OUR MISSION

We use the power of theatre, creative ritual and the arts to empower people in communities to tell their stories so they can reweave themselves back into society.

 

OUR VISION

A world  where communities can sit and process the wounds of their past and their common challenges together - using performing arts, bridging divisions and acknowledging each other's truth by listening from their hearts.

 

OUR VALUES

Creativity. Art. Community. Imagination. Re-humanization. Curiosity. Healing. Historic Memory. Inclusive Truth. Social change. Conflict resolution. Beauty. 

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METHODOLOGY

We are inspired by and use the methodologies of:

 

• Theatre of the Oppressed

• Theatre of Witness

• Applied Theatre

• Expressive Movement

• Shamanic practices and Creative Ritual

• Gestalt Therapy

• Storytelling 

• Deep Listening 

• Meditation

• Council Circle

• Ecstatic Dance

• Playback Theatre

 

 

MEET ME

Alessia Cartoni

founder and artistic director

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alessia Cartoni  holds a graduate degree in Cultural & Social Anthropology and and undergraduate degree in Art History from UAM University in Madrid. She also graduated in Dramatic Arts from Juan Carlos Corazza’s Studio in Madrid, Spain and has acting experience on film, television and the stage. Alessia is an actress and director, a Theatre of the Oppressed and Theatre of Witness practitioner, she was ImaginAction’s coordinator from 2012 to 2014.

As a facilitator, Alessia explores stories of trauma and resilience using Theatre of Witness, Autobiographical Storytelling, Rainbow of Desire, Ritual, music and movement. She has worked in Sudan, Guatemala, US, China, Northern Ireland, Spain, Italy, Norway, The Netherlands, Belgium and Colombia facilitating community based projects using Theatre of the Oppressed, Theatre of Witness, movement, dance, arts and storytelling. She creates theatre pieces with the very protagonists of the real stories in real life, that have been silenced or invisibilized by society.

She has worked with survivors of torture from Sudan, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Uganda, Nigeria, Guatemala, El Salvador and Russia and has brought her tools in the healing and resignification of the wounds from sexual violence, sexual slavery and gender violence.

She leads a series of workshops called Unveiling Myself, in which participants explore issues on gender and personal challenges through autobiographical storytelling, theatre, ritual and Beauty.

She has become a Theater of Witness practitioner with the mentoring of Teya Sepinuck (Theater of Witness founder and director) in Northern Ireland. She directed in 2014 her first Theatre of Witness production in Belfast, Our Lives Without You, with the families of those killed in the Ballymurphy massacre.

As a social educator Alessia has done therapeutic work with both children and adolescents whom are under the custody of IMMF, Instituto Madrileño del Menor y la Familia (The Madrid Institute for the protection of children and Families). As a member of the therapeutic team, Alessia tapped the healing power of creativity and imagination as tools to help these children symbolize their difficult ordeals.

Alessia has combined her training as an actor and anthropologist in her involvement with projects of international cooperation in which she has used Theater of the Oppressed methodologies. In Sudan she developed forum theater pieces dealing with female genital mutilation, forced marriage, and other issues.  Back in Spain, she developed workshops geared to sensitizing people about the difficult conditions of South Sudan using Art therapy and other modalities. She currently teaches Art History to theater students at Corazza’s Studio, works as an actor and facilitator and has completed her training in Gestalt Therapy.

She speaks Italian, Spanish, English, Gallego and conversational French.