No one is alone in Jyväskylä

1. No one is alone in Jyväskylä Heini Kumpulainen

2. The students of Lyseo have decided to make a play about social exclusion. RailiKivelä chose the suitable people for the roles at an improvisation session held in Viitaniemi.

3. By improvisationthestudents of Lyseo aim to relate to theircharacters in the play-to-be. Raili aims to get a picture of theactors' personalitiessothatthecastingwouldbefitting.

4. Improvisation goes along well with Mari Honkamäki, Saara Pekkola and Henna Tyyskä.

5. The students of Lyseo contemplate the deeper personalities of the characters in a meeting at the Huoneteatteri-theater. Heta Vaattovaara has clear ideas which are listened to with interest.

6. Heta Vaattovaara is the ”driving force” behind the theater project. She is in nearly all of the planning teams from writing the script to acting. Most of all she personally awaits acting. Acting in her opinion is creating great feelings. Vaattovaara reasoned the choice of the play's topic by its timeliness, being a current event.

8. In the costume meeting, Jonna Tuomisto and Jaana Jääskeläinen listen intently to Inga Delahay's ideas about costumes fitting to the play's mood.

9. Stage designer Tua Hautamäki held a stage designing workshop at Huoneteatteri 1. February. The idea was that the people from Lyseo would get some ideas for their own play from Hautamäki.

12. On the 6th of February, Hannakaisa Hämäläinen held an info session about how to make use of photography when working on a play for those in the Lyseo theater project interested in photography.

14. Katarina Broman does some photography in her free-time. She is eager to start working on a photography project relating to the Lyseo play.

15. The stage design workshop began planning before the spring vacation. Roosa Berg took care that the schedule was followed.

16. Inga Delahay and Jaana Jääskeläinen found the humor in the stage design opportunities.

17. Before the proper rehearsals, Raili ”broke the ice” with a howling practice.

22. Elisa

23. Elisa is one of the Huoneteatteri-theater's young employees. Elisa's story is like an example of how it is possible to rise from social exclusion and fulfill your dreams.

24. Elisa went to high school for a year in Finland, after which she left to France for a year as an exchange student. She herself didn't believe that she would get through her matriculation examinations that year, but in the end succeeded in graduating. She returned after a year to Finland for a while, but soon left for Belgium with the intention of studying architecture. Not everything went exactly according to plan, but, because of family reasons, Elisa had to return to Finland after a few months. After coming back to Finland, she basically had nothing. No school, no job, no friends. However, she got back into a familiar theater group which she had been in before leaving to France. The leader of the group, Timo Torkkonen, told her to contact Ohjauslaturi in Jyväskylä, through which she got into a work trial at the Huoneteatteri. At Huoneteatteri, Elisa has got inside the theater world by participating in many different projects. In addition, she is also taking part to many projects outside the theater, as both director and hobbyist. Elisa is a director and scriptwriter at the theater association Kulissi. She has established a theater production called Produktio Nyt (Production Now), from which a new show ”Aika varattu” (”Time reserved”) is coming out. She is also involved with the theater production Virtalähde with an art workshop. (Ohjauslaturi is Jyväskylä's guidance and counseling service for youths age 13-29 who need support with for example school applications.) At Huoneteatteri Elisa has been able to be involved in many projects. She is also taking part to other theater activities outside the Huoneteatteri, and also works as a director to her own theater group.

25. At the moment, Elisa dreams of video shooting -related studies abroad. The theater environment has made preparing for the entrance exams easier. In the beginning of February, she had a project of filming a video for the entrance test. Luckily she knew people with acting experience.

26. Elisa has a lot of experience with make-up thanks to her hobbies. These skills are good to use in both job training and hobbies.

30. WHAT CAN YOU DO IN JYVÄSKYLÄ IF YOU DON'T HAVE A PLACE TO STUDY OR WORK?

31. ART WORKSHOP The art workshop is the place when a young person is looking for a direction in for example their studies, or finding work. The aim is to offer different kinds of work trials and activities for 17-29 year olds.

32. SOAP AND LASAGNE Anne Kilponen, Henry Ovaskainen, Elina Niemi and Joel Sola are at the art workshop working hard. On the first day they are making soap and on the second they’re cooking together.

38. 4H The 4H organization is the largest youth organization in Finland. The purpose of 4H is to support the civic education and entrepreneurship of children and adolescents. The idea is that the young people would learn to do things independently and practically. “The basis of the four H’s are the words Head, Hands, Heart and Health.” 4H organizes different kinds of activities for young people like different kinds of courses and clubs.

39. At the 4H Dogsitter-course, teens are taught the skills needed to handle and work with dogs. The aim is that, through 4H, the young people would get to work as dogsitters in return for a small payment. The aim of the course is to teach responsibility among other skills. On the 22nd of January a drug police came to tell about his job as a dog trainer and a work partner.

40. Hilla Walkeajärvi and Janina Lepistö are having an intriguing conversation about dog-related things.

41. Inna Temonen had a lot of knowledge about the traits and behavior of police dogs. Janne Heiskanen gladly listened to Inna’s information.

42. Inna Temonen is 14 years old. She already has previous experience with taking care of dogs since her family also includes a dog. Inna thinks that the dogsitter training is good for those beginning dogsitting, although she herself as an experienced dogsitter didn’t feel like she gained a lot from the course. It wasn’t a complete waste for Inna though, since she got now friends from the course. The late times for the course has sometimes been hard because she goes to school as well.

43. Janne Heiskanen brought his work partner for show.

44. Tuuli Sahi held a housework course on the 22nd of January for four young girls. Despite the late time, Jenni Katajamäki, Katri Devitte, Johanna Heinonen and Eveliina Närhi managed to listen to the evening’s info.

45. Jenni Katajamäki ended up at the housework course because she was in need of work and her friend suggested it to her. Jenni has felt that the course has been useful thinking about the housework business, but can’t imagine herself doing it for a job.

46. Johanna Heinonen also ended up at the 4H club because of a friend’s suggestion.Johanna says that she has gotten a lot of info about how to work with different kindsof people and how to understand some life situations better, which in turn will help in working with people.

47. Eveliina Närhi posed many questions about household work.

48. HOBBIES!

49. ’Mieletön sitruuna’ is an improvisation group which was founded on an amateur base in 2012. The idea is that, when joining the group, you don’t have to have previous experience with improvisation, just “creative plunging is enough.”

50. Jukka Hämäläinen started in the Mieletön sitruuna- group 10 months ago. Performing has given him self-confidence and he has even found a girlfriend from the group. Hämäläinen Stresses that even a shy person might become more social than usual while improvising. In improv, you can also bring out negative emotions and handle them even with humor.