Shadow Theater – a Training and Instruction Report

You can download the guide (available in English only) with instructions on how to implement a Shadow Theatre here.

Shadow Theatre – a Training and Instruction Guide

Shadow theater was added to the list of intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2018, which requires our utmost attention.

Theater companies that perform exclusively with shadows are quite rare, so it was of great importance to have one among our partners. One of the main focuses of this intellectual outcome was to educate and raise awareness of shadow theater as a tangible creative activity for a wide range of audiences, including people with disabilities of all kinds.

The partners themselves were the first to go through the training process, which allowed them to transfer the learning and skills to their local training events. This led to a series of local performances that included a broader network of participants with different profiles. Finally, the newly formed teams joined their creative forces to work on a transnational joint performance during the final conference in Pécs.

The shadow theater activities took place on different levels, inserting our project activities vertically and horizontally. We looked at already established models and methods through the prism of shadow theater as an integrative performing art.

We considered shadow theater as a new means of expression alongside words, images, videos, and sounds, and how this new perspective is inclusive at its core. Shadow theater themes were also integrated into the training course as an overarching module to point out that art knows no boundaries and anyone can be a performer.