The Crisis Youth Volunteering Programme is offering young people the opportunity to create a short production looking at their experiences of being homeless.

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Tuesday Mar 04, 2008

The stories and characters

Hi everyone!!

Last week, we started getting the stories together for our DVD. Everyone involved is really excited about the project and the progress we have made!

There are three main characters for our drama and last week we did character brainstorms and character building exercises to explore how these 3 characters might walk, talk, behave and act in different scenarios. Everyone had a lot of fun playing around with the 3 different roles.

In the story, the three characters become homeless and are from different backgrounds. We all came to a joint agreement that this will portray how homelessness can happen to anyone, regardless of whether they are rich or poor, middle or working class.

We have not yet decided on a detailed outcome of the characters but want to show different routes people might take and how becoming homeless can either be a positive or negative experience depending on how they deal with their situation and what options they take. We are hoping that this will give the message to the young people watching that making the right choices at this transitional stage is essential as it will determine whether it is a ‘make or break’ situation.

As much as we all had fun messing around and acting silly when acting out the roles, everyone was very passionate about the message we are trying to bring across. Also, I think we felt we could relate to some of the characters and their backgrounds so some of us were quite emotionally involved.

This week we hope to build an even more detailed story line and decide what the character’s outcomes are going to be. I think I can safely say that everyone is really excited to get into character, but I shall keep you posted!!

Signing out…for now, Mo.

Posted by Crisis Youth Volunteers ( 11:18 AM )
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Group pose

Most of the team got together to smile for the camera.

Posted by Crisis Youth Volunteers ( 11:17 AM )
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Meet the workshop leaders

My name is Jana Zeineddine, I am a Lebanese-American actress, writer and current MA Applied Theatre student at the Central School of Speech & Drama. I became involved in the drama workshop at Crisis as a drama practitioner because I believe in the power of drama to educate, inspire and transform. I hope to achieve work collaboratively with the group that is reflective of their message, breaks down stereotypes about hidden homelessness and makes them proud.  I feel fortunate to work with a group of people that come to sessions with immense creativity, intelligence and passion.

My name is Maria and I am volunteering at Crisis as a Drama Workshop Leader.

I left home after my GCSE's to study performing arts at the BRIT school. I then went travelling in Australia and worked in Greece. I did an acting foundation course at Arts Educational and I am currently working towards my BA(Hons) in Drama and Theatre Arts at Goldsmiths College, University of London and teaching drama at Helen O'Grady in Croydon.

This Crisis project attracted me because I have a passion for drama that I am keen to share with other young people. I hope to gain some valuable expereince in teaching and working collaboratively towards a successful finished product that informs young people about hidden homelessness.

Posted by Crisis Youth Volunteers ( 11:10 AM )
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