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About
HATS
- Program Goals
The HATS goal is to raise awareness about issues facing seniors. Using mime to illustrate
issues and solutions, this program transcends linguistic and literary barriers while
empowering seniors.
The empowering effects of the program are demonstrated in several ways:
- Volunteer actors are empowered by participating in an educational program that
brings them to the community.
- Audience members are empowered by changing the outcome of the play, thereby
learning new strategies for resolving issues that resonate in their lives.
- Using mime theatre reduces language and literacy barriers.
- The element of fun and the informality of participatory theatre along with the
sense of community one gets from engaging in a common activity of
performing/watching a play enables seniors to discuss issues that are otherwise
too serious, too private or too shameful to share with others.
Another important outcome of this project has been its empowering effect on the senior
actors who may have lost their status in society when they immigrated. Through this
experience they have found a new role and importance in their lives, in their community
and in society in general as public educators.
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