For a few months now, the Can Pepus civic center, in Badalona, has new tenants. They are the twenty participants of the project Si els carrers parlessin, an initiative that has landed in the Progrés neighborhood with the aim of transforming it through community theater. A project, which is promoted by the COMUNARESS program, dedicated to the social and solidarity economy.
Every Tuesday, from five to seven in the afternoon and until the month of May, the group meets to give shape to a proposal that will culminate with a performance through the streets of the city at the end of spring. For this reason, they work horizontally, since it is not about representing a play, but about building it from scratch based on the experiences of the citizenry.
This Badalona neighborhood has thus become the setting for a living collective creation process, which uses performing arts as a tool to focus on the identity of the territory. The objective is clear: to tell the stories of its neighbors, strengthen community ties and reclaim public space as a meeting place.
A three-way project
The project is promoted by the entities Calatea, SapsQue and Art en Acció, which made an open call to the public, without requiring prior theatrical experience. And many people responded. “There are about twenty very involved people, with great enthusiasm, from inside and outside Badalona,” explains to AMIC Cultura Paula Pascual, stage creator and art-educator from Calatea, who coordinates the initiative jointly with Montse Bañolas, from Art en Acció. The participants are between 30 and 75 years old, and one of the pending challenges is to get more young people involved and break with the idea that they do not participate in this type of project. In this sense, they count on the collaboration of Badiu Jove, who will participate in one of the upcoming sessions with an intergenerational meeting focused on stories of love and solidarity between generations. It will be next Tuesday, March 24, from five to seven in the afternoon.
The creative process has started with six sessions, with an immersion in the memory of the neighborhood. “We have started by investigating its history and the experiences of the residents,” Pascual details. But beyond the research, the project has also become a meeting space: many participants have arrived with the desire to make new friends and combat unwanted loneliness. In fact, this will be one of the central themes of the work. The production will address the current life model, marked by individualism, where it is often difficult to establish relationships beyond work or family circles. “We want the neighborhood to become a space where people feel supported,” says the workshop leader. The housing crisis will also have a prominent weight, especially present in Badalona.
The Mercat Torner, center of activity
At the same time, the project highlights the positive aspects of the neighborhood and the work of the associative fabric. One of the focuses is the Torner Market, an emblematic space that, on the eve of its centenary, is experiencing a delicate moment. The participants are waiting to know if they will be able to incorporate it as a stage within the theatrical proposal. The project also gathers the neighborhood mobilization to stop its demolition, and plans to give a voice to the Progrés neighborhood association so that it can explain its struggle to preserve it and what idea they have to update it.
Once this first edition concludes, the promoters do not rule out giving it continuity next season and expanding it to other areas of the city of Badalona, such as Gorg or Raval. Furthermore, they want the project not to become a one-off cultural activity, but rather contribute to weaving networks between the neighborhoods, their entities, and the citizenry. More information here.
