Community Theater and Resilience: The Case of the Greek Diasporic Community Theater in Brussels

ABSTRACT

After 1981, with Greece’s accession into the European Economic Community (EEC), as today’s European Union (EU) was called at the time, the Greek diasporic phenomenon was transformed and the Greek theatrical mobility was mainly related to the recruitment of Greek officials to the EU institutions and organizations. For the next 40 years, the Greek Diasporic Community Theater (DCT) of Brussels has become a participatory field of integration and Greek troupes have begun to proliferate, influenced by the demographic, ideological, and socio-structural changes that have taken place both in Greece and Belgium in recent decades. The present paper studies and presents the causes of the artistic resilience of the Greek Diasporic Community Theater (DCT) in Brussels. The case of the Greek DCT in Brussels is such a unique case of DCT, which operates continuously and systematically from the early 1980s until today, flourishing and presenting unprecedented signs of resilience.

KEYWORDS:

• Diasporic Community Theater
• resilience and theater
• Greek diaspora

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Program for the Common Celebration by all Brussels Troupes of the 2019 World Theater Day, Brussels 27 Mars 2019 (unpublished document at the disposal of the author).

2. Ibid.