Farm and the Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation for a project to help families living in La Carpio. The UWC students and their teacher Yaya worked on Barking Horse Farm to prepare a garden. When preparations were complete, families from La Carpio, a neighborhood where gardening is not a possibility, came out to the farm and planted seeds and starts. Everyone enjoyed the cultural sharing. The UWC students then went to La Carpio and helped in the installation of new bunk beds in houses where large families with little space live. This is an important project of the CRHF in the improvement of the standard of living of these families. The first harvests were collected from the garden this past weekend. The La Carpio families enjoyed a day in the river, making music, harvesting vegetables, some of which they had never tasted before, and making music.

La Carpio Project Update

The women's group has bee awarded a grant to take their play about Breast Cancer, Health and Education to sites around the country. This is an amazing moment of empowerment for this group of women from one of the poorest, most defamed and marginalized neighborhoods in Costa Rica. Thanks to all the women and especially Gail Nystrom for making this happen and continue to happen.

DPS Workshop Upcoming

The Fifth annual Semana Santa Dramatic Problem Solving workshop will be held this April. The dates are April 7 to 12. We will be gathering at the Bakring Horse Farm in the mountains of Puriscal, Costa Rica to play, explore, act, learn, grow, and make change in our internal and external worlds. Please join us for this interactive exploration of how we can use theatre and group facilitation to transform community conflicts. The workshop includes a DPS manual, five nights lodging, most meals, a guided hike to a waterfall, and participation in an exciting public forum theatre event. The cost is US $425 per person. Partial scholarships are available on an as need basis. Contact Steven at dramaticproblemsolving@gmail.com for more information.

DPS in Africa

Steven was invited to come to the International Gathering of the Alternatives to Violence Project in Kenya. 125 people from 24 countries were gatehred together for a week of sharing, compassion, and growth. AVP, which started in prisons and has since spread worldwide with its mission of nonviolence as a way of life, of expecting the best in everyone, is powerful work. The DPS model was presented as a workshop. I showed ways theatre coudl be used in the context of community conflict. I have used it in prisons, as have many others, including my good friend Hector Aristizabal.
About 15 people made four short plays on topics they defined in the workshop on Wednesday. The plays were about social exclusion, racism, communication breakdown, and family problems. Then we went with them to the whole gathering on Thursday night. The actors really went for it. Amazing performances. Then the audience decided they wanted to see the racism play in the forum. We had a great response, about 8 people got out of their seats and into the action. 8 interventions for a 5 minute play, that is pretty powerful and pretty real. Here we see workshop participants making a machine. The Machine that Makes Hope.
In 2010 the IG of AVP will be in Nepal. We hope to be going and sharing more great work with more good people. For more information on AVP, check out http://www.avpinternational.org/

Breast Cancer Education Focus of new DPS project

July 2008The La Carpio women's group has been hard at work developing a piece of interactive theatre to bring to coffee workers in Naranjo, Costa Rica. The focus is on education and health care, especially education about breast cancer. The Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation will be bringing a health fair to the plantation in September and December. 12 performances are scheduled. through the play, which comes from the stories and experiences of the group members we will create actions to better the lives of the coffee workers through long-term health and education projects. If you would like more information on the project or to support our work, please write to dramaticproblemsolving@gmail.com or send your donation to Steven Hawkins, 5800 Fernley Dr. West 14, West Palm Beach, FL 33415.

March Workshop an International and Intercultural Success

From March 17 to March 22 the Mountain Home Retreat Center at Barking Horse Farm in Puriscal, Costa Rica was transformed into a mini-United Nations. Except here the members were not giving speeches and calling for the creation of committees, instead they were using Dramatic Problem Solving to address the issue of Tolerance to Cultural and Social Diversity. 

The group of DPS Workshop participants featured members from Egypt, Benin, Brazil, Germany, Canada, the United States, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Japan. 

We worked through the DPS process and created a lively, engaging, and real Forum  theatre play that was presented to the local community. The community responded with imaginative, important, and realistic interventions that got everyone thinking, talking, and changing. 

This March's workshop was one of the best ever, both for its international component and for the quality of the work produced. 

I wish everyone who participated in it all the best. And I hope that we all get the chance to work together again.