Dialogue and healing through theater

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

Interactive and creative art activities such as the youth forum stage and dance movements for the deaf and hard of hearing are not only creative playgrounds, but also safe spaces for participants to be heard, speak their minds, and find connections between art and themselves.

Blurring the line between "actor" and "audience"

Established in April 2020, Saigon Theatreland has become a place to practice theatrical arts for young non-professionals, with the highlight being the forum theater project of the Applied Theater Club with the desire to expand creative space for the community that loves theater but does not work professionally.

In this interactive art model, the play begins like any traditional work, but allows the audience to take on roles to try different solutions to the problem raised on stage, intervening at "crossroads" - where conflicts are pushed to a climax, and the main character's tragedy escalates.

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

Nguyen Thanh Phuong (born in 1998), co-founder of Saigon Theatreland, said that unlike other types of 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 satisfy their passion but also helps nurture emotions and express their thoughts through scripts.

"In the coming time, the project will continue to expand advanced training courses for community theatre practitioners, and continue to implement the Open Workshop program - an event that presents forum theatre plays staged by different groups - at locations such as the Youth Cultural House and universities to reach more young people," Thanh Phuong shared.

Đối thoại và hàn gắn qua sân khấu - Ảnh 2. — With the forum stage, each audience member is both an artist and seeks answers to very familiar problems in life.

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

When body language overcomes the auditory barrier

In addition to the forum stage, the Applied Theatre Club is also collaborating with the Than Nghiem Club, founded by choreographer Lyon Nguyen (born in 1991), to implement the project "Listening to the Touch Points" 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 interactions of deaf and hard of hearing people with dance.

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

For deaf and hard of hearing people, the class has become a space for them to connect, and the smiles have helped them to ease their worries and anxieties. Bui Thi Thanh Huong, a deaf student, said she wanted "the class to last forever", and the performance would be an opportunity for her to prove that deaf and hard of hearing people can do a lot...

"I hope my parents, relatives, and former teachers who taught me at Hy Vong School can see me standing on stage. I want them to be proud of me," Thanh Huong confided.