PEE3141 : Community Theatre For Development

Community Theatre For development is a kind of participatory theatre that encourages improvisation and allows audience members to take roles in the performance or it can be fully scripted and staged, with the audience simply observing. Many productions are a blend of the two. The Theatre of the Oppressed, an influential collection of theatrical forms developed by Augusto Boal (Brazilian) in the 1970s, is a central theatrical part of community theatre for development as it aims to create dialogue and interaction between audience and performer as a means of promoting social and political change. Contending that it has the potential to build developmental consciousness among community members around social issues affecting them, Community theatre provides a believable and interesting way to explore cultural, socio-economic, and developmental realities thereby changing the way people think, entertain, socialize and act. Community theatre also serves as a platform for diverse cultural expression. It brings stories from different backgrounds, traditions, and perspectives to the forefront, offering audiences a rich couple of narratives they might not encounter elsewhere. Simply, this module “PEE3141” is to equip undergraduate students with couple of knowledge, skills and techniques to engage the audience, survey a significant relevance of community theatre for development, design and act the authentic theatrical performance and presentation in outdoor spaces without a specific paying audience, as well as exploring the potentials of Community theatre as a tool for Social -economic change.