Satellite shed - dramatically impacting young lives

By YAKIR FELDMAN

MARCH 5, 2020 12:00

Updated: DECEMBER 7, 2020 14:38

C.B. DAVIES with friends from the Shed (photo credit: Courtesy) — C.B. DAVIES with friends from the Shed

(photo credit: Courtesy)

“This program is meaningful because it enables youths to develop their own creative voices and enhance skills such as: communication, active listening, teamwork, acceptance and open-mindedness."

For nearly half a century, the Chickenshed theater company has been well-known in the UK, changing lives by bringing together young people from all backgrounds, many of whom have been marginalized by society and excluded from mainstream educational settings, regularly creating and presenting original and entertaining productions for young children, families and adults.

Since 2001, Crossroads Jerusalem has been offering therapeutic, educational and enrichment programs to empower Anglo teens and young adults to overcome language and cultural barriers succeed in Israel.

Knowing a good thing when they see it, Crossroads sent C.B. Davies, a volunteer drama instructor since 2017 and a member of the social work staff, on an exploratory mission to London and afterward they established The Crossroads Theater Shed (CTS) in collaboration with Chickenshed Theatre. To help develop and implement the program, Davies and Eliana Sanders subsequently joined the Crossroads staff.

Launched in Jerusalem in November, CTS is now an active, inclusive group.

“We already have a dedicated cadre of participants and are open to new members. The target ages are 14 to 22,” said Davies, who studied government at IDC with a background in conflict resolution and trained in theater in New York City. Having acted in, produced and/or designed some two dozen productions in Jerusalem, he believes in developing skills and bringing people together through the arts.

“This program is meaningful because it enables youths to develop their own creative voices and enhance skills such as: communication, active listening, teamwork, acceptance and open-mindedness of others. As such, participants include normative youths as well as those with mental and physical health issues.

There is no cost for participation, as expenses are underwritten by a socially conscious benefactor.

“Through the program, the teens become partners in creating art by having their own vision implemented throughout the program’s process in creating a production,” adds Sanders, a trained medical clown who studied theater in Aspaklaria and was the creative director for the arts in Camp Stone, where she wrote, produced, and directed the summer production. Having a degree in Special Education, she is a passionate believer that theater can have a profound impact on one’s life in and out of the classroom.

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“One of the unique points of CTS is that we work on integrating all the creative arts that take place at Crossroads into the program. Because of the nature of what Crossroads does, we have social workers from Crossroads working closely with us.”

“We are working toward staging a production,” says Davies. “What that production will look like, we hope will come from the students themselves. We will include music and choreography somehow in our course, based on the methods that we will learn along the way, what the students want, and the methods we learn from our richly experienced partner Chickenshed.”

Crossroads Jerusalem is excited to offer this innovative program to the community where English-speaking young people can be engaged in the positive power of creativity helping to promote self-discovery, develop important life skills and enhance personal growth and development. The workshops are currently taking place at Crossroads Jerusalem at 2 HaHavatzelet St.; the program will also be facilitating workshops in schools and in the community.

Good people are doing extremely good things in our town and you may be interested in having your kids be part of it.

Contact cb@crossroadsjerusalem.org for more information.