♦ March 12, 2025 - "Footsteps - the body in motion": workshop-theater becomes a performance
"Footsteps - the body in motion": the workshop-theater becomes a performance
With the John Paul II Foundation
performance by refugee children from Villa Pettini and the local area
for the elderly guests of the Masaccio Rsa in San Giovanni
Generations and cultures came together in a special afternoon at the Rsa Masaccio in San Giovanni Valdarno, accompanied by many smiles and applause: the protagonists were the children of the theater-therapy workshop that takes place at Villa Pettini (based in Montevarchi) thanks to the support of the John Paul II Foundation.
The children who live in the facility, which houses families of asylum seekers, together with local youths are participating in the project "Orme - the body in movement": it is a theater workshop curated by thecultural association "Masaccio" that, explains the association's president Barbara Massini - "like a lens, magnifies the inclusive and intercultural society that we wish to build, a place where we can live, work, dream and live together."
This path, adds actor Mirko Angelo Castaldo, who follows the workshop at Villa Pettini together with John Paul II Foundation worker and psychologist Valentina Billi, "aims to facilitate a deeper knowledge of self and to promote an authentic relationship with the other and with the surrounding environment, beyond linguistic and cultural differences. Theater is a space for meeting and communication, where emotions, thoughts and feelings can be expressed and shared in mutual respect and listening."
The children (aged between 3 and 16) brought their emotions and skill to the stage in front of the special audience of guests at Rsa Masaccio in a performance that united worlds, ages, memories and many smiles.
Thus, the theater-therapy workshop continues with renewed enthusiasm, as do the other integration initiatives in the host community such as school insertion, after-school programs, Italian language courses and entertainment activities carried out inside Villa Pettini, but open to the Valdarno public.
Supporting the John Paul II Foundation in this project means putting yourself in the shoes of these refugee children and giving them emotions, experiences, hopes and a voice that otherwise would not be heard. Because every child has a right to a stage where they can express their story, and every community deserves to hear it.
To support the project, www.fondazionegiovannipaolo.org
Valdarno, March 12, 2025
John Paul II Foundation Press Office:
Manuela Plastina - journalist
comunicazione@fondazionegiovannipaolo.org