Dialogue and healing through the stage

sân khấu - Ảnh 1. — Lyon Nguyen (far right) and Nguyen Thanh Phuong (third from the right) instruct deaf and hard-of-hearing students participating in a class under the "Listening at Touchpoint" project - Photo: BINH MINH

Interactive and creative art activities such as youth forum stages and dance movements for the deaf and hard of hearing are not only creative playgrounds but also safe spaces where participants can be heard, express their feelings, and find a connection between art and themselves.

Blurring the lines between "actor" and "audience"

Established in April 2020, Saigon Theatreland has become a place for practicing theatrical arts for young, non-professionals, with a focus on the forum theatre project under the Applied Theatre Club, aiming to expand the creative space for the community who love theatre but are not professional performers.

In this interactive art model, the performance begins like any traditional work, but allows the audience to role-play and try different solutions to the problem presented on stage, intervening at the "crossroads" where the conflict escalates and the protagonist's tragedy intensifies.

Each audience member is both an artist and a seeker of answers to very familiar issues in life, such as conflicts in family relationships, friendships, building trust in the workplace, etc., which they may be facing every day.

Nguyen Thanh Phuong (born in 1998), co-founder of Saigon Theatreland, said that unlike conventional performing arts, the forum stage focuses on interaction and dialogue to find solutions, attracting members from many fields outside of art such as education , psychology, natural sciences, technology, business, etc.

For them, this is not only a place to indulge their passion but also a way to nurture their emotions and express their feelings through scripts.

"In the future, the project will continue to expand advanced training courses for community theater practitioners, and will also continue to implement the Open Workshop program - an event showcasing forum theater plays staged by different groups - at venues such as Youth Cultural Centers and universities to reach more young people," Thanh Phuong shared.

Đối thoại và hàn gắn qua sân khấu - Ảnh 2. — In this forum-style setting, each audience member is both an artist and a seeker of answers to very familiar questions in life.

Đối thoại và hàn gắn qua sân khấu - Ảnh 3. — The "Listening to Touchpoints" project creates opportunities for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals to access and participate in dance through performance.

When body language transcends the auditory barrier

Besides the forum stage, the Applied Theatre Club is also collaborating with the Experience Club, founded by choreographer Lyon Nguyen (born in 1991), on the "Listening to the Touchpoint" project with the support of the Goethe Institute. This is an artistic initiative aimed at the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, creating opportunities for them to access and participate in dance through performance.

They organized the first workshop to explore the needs and potential for interaction between deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals and dance.

By the end of 2024, the project began receiving support from the Goethe Institute, allowing the team to organize the program in a more structured and professional manner. Each session has 12 students, with Lyon leading the class along with teaching assistants and interpreters.

For the deaf and hard of hearing, the class has become a space for connection, and smiles have helped alleviate their worries and anxieties. Bui Thi Thanh Huong, a deaf student, said she wishes "the class would last forever," and the performance would be an opportunity for her to prove that the deaf and hard of hearing can achieve so much…

"I hope my parents, relatives, and former teachers from Hope School can see me standing on this stage. I want them to be proud of me," Thanh Huong shared.