Autobiographical Theater fiction as an innovative measure to ensure women's return to the labor market. The ATENEA program is a good practice designed by the director Domingo Ferrandis with a bidirectional methodology "Dramatherapy and Autobiographical Theater" with two lines of intervention, the personal one, focused on the vulnerable person and their group, to expose their history, feelings and thoughts through dramatherapy techniques such as artistic expression and improvisation. The second part is the autobiographical stage piece of the groups, to positively impact the environment, the community and society.
Drama therapy can be broadly defined as the use of dramatic and theatrical forms for therapeutic purposes. This definition encompasses a wide variety of interventions, such as free playing and game playing, using projective tools, action techniques, and many other creative processes (Robert Landy, Robert Montgomery, 2012), which have their ability to create an island of imagination that is embodied in the here-and-now as a common denominator.
Autobiographical Theatre fiction is a relatively new area of theatre therapy, where it is particularly helpful when working with vulnerable people to ensure their inclusion into society, and more specifically, into the labour market. Vulnerability is a very dynamic concept, and is inherent to human nature – it arises from different aspects of the human condition, such as potential harm /change in circumstances – due to ageing or rearrangements in society. Vulnerable people are defined as those who due to reasons of age, gender, physical or mental state or due to social, economic, ethnic and/or cultural circumstances (Domingo Ferrandis, 2021).
All over the world, women are concentrated in low-productivity, low-paying jobs. They work in small farms and run small firms, they are over-represented among unpaid workers and in the informal sector, and they rarely rise to positions of power. In case of Lithuania, women are very active in the labour market, with employment rates at exemplary highs. Since the start of the COVID-19 related quarantine, we have seen a rise in female unemployment, which is due to a number of factors. The service, maintenance and trade sectors have seen a virtual shutdown or retrenchment of activities, worker downtime or leave, and it is in these sectors that most women are employed. These firms recover more slowly than other sectors after the quarantine. In such circumstances, women lose their jobs more quickly. Women's family responsibilities also have an impact on their declining employment. During the quarantine period, they usually took time off work to care for their children, so that women are at greater risk of losing their jobs when the company assesses the functions performed by employees.
However, the statistics do not reveal one important thing: the individual causes, experiences and traumas, such as bereavements, difficult experiences and health problems, that lead to women's long-term unemployment, which were particularly accentuated during the pandemic, when people experienced uncertainty, social exclusion, restrictions and changes in daily routines. The Lithuanian employment system does not provide psychological counselling aimed at uncovering the deeper causes of unemployment. Formal job offers that do not match the individual's needs or self-fulfilment at the time only foster self-distrust and increase insecurity about returning to the labour market. Entrepreneurship institute as a partner of Erasmus+ project “Autobiographical Theatre fiction as innovative tool to address the human vulnerability” (ATENEA) engaged 5 unemployed women to address their vulnerability based on a unique autobiographical theatre methodology.
The project gave women the opportunity to create their own life story, to break free from the pain of the past and to gain self-esteem that will help to go back into the labour market. The age group was made up of women aged 33-51, with at least a bachelor's degree, some with a master's degree and a PhD, and a long track record of working in fields such as law or the environment in senior management positions. However, even a strong educational background or work experience does not guarantee successful and long-term integration into the labour market, if internal barriers and issues are not addressed. During the length of 24 months, project participants were engaged into the multiple autobiographical theatre related activities, including national regular workshops with a local coordinator, international training activities in Valencia, Kalamata and Lecco, national theatre premiere in Vilnius and the final 5-day festival in Valencia. When analysing real experiences, the project participants highlighted that during the project activities they learned a lot of new things about themselves and other people. More specifically:
1) knowing different cultures and living more actively stimulates creativity and relieves anxiety;
2) it is possible to find friends all over the world no matter the age, gender, culture, or other differences;
3) personal change is possible at any age and it is possible to reduce destructive behaviour and become mentally and emotionally healthier;
4) theatrical activities boost creativity at any field in life;
5) it is important to enjoy the process and not only to focus on achieving or pursuing a goal that does not provide satisfaction in the long run;
6) positive thinking and open environment helps to feel happier and more self-confident;
7) sharing emotions and experiences with other helps to feel happier;
8) it is possible to learn new things about yourself and explore further at any age;
9) leaving the comfort zone and learning new things changes the attitude regarding career decisions and encourages to explore new fields in work or education.
To sum up, it is clearly visible that ATENEA’s activities had a great positive impact on participants. They feel more happy with their lives and have more self-esteem to explore new opportunities in their career paths.
Project partners:
ASOCIACION AMBIT (Spain)
ENTRI (Lithuania)
Les Cultures (Itlay)
Euro-Med Youth Federation (EMYF) e. V. (Germany)
SOCIAL YOUTH DEVELOPMENT CIVIL NONPROFIT SOCIETY (Greece)
DRUSTVO ZA RAZVIJANJE PROSTOVOLJNEGA DELA NOVO MESTO (Slovenia)
All who find this topic relevant are welcome to join the conversation.
ATENEA‘s project website: https://ateneaprojectteam.wixsite.com
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