Last weekend, as the culmination of our Class Act Ukraine in Scotland project, we had the honour of presenting pieces written by young Ukrainian people, live onstage in Traverse 2.
During the second week of the Easter holidays a group of young people, all from Ukraine and now based across Scotland, worked with professional playwrights Nicola McCartney, Natalya Vorozhbyt and Sara Shaarawi to develop their own plays, which were then staged by professional actors, directors and musicians at the end of the process. With the freedom to explore whatever felt personally important to them, this project granted these young people a safe and supported environment to write without limitation and truly explore their creativity.
On Sat 13 April audiences were presented with 12 unique plays exploring themes and topics ranging from displacement, abuse, young love, bullying and even a gripping crime drama!
The Traverse continues to be a home for stories from across our communities. We were pleased to work with our partners at the University of Edinburgh and the Ukrainian Community Club (AUGB) on this project to impart the skills of not just playwrighting, but storytelling more generally, strengthening our ability to understand and share compassion towards others' and their unique lived experiences. By investing in the creative talents of young people from diverse backgrounds we also ensure a richer future for the creative sector as a whole.
With this being the latest instalment of the many international iterations of Class Act - previously taking place in Ukraine, India, Finland and Russia - we hope to continue this longstanding, vital and transformational project for young people across the world for many more years to come.
