InterACT – Werkstatt für Theater and Soziokultur
Graz/Austria

Contact:
Neubaugasse 94, 8020 Graz
+43 650 72 09 350
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www.interact-online.org

InterACT is a non-profit, professional theatre group and cultural initiative that uses theatre and drama to help create a culture of dialogue, to help diverse people find ways to live together, to empower people and encourage them to participate in society, as well as promote personal, social and political processes of change. InterACT conducts workshops, projects and productions in many areas, institutions and spaces to negotiate the borders between everyday life, culture and art by encouraging participants to creatively examine conflicts, problems and visions. InterACT mostly uses interactive, participatory theatre forms and methodologies like Forum Theatre and Legislative Theatre drawing inspiration from Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, David Diamond’s Theatre for Living and Jonathan Fox’ Playback Theatre.

Depending on the specific project, InterACT works at the interdisciplinary interface between art, political pedagogic practice and research. We consider our theatrical processes to be political, participatory, social and aesthetic research processes. InterACT intervenes in different social and political fields like schools, prisons, social organizations, urban or rural districts, parks and public spaces. InterACT has worked with different groups and communities of people like the homeless, unemployed, those living under conditions of poverty, refugees, migrants, people with (dis-)abilities, young people, young adults in disadvantageous situations and elderly people living in social isolation, as well as many others.

During recent years, InterACT has developed a broad level of expertise that allows them to bridge the gap between political/ administrative decision-makers and people who are affected by certain social problems using political-participatory theatre methods. These projects have been carried out with many partners and initiatives, social and political movements, and have resulted in performances being held at places where political and administrative decisions are made like town halls, the Regional Parliament of Styria and the National Parliament in Vienna.

On an international level, InterACT has taken part in to the EU-Sokrates- Grundtvig projects “Spielend leben lernen” (2001-2004), “TWISFER (2003-2004) and “ALEN” (2011-2013). InterACT was one of the main organizers of the WorldForumTheatreFestival held in 2009 in Austria. In addition, InterACT has presented projects that have been performed as Forum Theatre Plays, run workshops and given lectures, for example, in Austria, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia, USA, Belgium, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Hungary, Brazil, Turkey, Ukraine, Iran and Sweden.

In 2007, InterACT received a prize from the Austrian Ministry of Arts for “Art in Social Space”. In 2010, InterACT won the first prize of the SozialMarie competition, a prize for social innovation (www.socialmarie.org) and, in 2013, InterACT was awarded the Austrian National Prize for Adult Education on the Main Topic: Political Education.

Michael Wrentschur
Artistic director, facilitator Theatre Labs

Martin Vieregg
Director’s assistant; Co-facilitator Theatre Labs

Marianne Köberl-Wrentschur
International coordination

Brigitte Schaberl
Office management, public relation

Wolfgang Rappel
Recording, art design and technical production management

Umsetzung Design & Programmierung
helpIT & more

Common Ground is implemented by InterACT – Werkstatt für Theater und Soziokultur from Graz/Austria, which also acts as the project initiator and coordinator, together with Artemisszio Foundation (Budapest), University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education, Departement for Social pedagogy and Kulturno društvo Gmajna,Social Center Rog (Ljubljana) and The Swallow’s Tail Association (Zagreb).

“Common Ground” is financially supported by the Government of Styria / Department of Culture – In the context of the Project Call from the Styrian Government for Cross Border Cultural and Artistic Projects: “Strategies for the Future – an Artistic Contribution to the Refugee Crisis“. “Common Ground” is also financially supported by the BKA/Kunstsektion, City of Graz/Cultural Affairs and the Styrian Government, department for youth and department for integration and social affairs.