International Digital Encounter

"CHILDREN & YOUTH PERFORMING ON AIR"

 

"Radio turned into Theater Stage and we went from having Viewers to having Listeners!"

 

Social distancing and the inability to stage performances, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, made us more resourceful instead of holding us back. We just shifted attention from what we “couldn’t do”, to what we “could do”. Theatre on Air, once celebrated for its power to excite and inspire, became our “playground” and radio waves took youth’s dramatic expression and travelled it to new wave-lengths from Greece and Cyprus, as far as Australia!

 

Joining forces with Motivation in Art (Pafos), and the Creative Drama & Arts Centre of the Greek Community of Melbourne, the Theatrical Cultural Artistic Centre ''Poupoulo'' (Thessaloniki), organised the 1st International Digital Exchange, "CHILDREN & YOUTH PERFORMING ON AIR".

 

Youth took over the microphone and performed on Air excerpts from classic plays and myths to fairytales. Broadcasted by national radio-stations, in all partner countries, the performances reached different corners of the world and exerted strong emotional responses from families, relatives and friends. Radio turned into Theatre Stage and we went from having Viewers to having Listeners!

 

Theatre on Air provides ground for experimentation, creative exchange and active learning. Though it did not compensate for the all-round transformative, physical experience of theatre, it permits other liberties, and, makes its own demands.

 

"CHILDREN & YOUTH PERFORMING ON AIR" engaged youth creatively and kept it connected, enabled cultural exchange and familiarised with great works of literature. Equally important, it was Covid-19 safe and made good and conscious use of digital media.

 

Our intention is to make "CHILDREN & YOUTH PERFORMING ON AIR" grow and expand. We will use Theatre on Air to build bridges among countries, cultures and youth. Information regarding the upcoming “gathering” and its terms and conditions of participation will follow shorty. Stay tuned!!!

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The first 7 recorded adaptations of plays of the 1st International Radio-Internet Meeting of children and adolescent theater groups from Greece, Cyprus and Australia entitled "Theater in front of a microphone" have been successfully completed and broadcast on air.

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The main source of inspiration for this particular initiative was the Radio Theater, a genre of dramatic art that was very successful in the 1920s and was one of the first choices for the newly established Western radio stations, led by the British BBC.

 

Many amateur theater groups had the opportunity to talk on the radio, to explore new forms of expression, as well as to experiment creatively with new technologies. At the same time, this unprecedented experience for all participants had as its vehicle the Greek language, which traveled through radio frequencies to different parts of the world, moving the ubiquitous Hellenism!

 

The impact of the action on the public exceeded all expectations. A large number of children and adolescents participated from all three countries. Adaptations of seven plays were heard in Greece and Cyprus, while in Australia the children and young people of the Greek community continue this exciting journey in the world of radio theater until September, giving a dynamic presence to the radio SBS Greek with new recordings. In Greece, the works traveled through the 102fm radio waves of ERT3 and in Cyprus the transmission took place through the First Program of RIK. The recordings remain available to the general public online.

 

This innovative action, which aims to become an institution, returns dynamically in September 2020 with the organization of the 2nd International Radio-Internet Meeting and aspires to be a bridge of communication and "voice" for all Greeks abroad, gathering even more amateur teams from Greece, Cyprus, Australia and wherever possible.