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Freedom Theatre 2012: 'The Show Must Go On' [17.12.2011]

Things are really looking up at The Freedom Theatre! After a devastating year – the unsolved murder of our General Director, friend and co-founder of The Freedom Theatre, Juliano Mer Khamis – we are back on our feet and moving forward with projects new and old, continuing the struggle for individual and collective freedom through art.

As the year comes to an end, we say goodbye to the first class of Acting School students as they have successfully completed the three year Acting School programme. While we say goodbye to them as students, we are happy to report that some of them will continue on with The Freedom Theatre in wide-ranging ways, allowing them to move from students to instructors or as participants in one of the theatre's many projects. Additionally, our current first year Acting School students, who through the support of people like you have continued to receive educational grants to assist them in their studies, will enter into their second year of training in 2012.

To visualize the experiences of life under oppression we have recently started training several Playback Theatre troupes. Playback theatre is a tool for community building, dialogue and trauma recovery. In a Playback Theatre performance, audience members relate life experiences and a team of actors and musicians transform these accounts into improvised theatre pieces. Playback Theatre helps to foster community health through the sharing of stories that remind us of our humanity and our capacity for resistance, survival and creativity.

The New Year will prove to be an active one for The Freedom Theatre as we move to the streets, involving the residents of Jenin Refugee Camp both in the process of creating and performing a production that will be staged as part of a Street Art Festival. Moving further afield, you can catch us on the bus – the Freedom Bus that is – as we travel to key sites of oppression and resistance within the West Bank, listening to and enacting the experiences of community members using Playback Theatre techniques. Supporters from around the world are encouraged to join the ride to learn more about life in Palestine and we hope to see you on board!

The accomplishments of The Freedom Theatre over the past six years are many and we are confident that we will continue implementing creative projects that change the lives of children and youth in the local community – but we need your assistance. You can best help us by signing up for a monthly donation program, becoming a long-term partner of The Freedom Theatre. We hope to get 1000 people from around the world to donate at least 10 USD/EUR or equivalent per month.

To contribute to this goal, please go to www.thefreedomtheatre.org/support.php where you can make a one-time end-of-year donation or sign up to make monthly donations which will last us throughout the year.

If you would like more information about our activities please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for your continued support!

Sincerely,
The Freedom Theatre

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