Teatr Przebudzeni / The Awakened Theatre. On some issues related to autonomy, subjectivity, self-realisation of people with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

In the presented work I undertake the action of theatre in the lives of people with intellectual disabilities as a tool/means to shape, empower and facilitate autonomy, subjectivity, self-realisation. I present Teatr Przebudzeni / The Awakened Theatre an example of support of adult people with intellectual disabilities through activities at the interface of therapy and art, trying to reveal those contexts of the activities of directors and actors with intellectual disabilities that allow to consider theatre / theatrical work in building and/or strengthening autonomy, subjectivity, (one's own) identity, self-education, self-realisation. I will show selected examples of statements made by directors and actors of Teatr Przebudzeni /The Awakened Theatre, as well as by people who review the activities of the ensemble and its productions from the position of journalists or theatre critics. As for the methodological thread, I used a content analysis of found data/secondary data/sources showing the activities of Teatr Przebudzeni /The Awakened Theatre, with particular emphasis on the qualities associated with building and/or strengthening the attributes of subjectivity, independence/autonomy, self-realisation, self-education, which I also try to read in the context of a particular plot, Mikhail Bakhtin's thought referring to the world upside down.