• Dramatisation plays a significant role in the journey of growing up because it offers benefits for cognitive, emotional, social and linguistic development.
• Teatro Testoni Ragazzi aims to instil respect in children. Starting from this, it is possible to experience a participatory and inclusive space.
• Scenikalab brings pedagogical theatre to life. Today, creating projects with a pedagogical function means having already integrated the concept of environmental sustainability into them.

Today we live in an era in which we are required to be hyper-connected, to show who we are and what we do, often forgetting the importance of valuing what we feel, what we perceive, and the inner listening that helps us understand who we truly are. Our society asks us to perform, to live in pursuit of objectives and goals through a model of competitiveness that leads us to feel always "more" or "less" than others. Children are thus born and grow up in a social fabric steeped in antagonism, appearances and illusion. It is therefore important, now more than ever, to devote quality attention and time to them, accompanying them on a journey of growth equipped with a solid emotional foundation and a deep knowledge of the self, so as to offer them the opportunity to live a more conscious life. A life immersed in a process in which the individual evolves consciously. Alongside the family and school, this educational journey involves a variety of different contexts, including music, non-competitive sports, meditation, yoga and pedagogical theatre.

Theatre itself plays a significant role in the journey of growing up because it offers a variety of benefits that positively influence children's cognitive, emotional, social and linguistic development.

Doing theatre in the early years of our lives is a unique opportunity to explore ourselves at a physical and emotional level. Theatre is a neutral space, free from the judgement of others. It is a place of expressive freedom that allows children to recognise their own identity and, at the same time, recognise their own uniqueness.

– Bruno Cappagli, artistic director of Teatro Testoni Ragazzi in Bologna

The function of dramatisation

Dramatisation is a fundamentally important tool for working on various aspects of personality, as it enables:

1. Creative expression. Theatre offers children the opportunity to express their emotions, ideas and fantasies. Dramatisation stimulates the imagination by encouraging creative thinking.
2. Development of language skills. Taking part in theatrical activities helps children improve their verbal abilities, memorising texts, learning to pronounce words correctly and to use creative facial and bodily expressions.
3. Social and emotional growth. Theatre encourages collaboration, communication and sharing. Through acting and role play, children learn to work together, develop empathy and understand the emotions of others.
4. Building self-confidence. Doing theatre can help children overcome shyness and fears, and accept themselves as they are; through a process of self-knowledge they learn to listen to themselves and to recognise the emotions that pervade the body. This is a process for feeling alive, by perceiving one's own state of being.
5. Strengthening cognitive abilities. Involvement in theatre requires children to use their creativity and think critically. They must learn to solve problems, make decisions and think flexibly.
6. Appreciation of art and culture. Theatre exposes children to different art forms and cultures, broadening their perspective on the world and developing artistic expression.
7. Transmission of values. Theatrical practices are, by their very nature, imbued with values and educational actions that are conveyed to and internalised by children from early childhood.

Social sustainability: a value for Teatro Testoni Ragazzi

The theatre company La Baracca was founded in 1976 and has been active for more than 45 years at the Teatro Testoni Ragazzi in Bologna, with activities dedicated to children, families and schools. The core value underpinning the work of Teatro Testoni Ragazzi, as its artistic director Bruno Cappagli explains, is that of "instilling respect in children." Starting from respect, it is possible to build and experience a participatory space free from judgement, where inclusivity and acceptance of others are essential elements.

"The important characteristic that runs across all our workshops," the director continues, "is chorality — so as not to create protagonists and to foster a balance among participants, promoting the idea of being part of a group, a group that tells its own story and recounts every workshop journey."

On the subject of chorality and inclusivity, a project has been launched at Teatro Testoni in Bologna involving the creation of a multidisciplinary cultural centre dedicated to children and young people, but also to parents, educators and all interested individuals. An open space that allows for activities such as theatre, dance, cinema, plastic arts, exhibitions, book presentations, workshops and meetings.

"We also like to imagine a place where you can simply spend time with your children or your classes, a place where you feel at home, surrounded by an atmosphere that transmits culture and new imaginaries," Cappagli continues. "A place in the city, open to citizens who want to share moments of enrichment, but also moments of genuine mutual listening. A wager that is now a fundamental part of our artistic and cultural journey dedicated to childhood and youth."

Teatro Testoni Ragazzi is an example of a reality in which attention to and interest in the transmission of educational values is not a recent development, but has been carried forward for decades. While maintaining its historical identity, in order to remain contemporary it is an organisation that has known how to question itself and has chosen to renew itself by creating new projects and becoming a point of reference for its local community. An educational space capable of putting the concept of social sustainability into practice, acting on the basis of equality and equity.

There are, however, other organisations, more recently established, that have chosen to pursue this path by bringing, for example, pedagogy into theatre.

Scenikalab and pedagogical theatre

"The importance of pedagogical theatre is that children and young people can express their expressive, creative and social abilities in a protected context," says Barbara Renna, founder of Spettacolarte, a traditional theatre school for primary and secondary schools, and president of the social promotion association Scenikalab. Renna describes her idea of creating a connection between pedagogy and theatre — one her profession, the other her passion — by founding Scenikalab in Desio, in the province of Monza Brianza. A project to give children and young people the opportunity to explore their expressive, creative and social abilities in a protected environment. The workshops are designed around six thematic modules: expression of emotions, children's natural rights, fairy tales and fables, rites of passage, inclusion and socialisation, and environmental sustainability — the latter divided into food waste and recycling.

Today, creating projects with a pedagogical function means having already integrated the concept of environmental sustainability into them; it is no longer acceptable to think of it as something external and separate, as we are moving towards a cultural shift in which new generations engage with the theme of environmental respect more naturally and with greater sensitivity, from early childhood onwards. Scenikalab's workshops dedicated to environmental themes were launched in 2023, and today, thanks to funding from a number of enlightened companies, this association is able to bring into schools free of charge — from nursery through to secondary school — projects on themes related to the safeguarding of the planet. The focus is on learning to value what is found in nature, for a new approach to biodiversity. All of this using the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda as common ground.

The distinctive feature of Scenikalab is the absence of performance. It therefore becomes an activity defined as a "process" — tied to the experience of the here and now and based on a model of "transformation", the central concept of pedagogical theatre: "Within the experience, I change, and something around me changes too — explains Renna —, there is always a process of change in which everyone is a protagonist." The goals of pedagogical theatre are integration, respect for others, for the materials used, for the environment, socialisation, and mutual understanding within the school context but in a situation different from the classic frontal lesson. This is a context that may appear free and unstructured, but it is not. It is nonetheless a structured environment, made up of set times, spaces and activities, but free from chairs and desks, where one can engage body, voice and thought in an interactive way. In doing so, girls and boys learn to let go of judgement and fear, because there is no performance, only freedom of expression.

Pedagogical theatre therefore serves as a space to put oneself to the test and to work on one's own potential and abilities, because each person has a resource to bring forward — "has a treasure inside and can offer something of themselves with freedom of expression and speech," concludes Renna. In this way, talents emerge along with moments of enriching interaction for the group. A form of theatre that works on empowerment, acting indirectly on struggles, relational difficulties and all the aspects that fall within the sphere of social hardship.

On the basis of what has been analysed, it is clear that today more than ever it is important to act with a pedagogical sensibility towards children and young people. We can no longer afford to ignore the stages of growth, self-knowledge and the transmission of deep educational values, as was the case for previous generations. Today it remains a central issue, one that is necessary to prevent the drift of adolescents who hide behind devices and screens, living a parallel life, or who find refuge in deviant behaviour — unable to express themselves, nor knowing how to recognise their own emotions.