media
mattersResearch & Process Documentation Community Interventions
Naseeb Ke Paren,
Kya Karen Kya Na Karen
A board game on child rights
Sakhi Sajni
An exhibition to facilitate discussions around life skills for/with
adolescent girls
Mulichya Jatila
He Shobhat Nahi
A video docu-fiction on rights of adolescent girls
Chuppi Todein,
Khulkar Bolein
An interactive exhibition on youth and HIV&AIDS
Whose Dream Counts?
A documentation of a participatory learning and action (PLA) process facilitated with children's groups
Participatory Communication & Action
Report of the annual workshop - 2008
Mukt Manch
An open-to-all platform for screenings, performances, exhibitions... The idea is to come together and dialogue
| Participatory Theatre |
| Towards a basic conceptual understanding |
|
The men had assembled inside the hall. The women waited outside, in the dark, and peeped through the doors and windows. They would not come in and sit alongside their men folk. Not a very unusual scene. Sushila, member of a self help group, was a workshop participant. Initially shy and reluctant to perform, today she stood on centre stage as the Sutradhar2 of the play. The performance was to begin with an ode to Savitribai Phule3. But Sushila would not begin the performance. She said that the women too should come inside the hall. A debate ensued. The women refused to come in. The men shifted in their seats. The organizers tried to pacify a visibly disturbed Sushila and the group members, who by now had joined her demand. We are comfortable out here, said one of the women. You would be more comfortable inside the hall, said Sushila. This has never happened in our village, argued some of the women. The men agreed. Exactly, said the group members. Neither had women from her village ever performed in a theatre. And if today she and some other women volunteers could come up on stage, why couldn’t the others atleast come up front and watch the performance. The scene became animated. The performing group members stood on the stage, in solidarity. The women outside discussed in hushed tones whether they should walk in – that would mean a very bold step! They waited for the men to give them a nod. The men were not sure and turned to their Sarpanch4. The organizers observed everything trying to comprehend the repercussions. Finally, it took the village Sarpanch to stand up and invite the women inside. Very nervously they filed in and sat along the wall, trying to be as far away from the men as possible. Sushila and the group decided to begin the performance. The objective of the process and the performance was to introduce and demonstrate participatory theatre with village volunteers. It would also be an opportunity to build capacities of coordinators and community organizers from the local organization, to enable them to facilitate such processes in future. The play itself was more of a skit, putting together improvised scenes, and it was an effort to initiate the group into their first performance. What took place during the performance, the outcome, was definitely not part of the objectives. It was not envisaged. Yet, the implications of this simple stand brought about quite a few shifts in that village. It made one look at the local reality, provoked a thought process, challenged some deep rooted attitudes and initiated a visible change. What Sushila and the group did was not part of the script. Perhaps they had felt this way for a long time. But they never had an opportunity to articulate it. Or perhaps, they had never felt so strongly about the issue. During the workshop, Sushila was an eager observer but hesitant to participate. During exercises and improvisations, she would hide herself in a group. Group members knew that she sang well and impressed upon her to begin the performance. Slowly, she opened up and begun participating in the practice sessions. She was also seen humming to herself or trying out different expressions and actions during breaks and free time. She certainly began enjoying the workshop process. It seemed as if she had gained a newfound confidence. She had rehearsed not just the lyrics but had also learnt to take a stand. Finally, the platform to perform gave her the opportunity to speak out. Most of the village women, and men too, would have had similar feelings on the issue. But there was no felt need to articulate. Perhaps there was no space or opportunity. Perhaps there was no provocation. We are all actors, We all act our parts in daily life But few of us get the chance to act, To take action on a larger stage, At a decision-making level Which can affect our and other’s lives5 Development is a process whereby groups and communities are empowered and strive to improve their well-being, their quality of life. The role of the development worker, then, is to explore possibilities of facilitating “empowerment” – enabling groups and communities to assess their situation, learn to think critically and understand the conditioning; analyze power relations and oppression; learn to redefine roles and responsibilities; access information and resources; develop ability to make choices; assert and have decision-making powers; and, finally move on to “action”. Participatory theatre offers tremendous scope to explore the possibilities of facilitating empowerment. Participatory theatre is a rights-based process that seeks to enable and empower groups and communities through “cultural action” for social development and in a learning process approach. Participatory theatre has grown out of the “popular theatre” movement. Different groups have named it differently. But essentially it is born out of a dialogical, participatory theatre that seeks to empower groups and communities. Participatory Theatre is theatre as one of the cultural means to intervene in reality to bring about a change. The process empsloys tools and methods by which images of reality are exposed – as capable of being changed. It is dialogic, interactive and participatory. It seeks to draw out, encourage articulation, participation and provides a platform to “rehearse” the action that would lead to change. Participatory Theatre is theatre of the people and by the people. Members of community groups are active participants in the entire process of play-making, performance and post-performance discussion. They may not be professional actors but each of them plays different roles in their daily lives. In each role, they have a different status and a different power relationship. The participatory theatre process helps create the space and opportunity for people to participate and facilitates them to draw from their own life experience to create theatre that will be realistic. Participatory Theatre is rehearsals. In a participatory theatre process, the community members come together and learn to use theatre as a language to collectively express and analyze its own social reality. Being able to do so, they gain the confidence to be able to collectively address the problems and participate in their solution in real life. Participatory Theatre is process-oriented. Participatory Theatre is more of a workshop approach, than a one-off performance. This helps create mutual trust between the community members and the facilitators. It eventually helps in shedding inhibitions – both at the physical level and also while dialoging on issues. The content of the play emerges through discussions revolving around the community problems and the issues are identified. The issues may be drawn from their lives, related to rights and for their conscientisation. The solutions too are explored during play-making, rehearsals, performances, with the performers and the audience. This process may lead to identification of a solution that the community would be willing to implement – “act” upon. The process may also lead to as fresh set of problems and issues. The performers and ‘spectactors’ may then want to once again go back to rehearse the change. The form of the play too evolves, with members of the performing groups actively participating in research, experimentation and testing of ideas during rehearsals. During the play-making process, the participants should be encouraged to draw from local cultural forms. It is important to create opportunities for both, the performing group and the audiences, to relate to their music, theatre and dance. The effort should be to ensure that community members shift from the role of passive listeners and onto actively participating in using the platform to tell their own stories and sing their own songs. Participatory theatre believes in “they do it”. It then becomes important that groups and communities themselves get involved in the participatory theatre process. The participatory theatre process is initiated with volunteers from groups and communities. They are not mere spectators but are involved in the play-making process. It is they who identify issues and assess the situation. They then interpret the issue and present it through theater forms. Instead of talking about solutions to people, they are encouraged to get involved in the process of play-making. It is they who intervene during the performance. They are enabled to say what they think and feel by doing things for themselves to change existing inequities. Participatory theatre is about “working together”. There is no “director”. The facilitator creates a sense of solidarity, a collective that utilizes intelligence and skills of people, and maximizes the effectiveness of the discovered solutions. In addition, searching for solutions collectively in itself can be very empowering. The practice of participatory theatre involves believing in people’s capacities to build a dynamic culture; re-defining the role of the development worker and the theatre activist – as facilitators whose creativity and commitment can find expression and meaning in working with others; encouraging critical thought and action through theatrical exploration; working beyond a single performance or event… commitment to the process. (The write-up is an excerpt from a publication titled, “Rehearsing Change: An Introduction to Participatory Theatre” by Prabir Bose. Published by Avehi, Mumbai) 1Village Council 2Sutradhar is a performer who creates a link between the performance and the audience 3Savitribai Phule worked for women's education in mid-19th century Maharashtra 4Head of the village council 5“From Action to Taking Action: Forum and Legislative Theatre” by Adrian Jackson. Source: PLA notes (1997), Issue 29, pp. 48 to 49, IIED London |
Theatre for Development
as Cultural Action
February 26 - March 3, 2009
Six-day Residential Workshop
Workshop brochure
Registration form
Learning Calendar
Trainings & Workshops in 2009
kataar!
A play on right to information
Main, Asha...
A play on sex selection
Andher Nagri,
Chaupat Raja
A play by Bhartendu Harishchandra
Chhi!
A play on solid waste management -
the struggle of a theatre group to evolve a socially meaningful play
Learning Centre
A space for collective sharing
and learning
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