Little Theatre Lab

Little Theatre Lab started as a pilot project at the turn of 2016 and 2017 rooted in actions and neighbours’ meetings conducted by the Theatre Pedagogues’ Association in Praga district in 2015 (also within  “Open  Ząbkowska” festival). The project gathered theatre pedagogues, artists, culture animators and educators from who focused on the idea of developing a mobile tool enabling finding direct contact with neighbours. We created a new form of mobile theatre lab inspired by the itinerant theatre, japanese picture theatre Kamishibai and Mobile School – a tool used by Praga Północ district street workers. A theatre wagon was made – a unique cargo bike – an object created for meetings between theatre pedagogues and local kids playing outside. Its individual parts: boxes, trapdoors and flaps as well as all the equipment were designed to induce the highest level of creativity. 

Interacting with simple objects such as strings, fabrics, paper, slides, maps or boxes hidden on the wagon let the participants change allegedly trivial space into the scenery for common activities. In the end, while playing at ease, unique stories, mini-performances and original constructs are made. The primary rule is the freedom to create, letting us appreciate and strengthen the spontaneous ideas of children, and with time find a way “to use” them in theatre. 

Little Theatre Lab is a lab where children can experiment and become artists while adults can observe and participate in the process. While playing children get to know the areas of theatre such as: storyline, gesture, play, concept, composition and they discover the theatre in every-day life, performative situations. 

In 2020 within the project we still have been visiting chosen courtyards of Warsaw Praga district, conducting sets of actions with elements of Little Theatre Lab or the whole theatre wagon. The further development of the Lab made us expand the aforementioned action into the School – a platform for exchange of good practices and reflections with a wider group of people who are interested in such kind of work with local communities. 

In 2020 we started the Little Theatre School Workshop within the Little Theatre Lab project. The School is a platform for exchange of experience aiming at exploration and promotion of new methodology of the artistic-pedagogical work. 

Little Theatre Lab started as a pilot project at the turn of 2016 and 2017 rooted in actions and neighbours’ meetings conducted by the Theatre Pedagogues’ Association in Praga district in 2015 (also within  “Open  Ząbkowska” festival). The project gathered theatre pedagogues, artists, culture animators and educators from who focused on the idea of developing a mobile tool enabling finding direct contact with neighbours. We created a new form of mobile theatre lab inspired by the itinerant theatre, japanese picture theatre Kamishibai and Mobile School – a tool used by Praga Północ district street workers. A theatre wagon was made – a unique cargo bike – an object created for meetings between theatre pedagogues and local kids playing outside. Its individual parts: boxes, trapdoors and flaps as well as all the equipment were designed to induce the highest level of creativity. 

Interacting with simple objects such as strings, fabrics, paper, slides, maps or boxes hidden on the wagon let the participants change allegedly trivial space into the scenery for common activities. In the end, while playing at ease, unique stories, mini-performances and original constructs are made. The primary rule is the freedom to create, letting us appreciate and strengthen the spontaneous ideas of children, and with time find a way “to use” them in theatre. 

Little Theatre Lab is a lab where children can experiment and become artists while adults can observe and participate in the process. While playing children get to know the areas of theatre such as: storyline, gesture, play, concept, composition and they discover the theatre in every-day life, performative situations. 

In 2020 within the project we still have been visiting chosen courtyards of Warsaw Praga district, conducting sets of actions with elements of Little Theatre Lab or the whole theatre wagon. The further development of the Lab made us expand the aforementioned action into the School – a platform for exchange of good practices and reflections with a wider group of people who are interested in such kind of work with local communities. 

In 2020 we started the Little Theatre School Workshop within the Little Theatre Lab project.

The School is a platform for exchange of experience aiming at exploration and promotion of new methodology of the artistic-pedagogical work.