The project "Theatre without borders" aims to include blind, deaf, and blind and deaf people into active social life. We will use for this purpose the unique experiences and methods of the Israeli theatre "Nalagaat", which developed for this group of people a whole system, allowing them, in particular, for the creation of excellent performances. Many blind and/or deaf people do very well; however, obvious limitations place them often on the margins of social life. As the practice of the Nalagaat theatre shows, including this group of people in active artistic activity can completely change their lives, giving it a new meaning. They are later more socially and professionally active, benefiting both themselves and the local community. Partners in the project are non-profit organizations associated with the theatre: Riksteatern from Stockholm with their Theatre of Silence, experimental German theatre Lokstoff, or dance theatre Echodrama from Greece. The Lodz partner of the applicant, the Institute of Tolerance, is Poleski ArtCentre, a befriended institution with which the Institute has cooperated many times in the past. We want to educate a group of educators who during the workshops conducted both in Tel Aviv and Lodz not only master the methods used by the Israeli theatre, but also will be able to pass them on. Participation in these workshops will be taken by trainers from the Nalagaat theatre, as well as actors from that theatre and a group of blind or deaf people from Lodz. As part of the Lodz workshops, a theatrical performance organized together is also planned. Partner meetings, apart from monitoring the course of the project, will be an opportunity for educators from the Swedish, German and Greek organizations to present their own methods, which will enrich the methodology of the Israeli theatre with elements such as dance or street game. In order to disseminate the results of the project, we plan to create intellectual work products, namely instructional video and brochure, for the further training of educators. The results of our work will be presented at the end of the project at conferences, symposia and seminars organized by all partner institutions. We expect long-term results in the form of: a significant increase in the number of educators, trainers and involved members of social and cultural organizations who will learn and apply in practice the methods of training blind and/or deaf people; permanent inclusion of a group of blind and/or deaf people in the activities of cultural institutions, in particular theatres, in all countries involved in our project and beyond their borders, and, consequently, a significant increase in the activity of this group of people.

Our brochure

CEO Oren Yitzhaki and our team at Na Laga'at welcome the delegation from the European 'Theatre without Borders' project hailing from Sweden, Greece, Germany, and Poland.
The delegation includes representatives of several European arts and theatre organizations, as well as Poland's Institute of Tolerance.
The delegation will stay with us for one week, enhancing their acquaintance with the Na Laga'at Center and exchanging professional know-how with regard to the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in cultural and artistic activities.
On the first day of their visit, our guests participated in a Sign Language workshop at the Center and met deaf-blind actor Yuri Osherov who takes part in the play "Not on Bread Alone".

In August 2022 all the partners had a meeting on the island Skiathos in Greece. Our hosts from the Echodrama Cultural group organized it. We had some time together to go over the official documents, but we also used our meeting for exchange and to develop and work on our film and brochure. We also had the chance to see some very interesting shows in the recently opened Garden Theatre of Echodrama Cultural group. The meeting strengend again our cooperation.

In December 2022 we had our last meeting and conference in Tel Aviv. Our partner from the Nalagaat theatre organized it and hostet us. We had the chance to see very interesting productions of nalagàat and the Tysk Theatre, Sweden. Echodrama Cultural Group led a moving workshop, where the actors from Nalagáat and the partners participated. We looked back on our successfull cooperation, and all partners agreed, that we gained a lot of new impressions, working methods and artistic point of views. We plan to continue our cooperation, as the benefit for all of us is enormous.