Theatre of Witness, an innovative story-telling group, focusing on deep listening and creative expression, is preparing for a six-week workshop at Ralston House.
Theatre of Witness is “a form of theater in which the true stories of people whose voices haven’t been heard are performed by the people themselves as a way for audiences to bear witness and humanize the other,” explained founder Teya Sepinuck.
Partnering with the Penn Memory Center and ARTZ Philadelphia, Sepinuck plans to bring together caregivers and loved ones living with dementia for six workshops 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays from April 6 to May 11.
“We’ll be talking and story telling and drawing and singing and doing relaxation exercises and who knows what else?” Sepinuck said. “It will be a really wonderful time to build community to feel safe and hopefully to have a lot of joy together as well as share what some of the struggles are.”
Following the first six sessions, care partners will be invited to attend an additional six-week session that will dive more deeply into the struggles of caring for a loved one with dementia.
Based on these workshops, Theatre of Witness may plan a longer project tentatively titled “I Am Now Here,” using workshop participants as actors playing themselves on a stage performance.
“It’s incredibly amazing for the performers who are often hearing their story in some way for the first time,” Sepinuck said. “They find that their story is actually medicine for other people. “
In the last three decades, Theatre of Witness has held similar workshops and performances in the United States, Poland and Northern Ireland, including refugees, prisoners and survivors of abuse.
“My work is always to bring people together and to sort of model the possibility of peace and wholeness and healing,” Sepinuck said.
To register for the Theatre of Witness workshops, contact Teya Sepinuck at 215-680-0471 or teyatova@aol.com.