The Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) has selected three Vietnamese theatres, HCM City’s Drama Theatre and the Small Stage Theatre and Hanoi’s Youth Theatre, to implement a project titled Children’s Voice.
The project aims to build groups of artists to serve disabled and poor children who don’t have chances to enjoy theatre in suburbs of Hanoi and HCM City as well as in neighboring areas.
After two workshops held in Stockholm in September 2005 and Hanoi in February 2007, the first phase of this three-year project (2007-2009) has been implemented. The second phase of the project will be developed at two workshops in Kunming, China in November 2007 and Vientiane, Laos in June 2008.
The Hanoi-based Youth Theatre, with a part of the funding from this project, will put on around 100 performances for children a year. The theatre kicked off the project in April and May 2007 with many free performances for disadvantaged children in Hanoi, for example children of the Hanoi SOS Village, the Xa Dan School for Hard of Hearing Students, the Club for Disabled Children of Hanoi, the School for Hard of Hearing Children of Gia Lam District.
The difference from normal performances is that artists go to schools and centres of disadvantaged children to perform, rather than at the theatre’s stage in Hanoi. In addition, children directly take part in performances with artists.
