Introduction

YET

Under this name in August 1997 a three-year theatre project was started in which students and teachers from Greece, Italy and The Netherlands have worked together towards the realisation of three different theatre productions. The first part took place in Zakynthos (Gr) in 1997, the second part in Palermo (It) and the third part of the project has taken place at Noordwijkerhout in October 1999. After publication of the results on the internet more then 100 schools from all over Europe showed an interest in joining the project.

In 2008 we celebrated the 10^th anniversary of the project with schools from Finland and Italy and we are now preparing the 20^th edition.

We may proudly say that the project has been very successful. It is hardly conceivable that there is a better way of bringing together students with different cultural backgrounds. During the evaluations our partners in Italy and Greece thought this educational project the best they had so far taken part in. During the exchanges students as well as teachers did a lot of work and acquired many impressive experiences.

European Awards

The project has won a second prize in the National Education Award of Holland for its artistic and educational results. In 2007 it has won the European Label Award in Italy and in 2008 in Finland.

Starting point

Teylingen College expressly aims at contributing to a well-balanced education of its students. Art and culture have therefore played an important role for many years. Insight into other (European) cultures and the birth of Western civilisation will increase mutual understanding and make clear the importance of the European dimension. From this point of view the initiative for this project was taken at Teylingen College.

Aims

Cultural aims:

By jointly producing a stage play students are forced to communicate by means of speech, gesture, movement and music. Particularly the non-verbal side of this procedure causes contacts with people from other cultures to be very intense. This results into a growing insight into and understanding of the other person’s culture and cultural heritage. A more open, less prejudiced attitude towards other cultures. Besides, there will be a stimulation of interest in art and culture in general and in those of participating countries in particular.

Linguistic aims:

The linguistic aims of the project are to promote the insight that foreign languages are inevitable within the European Union and in the world in general. YET also gives the students a chance to use their foreign language skills, especially English, to become more fluent speakers of the language. Moreover, they will learn the basics of two languages, which they haven't known before.

Target Group

The students involved are 15 to 18 years old. Communicating and performing are in English

Creative teams

Each participating school supplies a creative team consisting of teachers responsible for:

- general direction

- music

- settings, costumes, stage properties

- media

Method

Preparations

The hosting country is choosing the play. The choice should give the visitors some idea of the theatrical culture of that country. The play must be translated in English and divided in three parts, one part for each creative team. The Creative team prepares their parts at home. Students prepare themselves by reading the play.

The exchange

Casting and rehearsals take place during the exchange, which will last a fortnight.

Each creative team will work with an international group, formed by students of the participating schools. This group will consist of about 25 students of which 20 actors and 5 technicians, stage designers, costumiers and reporters.