Respect

Arriving there ready for rehearsals for the big production, I think it is fair to say that all of us had a mixture of excitement and fear inside as we met the people we would be working and living with for the next eight weeks. We are all individuals and unique and this is something which the cast embraced whole-heartedly from day one. In a world of performance, in fact just a world, where it is so easy to be told you are too tall, too short, too fat, too thin or simply not what they were looking for, The Crossing Lines Project allowed us to embrace our differences, from language to education and family to hometown. It was the moments where the group sat together discussing their country’s Christmas traditions or education systems with genuine intrigue and delight not criticism or judgement that made me see how much we accepted one another as one and the same, just with different experiences. These simple things showed moments of togetherness and difference all at once. But overall this project allowed us all to see how similar we truly are despite our different backgrounds, upbringings and even languages. The group unquestioningly supported each other throughout the project. They worked through language barriers and helped one another through decisions about their future, homes and education.

Katie Burse
Actress in the Power of Diversity - the Crossing Lines Project.
Excerpt of the article: - What it means to be brave - from the book about the project.
Published by Theater der Zeit Verlag