Act of Change - Axolotl.bg

Bringing Legislative Theatre to Bulgaria for the first time – a participatory method that turns theater into policy dialogue and then legal change.

20 000 €

Budget

0 months

Duration

Countries

Participants

About this project

How can theatre actually make laws?

Act of Change was a project ran by Creatosphere Association, which brought together youth workers from seven countries to explore how participatory theatre can become a tool for civic engagement.

Toni P. Lyubenova from Axolotl designed the project, wrote it and and led the facilitation together with trainer Dr. Gabriel Vivas-Martinez – from opening methodology training to the public performance – marking the first Legislative Theatre event ever held in Bulgaria.

In this project, we actually wanted to create a replicable model for other organisations working at the intersection of arts, education, and advocacy.

Read more about the project on Creatosphere’s website.

What we delivered

The Act of Change Legislative Theatre play in Shumen, February 2026. Photo by Eve Enfer.

01

A 7-day training course

02

Project writing of the full proposal

03

Legislative Theatre methodology training for 24 participants

04

Public performance in Shumen Theatre “Vasil Drumev” – first of its kind in Bulgaria

05

Facilitator handbook for replication by youth workers, facilitators and organisations

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Methods used

The project was built on Legislative Theatre (Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed framework), combined with non-formal education principles and reflective facilitation practice. As a pioneer in Bulgaria, Toni P. Lyubenova from Axolotl adapted the methodology to a multilingual, multicultural group with no prior theatre experience

Legislative Theatre

Theatre of the Oppressed

Nonviolent communication (NVC)

Non-formal education

Group facilitation

Reflective practice

The voice of participants

What the participants said about the Act of Change training. Below you can check out a television reportage of TV Shumen:

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Act of Change was a magical and deeply formative experience. Gabi and Toni, with their professionalism, passion, trust and creativity have showed us how we can use the tools of Legislative Theatre to create change in a community. With this special encounter with the difficulties and citizens of Shumen, I believe that we have also made a step towards a society that listens, cares and acts.

Fanny Hajdú, Hungary

Project partners

🇧🇬 Bulgaria – Creatosphere
🇱🇹 Lithuania – Et Cetera
🇳🇱 Netherlands – Stichting Dar al Yasmin
🇵🇹 Portugal – Associação Poesia p’ra todos
🇭🇺 Hungary – Youth Avenue
🇮🇹 Italy – Associazione Parco Culturale Alta Langa
🇱🇻 Latvia – Klubs Maja
🇪🇸 Spain – A Ludic European Association

Project Team

The project was created, written and facilitated by Toni P. Lyubenova, with trainer Dr. Gabriel Vivas-Martinez.

The project was managed by Pavlína Bauerová from the Czech Republic, supported on the ground by Diogo Guerreiro from Portugal, with Migle Tiskeviciute from Lithuania supporting with practicals, and documented by photographer and PR Eve Enfer from Poland/France. The legislative proposals that emerged from the performance were shaped with the guidance of legal expert Velislava Lyubenova-Ilieva.

Would you like to bring Legislative Theatre to your own community or project?

Reach out and let’s have a call!

ANTONIYA.P.LYUBENOVA@GMAIL.COM