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Four Principles
The Childrens Peace Theatre: Mandate
The Childrens Peace Theatre provides children and young people with the opportunity to become agents of peace through the creation and presentation of theatrical performances. The presentations (with music, song, dance and drama) address the reality of violence and aggression in our communities and in our world; the work encourages the establishment of a lifestyle of peace and non-violence among children and young people, through the vehicle of performances and workshops in the broader community. The ÔCommunity at the CrossroadsÕ project will provide the important link of bringing professional artists into the community to assist in this creation and presentation of this work.
The Task of Our Times
It has become increasingly evident that the essential task of our era is to learn how to deal with conflict. We seem unable to achieve peace at all levels - in our families, our communities, and our world. From North America to Africa, the structure of the family is changing and disintegrating. Communities everywhere are suffering increased incidences of violence and destruction. If the world indeed has become a global village, neighbours do not know each other well, some are terribly angry and many do not know why.
What is Peace?
Canadian Ursula Franklin asserted some time ago, that it no longer suffices to define peace as the absence of war. In the same way, war cannot be defined as the opposite of peace. "War is the opposite of smart" (as one of the young members of the Children's Peace Theatre stated). To define peace as a personal, inner state of tranquillity is to ignore the notion that without peace for all, there is no real peace, just as without justice for all, there is no real justice. Perhaps we seem unable to define peace, perhaps because we no longer have terms or concepts that are adequate.
Peace is Possible
Though we may be failing to manifest peace in obvious ways and though we may not have the necessary conceptual tools to elevate peace to its proper place at this time in history, it is essential to assume that the necessary tools can be developed. The first premise of the Peace Theatre is that, "Peace is Possible" whether we understand it or not and no matter the circumstances.
Conflict and Peace: a dynamic relationship
At the heart of our work is the exploration of conflict and peace and the dynamics that exist between the two. The work of the Children's Peace Theatre is based on the premise that a new way of understanding and articulating peace is evolving and it will fundamentally change the way we deal with conflict. Our programs are based on the assumption that conflict can be a positive force in our personal lives, our communities and in our world.
Peace is a verb
Our work assumes 'the new' peace that is evolving will not to be found in our attempts to resolve conflict. Rather, it is by entering conflict with compassion, creativity and courage that peace will be created. We imagine peace to be an activity that engages our deepest creative instincts and our most passionate impulses. Peace is becoming a verb.
The Essential Place of Children and Young People
The work of the Children's Peace Theatre assumes that the new understanding of peace will be made manifest by the next generation (as are advancements in every species.) Our projects create opportunities for the members of the next generation to express themselves, and for the rest to pay close attention to what they are saying particularly regarding conflict and peace.
Our programs do not teach a code, an ethic or a doctrine of peace. Our goal is to create an environment in which children, youths, adults and elders working together with professionals in dance, music and theatre begin to define and establish for themselves a new culture of peace.
A Culture of Peace
A cornerstone of the ChildrenÕs Peace Theatre is the United Nations Declaration that 2001Ð 2010 is the Decade for an International Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World. The CPT has adopted this declaration and has become part of a small but growing global movement that realizes children and young people will be the ones to establish the new, worldwide culture of peace. The sooner they get started, the better. The old but prevailing culture of war is in its death throes and therefore in its most dangerous stage.
The Practice of Theatre
Our tool for helping build a culture of peace is the practice of theatre. One way of understanding peace, is to understand what peace is not. One of the things theatre does best, arguably better than any other art form, is explore the nature of conflict in human relationships. Theatre enables children, young people, adults and elders to define ÔpeaceÕ because it creates an environment in which to explore and express conflict personally, passionately, articulately, creatively and safely. Doing this successfully gives substance to the claim that theatre is Ôa healing art.Õ It helps reveal that peace is not to be found in the absence or even the ÔresolutionÕ of conflict, but rather that peace is to be created by entering into the heart of conflict.
Conflict Evolution
The discovery of peace in the midst of compassionate, courageous and creative conflict, the Peace Theatre calls 'Conflict Evolution,' a process that renders a better situation for all involved. It has become the foundation of the company's work and mandate.