CANY held its first training workshop in Europe this past June.  Long-time CANY staff member Gabriela Kohen led the two-day workshop in Madrid, Spain.  Below, she recounts her amazing experience.

My trip to Madrid revolved around el Centro Abierto Tomillo. This organization, located in a beautiful old Spanish house, is dedicated to the development of the human potential.  As I walked through the halls, I noticed the wood floors, big windows, oriental rugs and huge trees outside.  I also noticed that the office was all abuzz and the phones were ringing off the hook with people trying to register for the already full workshop.  This wasn't a bad place to hold a CANY training.    

The morning before the workshop, Tomillo's Ana Aguilar drove me to Orcasitas, a neighborhood about twenty-five minutes outside of the center of town, to meet with members of the Tomillo staff.  They were practicing therapeutic theatre with gitano and immigrant children in the area.  As my new friends gave me a tour of the schools and surrounding areas, I learned that Orcasitas was once a shanty town and had recently been rebuilt by the Spanish Government to include subsidized housing, schools and parks.

The next three hours in Orcasitas were spent chatting, laughing and sharing ideas and methodology with Enrique Torres Infantes, Tomillo's theatre program director, and his staff:  Jesus Nicolas Alegre, Beatriz Perez Tellez, Julian Ramos and Jesus Rubio Martin.  What can I say?  There is very little therapeutic theatre in Spain and the staff at Tomillo are bravely forging ahead to create their methodology as they work with at-risk children and adolescents.  They are amazing human beings with adamant passion and a belief in the healing power of theatre.  They were eager to soak in everything I had to share about the CANY method. 

Read more about Gaby's experience in Madrid and the feedback from the workshop participants on the CANY website.