THE THERAPEUTIC ASPECTS OF COMMUNITY THEATER:

THE PERSPECTIVES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

A THESIS

Submitted By:

TALIA WEISS

Thesis Advisor: YAFA POLLAK

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the degree in
Masters of Arts in Expressive Therapies

LESLEY UNIVERSITY
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
August
2010
THE THERAPEUTIC ASPECTS OF COMMUNITY THEATER:
THE PERSPECTIVES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Abstract

This thesis explores the therapeutic aspects intrinsic to and

embedded in community theater. Specifically, it is an assembly of the

experiences of participants in developing countries. Their accounts and

testimonies are dissected and analyzed to expose the cathartic facets.

The results reveal that community theater provides a safe space to

allow for empathy, expression and validation of feelings, exploration of

roles and self, transformation, spontaneity, resurfacing of repressed

emotions, and collective and individual empowerment. Participants

also demonstrate increased sense of control, self-esteem, and self-

confidence. The discussion section examines, debates, and suggests

how to design a community theater experience which maximizes

therapeutic gain.

2
Table of Contents
Introduction ………………………………………..
……………………………………… 3
Rationale, Benefits of Research,Personal Connection

Literature Review………………………………..
…………………………………….. 6
Community Theater ………………………………..
…………………………………….. 6
Definition and Description, Method and Practice, History

Therapeutic Aspects
………………………………………………………………………
9
Catharsis, Control, Empathy & Mirroring, Expression,
Empowerment & Motivation, Resurfacing of Repressed Emotions,
Self-Esteem & Self Confidence, Sense of Self & Roles,
Spontaneity & Creativity, Therapeutic Setting/Safe Space and
Containment, Transformation, Validation.

Previous Research on Therapeutic Aspects of Community

Theater …. 18
General Comparison Between Theater and Therapy, Previous Studies

Focus on Developing Countries

……………………………………………………. 23

Methodology
………………………………………………………………………………..
24

Results
………………………………………………………………………………
…….. 27
Interviewees and Countries
………………………………………………………… 27
Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Mexico,
Mongolia, Nepal, Palestinian Territories, Thailand, Tanzania,
Venezuela, Zambia & Namibia.

3
Results by Therapeutic Aspect
…………………………………………………….. 54
As seen above.

Discussion
………………………………………………………………………………..
75
Conclusion, Witness, Benefit for Audience, Post Performance
Discourse, Process vs. Performance, Post Performance Discourse,
Importance of Therapist, Shock Value, Culture of Silence, Community
Theater Use in Developing Countries, Language Barrier, Effectiveness,
Biased Results.

Bibliography
………………………………………………………………………………
……. 93

Introduction

What began as a communitybuilding a stage, became a stage

molding the very life of a community, (Stafford, 1984).

This thesis explores the therapeutic aspects of community

theater based on the experiences of community theater directors,

actors, producers, organizers, and volunteers in developing countries.

Albeit that facilitators of community theater groups often return from

their adventures with accounts of the participants asserting new found

courage, compassion, confidence, etc., these claims are insufficiently

documented and there is little research to substantiate these word-of-

mouth and self-reported (Jermyn, 2001; Reeves, 2002) based

contentions.

4
 The importance of disclosing the connection between community

theater and therapy is beneficial to both therapists as well as

community theater directors. For the former: While community theater

is by no means a therapy, participants are reported to have exhibited

certain outcomes which are unique to having undergone a therapeutic

process. This would suggest that community theater is a beneficial tool

for mental health workers, especially drama therapists,

psychodramatists, and sociodramarists, to incorporate into their

respective fields.

Concerning the benefits for community theater directors:

Community theater involves the exploration and examination of (often

taboo) collective issues. This sort of exploration lends the opportunity

for sensitive and delicate issues to arise as well (Moriarty, 1997). The

actors and the audience can be deeply affected by the process and the

performance (Erven, 2001) often requiring therapeutic attention; a

service which cannot be offered by the community theater director

who usually possesses an educational or theatrical background, rather

than mental health. To have unwitting participants raise these

sensitive issues and then (even inadvertently) deny them therapeutic

attention, would be a disservice. It would therefore be constructive for

the directors to learn about the therapeutic aspects in their field,

including how to manage sensitive issues, in order to enhance the

overall experience for the participants.

5
 In summer 2009, I was invited to facilitate community theater

groups in Tanzania, East Africa. I had recently been named Executive

Director of a small Jerusalem based theater group for social change

and we together with Circle of Health International (COHI, a U.S. based

non-profit which promotes woman’s health care in crisis settings) and

FLEMAFA (a Tanzanian non-profit which works to encourage family

planning in rural areas of Tanzania) organized four community theater

groups for youth at risk in the region. The purpose of these groups was

to explore community topics such as poverty, the spread of HIV/AIDS,

future goals, woman’s empowerment, etc. Because these subjects are

so innately sensitive, the participants often seemed rundown and even

fragmented after sessions. As a result, I frequently had impromptu

meetings with them after the workshops for individual counseling. I am

not sure how this measure was avoided in other community theater

groups where a therapist is not present. I reached the conclusion that

while community theater itself is not a therapy, there are enough

therapeutic aspects involved, and sufficiently prevalent, to justify an

appropriate outlet.

This thesis’ focus on developing countries stems from its

inhabitant’s unfamiliarity, indifference, or even resistance to the

concept of therapy. However, various drama activities, especially

theater which focuses on social change (Van Erven, 1991) have been

well received. Therefore, the expressive therapies may find a niche

6
with these sort of populations, possibly initially combining community

theater, a familiar mode, with therapy as a springboard to introduce

the concept of mental health.

I aspire to continue working with underserved populations in a

way which combines therapy with community theater. This paper will

pioneer the foundation for incorporating community theater into

therapy and therapy into community theater in developing countries.

Cochrane (2003) states that, “battling to preserve not just an identity,

but also a viability and confirmation of communal values through

cultural performance in a society under stress becomes a bulwark

against disintegration.”

The purpose of this research is to identify the therapeutic

aspects of community theater. Both therapeutic aspects and

community theater will be defined. Via comprehensive interviews, data

will be collected from 26 participants who have partaken in various

developing countries. Finally, the overlap between community theater

and therapy will be exposed.

7
Literature Review
Community Theater

Community theater “…assists unsung heroes to sing

their stories in the shadows,” (Erven, 2001)

There is limited research on community theater in general. It is

often roughly defined as any theater which relies on locals, mostly

volunteers (Kramer, 2005), for its sustainability: The actors, other

theater staff, and audience are all members of the community (Gard &

Burley, 1959). However, this thesis focuses on a specific kind of

community theater in which the plays reflect one or many aspects of a

community.

Eugene Van Erven (2001) was the first to conduct an extensive

comparative study of community theater across six different countries.

He describes community theater as a medium which enables

communities to collectively share stories and participate in productive

dialogue. These stories, the framework for the scripts, are born from

the very lives of the actors who perform them. Community theater lies

on the revolutionary overlap joining the performing arts with socio-

cultural-political-religious activism. Community theater works to,

“shake things up by making the audience reconsider accepted views

and question convenient assumptions,” (Boehm & Boehm, 2003)

thereby working at bridging diversity. This makes it most popular

amongst “periphery” groups (minorities and subcultures) as it offers

8
the inclusion of their voice into the larger society. In many ways,

developing countries lie on such a periphery with no influence in

international or local policies and affairs.

Because community theater is such a vast field, it would be

difficult to provide a step-by-step guide to its process or to consolidate

this guide to a mere section of a thesis. In the results section, I will

elaborate on various methods as depicted by community theater

directors who I interview. Van Erven’s research unveiled two methods:

In the first, participants meet and discuss collective issues. These

interchanges lead to dramatic improvisations which ultimately provide

the framework for the group to create and finally perform a theatrical

piece. Henry (1999) calls this “Improvisational community theater”. In

the Van Erven’s other method, interviews are conducted around the

community which provides the basis for the improvisations. It is

important to note that in the latter method, the background of the

actors is at the least similar to the lives of the stories they are

performing and therefore in many ways still telling their own stories.

This method also lends the opportunity for the audience to have

substantial input.

The revolutionary hippie movement of the 1960s and 1970s

serves as the foundation for various forms of activist-theater including

community theater (Ervan, 2001). The term, however, dates back as

far as the 1920s when New York Cornell University Professor Alexander

9
Drummond dubbed his stimulation program aimed at “fine original

plays authored by people of the area” (Gard, 1993), “community

theater”.

Amateur theater served a significant function in Wales during the

economic depression of the 1920s and 1930s. Cochrane (2003)

suggests that a community “locked together in hardship” can utilize

theatrical means as an escape from the difficulties of daily life. In

Theater, there is a different set of values which erases societal

classification and therefore has the power to unite in time of economic

crisis. Cochrane states that, “…cultural performance in a society under

stress becomes a bulwark against disintegration.” The financial stress

experienced by the inhabitants during the depression is reminiscent of

the routine economic instability in developing countries. Community

theater enables the participants to “take an active part in coping

directly with their situation by expressing the voice of the theater

group in the local community and outside of it (Boehm & Boehm,

2003).

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Therapeutic Aspects

Below I have outlined (in alphabetical order) a number of therapeutic

aspects which I believe are outstanding and imperative to the
therapeutic process.

Catharsis Katharsis (κάθαρσις) is a Greek word meaning "cleansing"

or "purging". Catharsis is dubbed by many to be a vital aspect to the

therapeutic process (Slavson, 1948; Cotton, 1948; Hadden, 1951).

Joseph Breuer introduced the “Cathartic Method” into

psychoanalysis. Anna O. sought treatment from Breuer for various

physical symptoms, a specific hallucination, and loss of consciousness.

She was diagnosed with hysteria agreed to be hypnotized. Under

hypnosis, Anna O. recalled and at the same time relived emotional

circumstances bringing about the symptoms (Breuer & Freud, 2000).

11
 Aristotle (1997), the forefather of catharsis, suggests it to be the

sensation that would ideally permeate an audience, upon the

commencement of a tragic play; literally, “the purgation of these

emotions.” The idea of catharsis may be seen in the shamanistic

concept of a ‘pinta’, or vision. Elsass (1992) explains that the

shamanistic healing is meant to add a new experience to the patient in

the form of a pinta which results in “healing”. This pinta is much like

the one an audience member may observe on stage. Elsass clarifies,

“A good performance sometimes creates an entirely new reality.”

J.L. Moreno1 (1923) broadens the recipients of catharsis to include the

actors themselves and additionally defines it to be a “healing effect.”

Control Locus of Control, a concept first introduced by Julian

Rotter (1954), refers to an individual's perception regarding the

underlying central cause of life events. “The outcomes of our actions

are contingent on what we do (internal control orientation) or on

events outside our personal control (external control orientation),"

(Zimbardo, 1985) i.e. Did I cause this or did this happen to me? The

overall consensus seems to be that people with an internal locus of

control, i.e. feel they are in more control of their lives, are

psychologically healthier. Rotter (1966) believed that internals

exhibited high achievement motivation. Additionally, Maltby et al.

(2007), demonstrate a strong link between internal locus of control and

1
J.L. Moreno is the forefather of Psychodrama.
12
improved physical health, mental health, and overall quality of life in

people undergoing conditions as diverse as HIV, migraines, diabetes,

kidney disease and epilepsy. In contrast, people with an external locus

of control tend to be more stressed and prone to clinical depression

(Benassi, Sweeney & Dufour, 1988). Relations to alcoholism (see

Norman & Bennett, 1995 for review) and drug abuse (Dielman et. al.,

1987) are inconclusive.

Because so many of the participants and audience members in

this research have undergone some form of trauma, I would like to

briefly note some research on control and victims of trauma. Foa and

Rothbaum (1998) identify the notion, “I have to be in control at all

times” as an underlying dysfunctional belief held by rape survivors

with PTSD. The authors suggest that, “Through repeated reliving of the

rape, you are going to gain control over your memories instead of

being controlled by them.” Throughout the book, there is a theme of

attaining and maintaining control, an aspect seemingly lost in the

traumatic event.

Empathy & Mirroring Heinz Kohut (1984) defines empathy as,

“The capacity to think and feel oneself into the inner life of another

person.” Carl Rogers (1959) adds that the person maintains a strict

sense of self: “Thus, it [empathy] means to sense the hurt or the

pleasure of another as he senses it and to perceive the causes thereof

13
as he perceives them, but without ever losing the recognition that it is

as if I were hurt or pleased and so forth.”

In the mother-child relationship, empathy is expressed through

“mirroring” which refers, "To all the transactions characterizing the

mother-child relationship, including not only the reflections of

grandiosity, but also constancy, nurturance, a general empathy and

respect" (Kohut, 1977). The parent reflects back to the child the

feelings and thoughts that the child is experiencing in effort to offer

the child a sensation of validation and understanding (Kohut, 1971).

Kohut’s idea of mirroring is ‘reflective’ of community theater as the

play mirrors the lives of the audience.

Kohut believes that a parental lapse in empathy leads to a

narcissistic personality disorder. Subsequently, the patient will need to

receive this mirroring from a therapist, or audience from the actors.

Additionally, Freud (1912) advises that the therapist be a mirror for the

patient.

This empathy, or “vicarious introspection” (Kohut, 1959), is

present in the actor/audience relationship as well as the actor/role

relationship; the latter suggested by Carlebach and Singer (1998).

They suggest that, “an empathic understanding of another [is

accomplished] through identification with someone different from

oneself.” In their service-learning course combining psychological and

theatrical techniques to promote racial awareness, Carlebach and

14
Singer had the participants present characters from various plays and

discuss their own related struggles in order to encourage empathic

understanding.

Hoffman (1990) suggests a cause and effect correlation between

empathy and moral behavior. This coincides with what is often the

purpose of community theater: to insight social awareness, positive

change, and ethical consciousness including encouraging reduction in

child labor and domestic violence.

Empowerment and Motivation An extensive literature review

defines empowerment as a “…multi-dimensional social process that

helps people gain control over their own lives… It is a process that

fosters power (that is, the capacity to implement) in people, for use in

their own lives, their communities, and in their society, by acting on

issues that they define as important,” (Page & Czuba, 1999). Wilson

(1996) recognizes the empowerment of the individual as a necessary

prerequisite for the empowerment of a community. Zimmerman (2000)

emphasizes the role of marginalized populations in defining

empowerment: "[Empowerment is] an intentional, ongoing process

centered in the local community, involving mutual respect, critical

reflection, caring, and group participation, through which people

lacking an equal share of resources gain greater access to and control

over those resources."

15
 Community theater also serves as instigation for empowerment,

although, “Such empowerment is challenging, difficult to quantify, and

an ongoing process affecting facilitators, participants, and audiences to

varying degrees at various times,” (Boon & Plastow, 2004). Blatner and

Blatner (1988) state that, “Activity and the use of techniques that

increase the vividness of the experience add to the empowerment of

the patient.” While the authors were speaking about psychodrama, the

statement can be referring to any method which amplifies the visual

encounter, including community theater.

Expression Eileen Kennedy-Moore and Jeanne Watson (1999)

conducted a comprehensive review of the available research on

emotional expression. Extremely surprising is their first conclusion that

the “venting” of negative emotions can have adverse effects on

mental health. However, Pennebaker (1995) reveals numerous studies

which are more in-sync with the popular belief that expression will

relieve the associated negative stress. Spett (2004) points out that the

same positive effects associated with expressing emotions can be

attained by experiencing emotions: “Any activity - talking, writing, or

thinking - that enables the patient to reprocess suppressed, negative,

conflicting, or confusing cognitions and emotions provides the

opportunity to experience, reappraise, clarify, and/or organize those

emotions.” I would add theater to his list of activities as a form of

experiencing, reprocessing, and finally expressing.

16
Resurfacing of Repressed Emotions Anna Freud (1966) continues

her father’s work on repression, the psychological act of excluding

desires, thoughts, feelings, memories, and impulses from one's

consciousness, as a defense mechanism. Sigmund Freud believed that

it is through psychoanalysis that repressed memories of childhood

sexual abuse can be retrieved (Breuer & Freud, 2000). There seems to

be little to no research on the role theater or drama plays in

accomplishing this.

Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence Nathaniel Branden (1994)

defines self-esteem as, “The experience of being confident to cope

with the basic challenges of life and of being worthy of happiness.” In

his hierarchy of needs, Abraham Maslow (1943) ranks self-esteem in

second place. Both theorists highlight the role of self-confidence in

attaining a healthy self-esteem. Branden suggests the crucial function

of self-confidence in achieving self-efficacy and self-respect: the two

pillars of a healthy self-esteem. Maslow classifies self-esteem in to a

higher and lower categories and places self-confidence in the former.

Sense of Self and Roles Social Psychology, uses the term, ‘role’

to refer to the behavior appropriate to an individual who occupies a

given social position or status. It also serves as a coping strategy for

recurring situations and managing with the roles of others. Originally a

theatrical term, role serves to define the boundary between the actor

and the part (Role, 2010).

17
 Erik Erikson is accredited with initiating the popular catch phrase,

“identity crisis”. Identity vs. Role Confusion refers to

Erikson’s developmental stage characterized by reconciliation

between one’s actual identity and the role s/he is expected to

play (Gross, 1987).

Roles (group roles, theatrical roles, and real life roles) is a

prevalent theme in various group therapies. Moreno (1978)

emphasizes the importance of group roles in the sociometric makeup

of the group, the way in which group roles reflect actual life roles, and

how psychodramatic methods can be used to change the undesired

roles. Kramer (2002) discusses the relationship between the roles

community theater members developed in the group (social and

otherwise) versus the roles they already had in the actual community

(family, work, social). He emphasizes the imperativeness of the role

relationships and conflicts to the enrichment effect. In “Hide and

Seek” (discussed above) the actors transferred the conflicts in their

familial and societal roles to the characters they played on stage in a

sort of improvisation thus enabling them to, “take action for which they

lacked the courage in reality and to voice their views and emotions

without feeling guilty,” (Boehm & Boehm, 2003).

Spontaneity and Creativity Moreno introduces spontaneity

as a therapeutic aspect. He describes it as the force which, “…propels

a variable degree of satisfactory response which an individual

18
manifests in a situation of variable degree of novelty,” (Moreno, 1978).

Kate Tauvon-Bradshaw explains, “Moreno taught us that spontaneity

operates in the present, here and now. It is the energy which moves a

person towards responding adequately in a situation they have not

previously experienced or facilitates the capacity to come up with a

new response in a familiar situation,” (Tauvon-Bradshaw, 1998).

Moreno (1940) suggests spontaneity and measure of

identification are directly correlated with the degree of catharsis which

is to take place at the climax of the treatment (or performance). The

more an actor or audience member can relate to a role, the more

catharsis s/he will experience. Also, the more s/he is able to offer an

adequate response in a novel situation or a novel response in a familiar

situation (i.e. the ability to be spontaneous), functions as an additional

indicator of the potential degree of catharsis.

Therapeutic Setting/Safe Space and Containment D.W.

Winnicott (1993) presented the idea of a ‘holding environment’ as a

psychical and physical space within which the infant is protected. In

the holding environment, the infant needs to experience ‘subjective

omnipotence’, the illusion that all his desires are immediately fulfilled

as if by magic. This illusion is made possible by the symbiotic

relationship of the mother an infant in which the infant experiences

himself and mother as one self. Winnicott believed that the ‘holding

environment’ should be recreated in the therapy session in order to

19
repair where it was lacking. This thesis will demonstrate that the

community theater venue is indeed such a setting.

Transformation Tim Carey and colleagues interviewed patients who

had completed an average of six sessions of cognitive-based

psychotherapy for a variety of conditions such as depression, anxiety,

or addiction. Although the majority of participants reported that they

had psychologically changed during therapy (e.g. acceptance,

behavioral changes, new beginnings, and increased positive emotional

states), they were unable to come up with a definition for the term. In

this article, I refer to this ‘psychological change’ as transformation.

Validation Naomi Feil developed validation therapy to utilize with

people who have dementia. Respect is the key foundation for this

method: Other's opinions are acknowledged and are genuinely valued

as a legitimate expression of their feelings, rather than neglected or

dismissed (Feil, 1993). Benjamin (1999) suggests that validation

therapy can be used in other fields of mental health. The principles

behind validation therapy seem to be rooted in Carl Roger’s method of

person-centered therapy which demands for validation in under the

Unconditional Positive Regard principle (Rogers, 1961).

Validation can additionally be achieved with the knowing that

one is not alone in thoughts, feelings, and/or experience.

Universalization refers to, “The realization that one is not unique, that

20
there are others like oneself with problems either identical with or very

similar to one’s own,” (Corsini & Rosenberg, 1955).

Previous Research on Therapeutic Aspects of

Community Theater
…There may well be an innate healing function in theater,
(Snow, D’Amico, & Tanguay, 2003.)

General Comparison Between Theater and Therapy

Elsass (1992) translates theater language into therapy language:

He compares the “effective healing” of psychotherapy to the “good

21
performance” of theater, which are both difficult to quantify. Elsass

holds that it is the “insight” in psychotherapy and “the holy invisible”

(Brook, 1968) in theater which can serve as indicators to a successful

psychotherapy or theatrical performance. Elsass additionally adds that

both “theatre people and therapists…[are] longing for creative

stimulation in their repetitive work.”

Cochrane (2003) highlights the intertwined roles of audience and

actor incorporating the audience itself as part of the spectacle; the

nature of the audience (extent of attentiveness, population, etc.)

shapes the performance itself. This would support Elsass (1992) who

suggests that the role parallel from psychotherapy to theater is actor:

therapist; audience: patient rather than director: therapist; actor:

patient as may be instinctively presumed.

Previous Studies

Kramer (2002) spotlights the seemingly obvious: There is no

external factor, such as financial compensation motivating people’s

involvement in community theater. Therefore, the incentive must

come from some internal factor. Kramer reasons that community

theater must therefore be an “enrichment” group.

“Personal enrichment” is a term which frequents both drama

therapy and community theater (Pyman & Rugg, 2006), however, it is

a general term; not grounded with any tangible characterization and

therefore brings with it little concrete value. That being said, the above

22
article suggests that the term as used here refers to upshots coupled

with “increased quality of life.” Below I will elaborate on the meaning

of “personal enrichment” as used to support the overlap between

community theater and therapy.

Pyman and Rugg (2006), who suggest that community theater

and drama therapy embrace a comparable range of activities,

interviewed 8 members of a community theater group who had staged

an old time music hall performance in 2004. A variety of therapeutic

effects were exposed such as individual validation, increase in

creativity, feeling of being valued, an improvement in self-esteem,

confidence, and motivation, as well as a sense of self-worth and

empowerment.

In his book, Use or Ornament (1997), Matarasso describes his

comprehensive study on the social effects of participating in the arts,

of which community theater is a member. In doing so, he reveals that

quantifying the individual impact of participation in creative arts is

challenging, especially longitudinally. Nonetheless, he reveals several

important outcomes related to “personal development” which seems

to be the equivalence of “personal enrichment”. Matarasso conveys

that increased confidence was reported by 80% of the participants,

including a man who worked backstage at a theater production. He

explains that in some cases, confidence came from a sense of

23
achievement, rather than the actual creative process; a conclusion

supported by Moriarty (1998) and Boehm and Boehm (2003).

The Centre for Arts in Human Development, an innovative

therapeutic center which utilizes the Expressive Therapies to treat a

variety of developmental disabilities, performed an original theatrical

piece adapted from improvisations based on the classical Pinocchio

tale (Snow, D’Amico, & Tanguay, 2003). The difference between this

production and the conventional community theater experience is that

therapeutic elements were intentionally added to the process. For

instance, the Centre designed individual goals based on the needs of

each client. Additionally, the casting of roles was based on the

therapeutic needs of each client.

Similarly, Boehm and Boehm (2003) studied a community

theater group called ‘Hide and Seek’ in which the group was led by

both a theatrical director and a social worker. The group was situated

in Yafo, Israel; a periphery community in Israeli society where the

inhabitants face a multitude of social problems comparable to those in

developing countries. For example, high school graduation rate is 24%,

slightly higher than that of developing countries where the dropout

rate is approximately 40% at each school level (Nestvogel, 1995).

The study suggests an enormity of therapeutic results for the

participants such as an increase in self-esteem and confidence and

expression of one’s inner voice. Improved spontaneity was also a

24
foremost outcome. The authors claim that the participants began to

take more risks and portray a decrease in anxiety about erring. The

authors note that this improved spontaneity had also begun to

translate from the group to the outside lives as well. One participant

comments on her novel aptitude for improvisation: “Today, like the

improvisations on the stage, I improvise new ways to cope with my

daily tasks.” This spontaneity was gradually generalized to their

behavior at home as well. Hide and Seek so much functioned as a

therapy group that the participants even went through the group

development phases as outlined by Mackenzie and Livesley (1984). I

hypothesize that the success of the group on both an individual and

community level was due to the focus on therapy and the presence of

a trained therapist.

The Centre and Hide and Seek pioneer the groundwork for the

intentional inclusion of therapy in community theater. Earlier, I

suggested that if the community theater directors are made aware of

the therapeutic aspects of their field, they will be able to utilize this

knowledge to enhance the overall therapeutic experience for their

group members. In comparing pre and post play interviews of the

Centre’s performance, it would seem that therapeutic goals (such as

improved self-image and confidence, increased socialization, and

increased spontaneity) were accomplished thereby providing an

amalgamation of a community theater and therapeutic experience.

25
Focus on Developing Countries

Mental health, including the expressive therapies, has not

managed to reach certain remote areas, especially third world

countries (Murthy, 1998 & Sugar et al, 1992). After a crisis, it is

common practice for mental health workers to aid the victims on

rescue type missions, but this service is limited to these opportunities.

There is no known word for psychology or therapy in Swahili, the

language spoken by some ten to fifteen percent of the 750 million

people of sub-Saharan Africa (2005 World Bank Data). In third world

countries, psychology is sidelined in the academics (Carr, &

Schumaker, 1996). While discussing Director Xu Yi-ming’s work in

Taiwan following a devastating earthquake, Chang (2005) notes that,

“local people are quite conservative and find western concepts of

psychology or therapeutic theater quite foreign.”

However, various drama activities, particularly theater which

focuses on social change (Van Erven, 1991), have been well received

in these communities. Director Xu Yi-ming (mentioned above) utilized

creative activities such as drama, games, storytelling, and art in his

26
warm-up to win the trust of the skeptical participants, whom in this

case, were children. Cochrane (2003) notes that in Wales during an

economic depression, communities utilized cultural performance to

cope with their adversity. I would argue that developing countries are

in a constant state of economic depression with a high number of

inhabitants living destitute lives. Cochrane regards theater as a means

of escape from daily social distresses emphasizing that because

theater brings with it its own set of cultural values, societal class

divisions become irrelevant.

Kurahashi (2004) illustrates Director Ping Chong employment of

community theater to treat symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder

(PTSD). Chong wrote Children of War, a play performed by and based

on the narrative experiences of 6 refugee children from various

developing countries. Kurahashi, points out a plethora of therapeutic

aspects which were unintentionally incorporated: articulation of

feelings, validation, normalization, affirmation, externalization,

empowerment, and the exploration and defining of self and roles. In

general, developing countries have more incidences of civil war

(Collier, 2006). Violence and high mortality rate due to disease

(Pelletier, 1995) lend for an increased rate of PTSD.

It would therefore follow that of all the therapies, developing

countries may be most receptive to those involving such creative

expression, particularly of dramatic nature. Therefore, the expressive

27
therapies may find a niche with these sort of populations, possibly

initially combining community theater, a familiar mode, with therapy

as a springboard to introduce the concept of mental health.

Methodology

The purpose of this research is to lay the foundation for the use

of community theater as a technique for therapists in developing

countries. It will support and expand on previous research vis-à-vis the

overlap of community theater and therapy. In addition, by specifically

focusing on developing countries, this research will endorse the

continuation of community theater in these remote areas as well as

offer a catalyst for Drama Therapy and Psychodrama to infiltrate.

Twenty six directors/managers/volunteers/actors/producers etc.

who have participated in community theater groups in developing

countries were interviewed. Additionally, several other perspectives

and commentary were amassed via brief statements and internet

28
videos. I accumulated a mix of male and female subjects all above the

age of 18 and have concurred to participating in the study. Given that

the interviewees reside internationally, the interviews were conducted

via e-mail, Skype, phone, and in-person. The interviewees were first

asked to provide an overall extensive summary of their experience.

After this initial prompt, they were asked to provide missing factual

information such as their method of community theater, the details of

the participants in their groups (age, ethnicity, location), and the

general theme of the group and production(s). The summary also

included their personal experience of directing the group and their

perception of the collective and individual effects. The correspondence

consisted of open ended unprejudiced questions so as to not influence

their answers in a way which supports the thesis.

Being that e-mail is an impersonal method of interviewing, I

gathered a large number of subjects in order to have more information

with which to work and thereby be able to substantiate my

conclusions. Additionally, it would have been ideal to interview only the

actors rather than some actors and some facilitators. However, most

participants of community theater in developing countries do not

speak English or have access to a computer. Therefore, I would have to

arrange for someone to e-mail on their behalf and important

information may be changed or lost through interpretation.

29
 Bampton and Cowton (2002) lay the foundation for research

interviews done via e-mail. They point out the advantages as being: 1)

Significant savings in terms of time and finances as no one has to

travel or transcribe tapes; 2) It opens the possibility for the subjects

outside of the researcher’s geographical access to be able to be a part

of the research; 3) Time flexibility for the interviewee and interviewer

to correspond. The fact that this means that the respondent will have

time to think about the responses to interview questions, has both

positives and negatives effects on the quality of the research. The

respondent will have more time to reflect and therefore may be able to

provide more information. Additionally, Kivits (in press) suggests that

this time factor allows for a more significant relationship to develop

between the correspondents. However, since the information provided

may have been thought out, the response may not be as spontaneous

and genuine.

The Vagina Monologues

Six of the interviewees (five women and one man) were involved

in the production of The Vagina Monologues (henceforth to be referred

to as “TVM”) in various developing countries. TVM, written by Eve

Ensler, is a creative outcome of interviews she conducted with 200

women from around the world about their views on sex, relationships,

violence against women, and the vagina. TVM is the foundation of the

V-Day global non-profit movement, whose participants stage benefit

30
performances of the show across the world between February 1 and

April 30 in effort to raise awareness and funds for women's anti-

violence groups. Every monologue somehow concerns the vagina: sex,

love, rape, menstruation, mutilation, masturbation, birth, orgasm, the

variety of names for the vagina, or simply the anthropomorphism of

the vagina. A recurring theme throughout the piece is the vagina as a

tool of female empowerment, and the ultimate embodiment of

individuality. One woman I interviewed, Laura Godtfredsen, explains

that TVM is not about vaginas rather, “how women are treated

because they have vaginas.”Consequently, women from anywhere in

the world can relate in some way to TVM and thereby its production by

locals is considered community theater.

Results
Interviewees and Countries
Bangladesh I interviewed Tasaffy Madani Hossain, age 26, who

served as the PR person, organizer, and actor for the 2010 V-Day
31
performance of TVM in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She completed her B.A. in

Bremen, Germany where she discovered TVM. She currently works in

the Development Sector (NGO, economic development work) for the

last 3 years. Born and raised in Dhaka herself, Tasaffy asserts that in

Bangledesh, “…At the heart of it all, even today, the suppression of

women still exists…Eve-teasing2, social expectations, even domestic

violence – these have come to be treated as the norm and the culture

of the society.” Tasaffy describes the initiative, “All of us involved in

the play did this on a personal level, based on our belief of feminism

and standing up for the women in our country, including ourselves.

None of us has had any real experience in theatre prior to this…I think

it was a greater push knowing that it had not been performed before

here, and this was the start of the journey.”

Despite incessant domestic and international efforts to improve

economic and demographic prospects, Bangladesh remains a

developing nation. Around 40% of the population live in poverty and of

those, 25% are classified by the government as ‘extreme poor’

(Holmes, et. al., 2008). According to Asian Development Bank (2002),

the majority of Bangladeshi women are excluded from political, social,

and cultural affairs of the country. Rape, assault, sex trafficking, and

dowry killings are familiar features of Bangladeshi society. Additionally,

“fatwa” (religious judgments) tend to favor men and sentencing

2
Eve teasing is a euphemism used in Bangladesh, India, an Pakistan to denote public
sexual harassment (Hasan, 2010).
32
includes economic loss and humiliation. This patriarchal aspect of

society, especially in the home, diminishes women’s control over their

sexuality.

Ethiopia TVM has been running in Ethiopia for at least the past seven

years. Due to other theater engagements, the routine director could

not direct and Bryan Renzi, 34, was asked to step in about one and a

half months before opening night. Although Bryan had never directed,

seen TVM, nor read the script, he was familiar with the theme of the

play and recognized it “needed to be staged”. He enlisted his

colleague Alice Brown and together they co-directed the 2010

production of TVM in Ethiopia.

Originally from Queens, NY Bryan began his career as a

journalist, “got jaded”, and has been working as a high school English

teacher for the last 5 years in international schools including Turkey,

Malawi, and now Ethiopia. Bryan dabbled a bit in acting including a

high school play, minor college campus productions, TV shows that

were created by friends, and played a part in a Spike TV commercial a

friend was directing.

The Ethiopian constitution (article 35) provides women equal

rights to men and Harmful Traditional Practices (HTPs) such as Female

Genital Mutilation (FGM), abduction, and rape are unambiguously

criminalized. That being said, there is insufficient enforcement of these

laws. Women and girls regularly fall victim to gender-based violence

33
and domestic violence, but it was underreported due to shame, fear, or

a victim's unawareness of legal protections (“Country Reports,” 2009).

More than 74 percent of Ethiopian women and girls were underwent

FGM (Haub, 2005).

Ghana African Cinderella A group of professional Swedish nationals

operating under the auspices of Riksteatern, a popular "National

Touring Theatre Company” (trans.) joined with The National Theater in

Accra, capital of Ghana, to bring African Cinderella to Ghana in 2010.

The all Ghanaian cast depicts the timeless tale of Cinderella with minor

tweaks which make it African. For example, instead of the famous

glass slipper which leads the prince to Cinderella, African Cinderella

used traditional beads. Also, a friend from another tribe, instead of

personified mice, assists Cinderella to get ready for the ball.3 In

connection with this project, I interviewed Director Fransesca Quartey

and Technical Producer Tobias Stål.

Fransesca grew up in Sweden and received her BFA from the

University of Gothenburg. She currently freelances as a director and

actress, but her recent familial visit to Ghana, “put my feet in a

different direction.” Fransesca’s father is Ghanian and she travelled to

Ghana in 2007 to celebrate his birthday. Over the course of her trip,

she managed to meet with a representative of The Ghanian National

Theater. She recognized an opportunity to utilize theater as a method

3
It was briefly considered to make this character a homosexual, but decided against
for fear that would hide other important issues.
34
for advocating for children’s rights and women’s rights. She says about

African Cinderella, “It was a really difficult project to give birth to, but I

wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

Tobias became involved with theater at age 15 as a lighting

technician in local group. After studying at a music conservatory and

universities in Sweden and Russia, Tobias began working as sound and

light designer. Although based in Denmark, he specializes in

international collaborations. He says, “Today I only work with social

and political productions; I want to make the world better and theater

is a tool.”

According to a May, 2010 ILO press release, sub-Saharan Africa

has witnessed an increase in child labor. This region also has the

highest incidence of children working, with one in four children

engaged in child labor. The International Program on the Elimination of

Child Labor (2008) reports that 10.9% of Ghanian children ages 5-17

years are child laborers and do not attend school. Most work in

agriculture and as unpaid house workers.

The Orphans of Qumbu The Kathy Knowles Theater Company Limited

(KKTCL), a branch of the Osu Children’s Library Fund (OCLF) has

produced many powerful performances including Cinderella (similar to

the above). Martin Legend, a vibrant affiliate of KKTCL, was “very

touched” when he read The Orphans of Qumbu, an opera that was

taken from a book written by Michael Williams of South Africa. He

35
directed this piece in December 2009 making KKTCL the third theater

group in Ghana to perform an opera.

Williams best describes his masterpiece:

[Orpans of] Qumbu has worked especially well with the

poor communities of South Africa. There is a strong
identification of its main character Sticks, who is
homeless, poor and searching for his parents. The group
of orphans he meets hooks in young people as they see
themselves on the stage and understand the ‘orphans’.
The ‘baddies’ of the piece are the Beadle (false religious
teaching), the Policeman (draconian security), and the
Judge (corrupt law) who are also the comic elements of
the piece.; There is lots of action; the orphans are
beaten, they chase Sticks away, they march on the
town of Qumbu, (e-mail to Kathy Knowles).

Kathy Knowles adds, “The show was about oppression and apartheid

but then overcoming it with a peaceful resolution. The last song was,

‘Peace is coming...’ The opera was easy to follow and its message

could easily transfer to other matters of conflict.” The actors came

from Nima and Maamobi, considerably deprived communities of Accra,

the capital city. Some of the actors were orphans, some not enrolled in

school.

After answering some basic questions about Orphans of Qumbu,

Kathy Knowles connected me to Martin Legend, the director, who was

able to provide more details. Martin, himself, is an orphan: His mother

died when he was 7 months old and father died when he was 8 years

old. At age 5, Martin moved in with his uncle and at 13, moved to

Accra by himself. He said that he was, “Working in places a child is not

supposed to work.” After completing junior high school at 16, Martin

36
opted to study at OCLF where he became involved with KKTCL. He later

completed high school in 2006. Martin is one of the longest tenured

members at KKTCL.

HIV/AIDS epidemic has rendered 170,000 children orphans in

Ghana (GhanaWeb, 2003). Nima and Maamobi, densely populated

impoverished slums adjacent to Accra, are characterized by

dilapidated shacks, exposed sewage, and spotty electricity (Maguire,

2010). Substandard education coupled with impoverished conditions

ensure high rates of prostitution (Wahab & Ofori, 2002) which is

naturally correlated with high incidences of HIV/AIDS. It is believed

that the financial inability of parents to provide education for their

children has caused youth to stray from religion (Macquire, 2010).

Therefore, clerics of the predominantly Muslim area have opted to

impose a strict version of “Sharia,” (Islamic penal code) which has

rendered the area more violent and perilous (“Sharia in”, 2001).

Guatemala Marsha Pamela Lopez (age 29) served as the official 2010

organizer for TVM in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Marsha confesses

that she was sexually abused at age 4 which resulted in self

destructive behavior like anorexia. She continues, “At 14 I began a

relationship with a young boy who abused me in an emotional, sexual

and physical way for 5 years. Then at 19 I married him and after 10

months, I finally got out from that relationship.” Marsha was first

introduced to TVM in New York: “I felt like it saved my life; empowered

37
me to not go back with my husband who was abusing me.” She

brought it to her native country, “To give the Guatemalan people the

message that we urge them to end violence against women and girls.”

Marsha utilizes theater productions to raise funds to prevent HIV in

Guatemala. Marsha sighs at the end of our interview: “I live alone and

I’m happy.”

The CIA World Factbook (2004) estimates that 56.2% of the

Guatemalan population lies below the poverty line. It faces many social

problems and is among the 10 most impoverished countries in Latin

America. The U.S. Department of State’s Country Reports on Human

Rights Practices (2005) asserts that violence against women, including

domestic violence, remains a common and serious problem. The report

denotes a disparity between the law, which is already insubstantial on

cases of abuse against women, and practice. While spousal rape is

illegal, until 2004 the law provided that a rapist could escape charges

by marrying the victim. Additionally, sexual harassment is not specified

as a crime in the penal code and is therefore widespread.

India Revive: Mumbai After the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai,

India, a group of concerned and driven students at Brandeis University

founded 'Revive: Mumbai' to organize activities in effort to eradicate

ignorance which they believe to be a core reason for the attacks. Three

students: Zohar Fuller, Juhi Chadha, and Sriya Srikrishnan were

selected for one of such organized activities: A 2009 summer Street

38
Theater project in Wadala, a slum of Mumbai. The participants in the

theater group were students from a Parivartan school, a school system

for those who are not accepted into government schools. Prior to

executing the theater troop, the trio was trained by Manjul Bhardwaj,

founder of The Experimental Theatre Foundation.

Zohar, my principal contact from the project, was born and

raised in the United States. She got involved with Community Theater

when she joined the Brandeis Playback Society during her freshman

year of college at Brandeis University. That brought her to study

Community Theater in Los Angeles, California with the Cornerstone

Theater Company. After graduating with a with a B.A. in Theater for

Social Change, Zohar continues to enjoy writing, directing, and acting

in the Boston theater scene.

Sriya is an international student at Brandeis University from

Mumbai, India. She has been a part of a few theater projects in school

and has worked with several NGOs mainly towards educating children.

Juhi, also an international student from Mumbai, served as co-president

of the South Asian Students Association at Brandeis University. After

some people dropped out of the Revive: Mumbai’s Street Theater

venture, Juhi, with no previous theater experience, joined the group.

She is currently working as a Business Development Executive at

"Omnitech Oilfield Services Private Limited", an oil and gas services

startup company in Mumbai.

39
 Zohar tells me that the families living in the Wadala are nomadic;

they travel from their rural homes to stay in urban slums in order to

work in the city. She told me that they went door-to-door begging the

parents to allow their children to be a student at the local Parivartan

school. Because Parivartan is a transitional school, there was constant

turnover in the theater group’s participants. Despite logistical

difficulties, the project persevered. Through various drama exercises,

the trio facilitated the students to write a play about their lives and

future aspirations. Zohar explains, “It was about how the kids have

dreams, but they don’t feel people are listening to them.” Juhi defends

the necessity of discussing the future with the students of Parivartan:

“When that's all these little kids know of what life is, its difficult for

them to think anything else is really possible.” Additionally, the play

touched on their frustrations at home and in their community. It ended

with: “How can we keep on living in a world like this? How can we

reach the dreams we have if this is our world?” There were two

performances: One was attended by friends and family, associates of

Parivartan, and AID Mumbai. The second was a street performance and

was therefore available to the entire community. Zohar concludes, Juhi

concludes, “…It was FOR The children, BY the children, to be HEARD by

the community and EXPERIENCED by all.”

The Experimental Theater Foundation Manjul Bhardwaj says about

theater: “It’s not for the arts sake, but one that caters to human needs

40
and provides itself as a platform for expression.” The Experimental

Theater Foundation is the innovation of theater luminary Manjul and a

team of social activists. Under the auspices of Manjul, the organization

has conducted more than 100 street theater workshops all over India.

The Foundation stages plays (more than 25 plays on over 25,000

occasions) to portray various problems in Indian society in effort to

bring about social change. Additionally, Manjul always holds an

impromptu discussion after a performance: “After the performance we

interact and through that we create a system of connecting with them

and understanding their needs.” I interviewed Manjul in connection

with the Revive: Mumbai project and his other theatrical operations.

When asked why Manjul dedicates his life to street theater, he replies,

“I feel great. I am living life with a purpose.”

Other Additionally, I utilized two other sources on community theater

as it is used to fight child labor in India. I could not get in touch with

people connected to these projects (both commissioned by

International Labor Organization (ILO)), but felt that their work was too

important and pertinent to not include. The first was spearheaded by

Sanjiv Kumar, the ILO National Project Coordinator in India, and

Mahesh, the director of the street theater. The narrator of their short

documentary posted on the ILO website4 says, “The story is about

people and children from villages just like this one, who were

4
http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Media_and_public_information/Broadcast_m
aterials/Video_News_Release/lang--en/WCMS_114207/index.htm
41
victimized and exploited in hazardous work. The message is simple:

keep your children in school, and take community action to prevent

child labor.”

The second project for which I have not interviewed anyone is

that of Prakash Garud who utilizes puppetry for the same purpose as

Mahesh (above). Mr. Garud defines the unique advantage of using

puppets: “It’s effective only in intimate spaces as puppets can say

daring things. The puppeteer is behind the screen and can’t be blamed

for any of those statements.”5

With 25% of the population below the national poverty line (The

CIA World Factbook, 2007), India contains the largest concentration of

poor people in the world. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

details the conditions of the slums; home to a substantial amount of

Indians. The urban slums and poor rural areas are characterized by

poor sanitation, malnutrition, inadequate access to healthcare, and

limited educational opportunities (Gupta et. al., 2009). Despite the

stern laws outlawing child labor in India and Pakistan, these two

countries have the most child laborers in the world according to a May,

2010 ILO press release.

Kenya Kibera Community Youth Program (KCYP) is a unique,

grassroots community-based organization (CBO) which defines the

phrase “by the people, for the people,” (Lincoln, 1863). Formed and

5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_HnhYeMIMo
42
run by 8 tenants of the Kibera slum, Nairobi, KCYP aims to identify

lasting solutions to the obstacles intrinsic to their native slum

community. The seven year old organization now has over 125

members facilitating self help type programs in Kibera. KYCP partners

with local, national, and international NGOs to provide effective

programming for the Kibera community focusing on conflict

management, domestic violence, child abuse, and HIV/AIDS. KCYP’s

two foremost programs, a community theater group and a soccer

team, have offered the participants a sense of social responsibility and

conscientiousness.6

KCYP utilizes street theater for their agenda: to educate the

Kibera community on HIV/AIDS, child rights, non violent techniques,

etc. The team arrives at a street junction and mobilizes a crowd within

minutes using a technique they call “crowd pulling.” At the end of each

play, they ask the audience questions about what they saw which

ultimately leads to an educative and expressive discussion on crucial

matters.

I interviewed two of the KCYP founders: Kepha Ngito and Richard

Ababa. Unfortunately, due to lack of internet access and static phone

reception, the interview with Kepha was short and with Richard,

incomplete. Nonetheless, Richard explained the workings of KCYP and

6
For more information on KCYP, please see their website: www.kcyp.net.
43
Kepha demonstrated the remedial and beneficial aspects of community

theater.

Before the birth of KCYP, Kepha describes his situation as

“desperate and hopeless”. He is now a recognized youth leader in

Kibera as well as in greater Nairobi. In 2009, Kepha was invited by

CAFOD (Catholic Fund for Overseas Development) to do a speaking

tour in the UK. He is a recipient of a Wellwisher scholarship and is now

studying political science and sociology at the University of Nairobi as

a part time student. He aspires to be a political advisor, analyst, and

public speaker. I asked Kepha how, with the limited educational

opportunities available to Kiberan youth, he managed to attain

“impeccable” English? He replied, “Through theater.”

Richard Ababa, age 29, is also a native of the Kibera slums. He

has informal training in drama and founded KCYP after dropping out of

high school.

Kibera, which is located seven km southwest of Kenya’s capital,

Nairobi, is the largest and most densely populated urban slum in sub-

Saharan Africa. A mere 4sqkm, it is home to approximately 800,000

dwellers (one-third of Nairobi’s population) and 96,000 total dwellings.

The name 'Kibera' comes from the Nubian word 'kibra', meaning jungle

which reflects its dense urban jungle appearance. The dirty and

polluted area is plagued by unemployment, crime, disease, unsanitary

conditions, and lack of clean water (Kibera, The Forgotten City, 2006).

44
Additionally, 15% of the inhabitants have HIV/AIDS (Nairobi Slums:

Huge need for HIV/AIDS Care, 2005).

Mongolia The Human Rights Theater, an initiative of “Hands Up 4

Your Rights” Youth Campaign7, in Mongolia is, as far as I can tell, the

only theater in a developing country to spearhead a theatrical

production on LGBT (acronym to include lesbian, gay, bisexual, and

transgender) rights. On December 10, 2009: International Human

Rights Day, the group performed an original piece called, Blue Scarf for

an audience of 250. Blue Scarf is about a homosexual couple in which

one partner commits suicide. At the time, all the active members of

Human Rights Theater were heterosexual, but nonetheless, thought

they could pull together to write an interesting work on LGBT rights.

They soon realized that LGBT representatives would be needed in

order to depict an authentic product. LGBT representatives together

with campaign members wrote and performed Blue Scarf. Via a very

enthusiastic Skype interview in which four members of the Human

Rights Theater group crammed together behind a webcam, I was

taught about LGBT rights issues in the Mongolia, the role of theater in

spreading awareness about these issues, and of course the

interviewees personal connections.

Zolzaya (Zola) Batkhuyag, 27, my foremost contact, is one of the

founding members of the Human Rights Theater. Zola works as the PR

7
http://www.monfemnet.org/en_hands_up.php
45
Manager for the Mongolian Feminist Network8. She and her boss

agreed that it was necessary to establish a forum for youth to learn

about and take part in human rights issues. Zola explains, “In

Mongolia, there is no civic education. We were thirsty and hungry for

information about it.” This, among other interactions and incentives

motivated the establishment of “Hands Up 4 Your Rights” youth

campaign in September 2008. Zola completed her law degree about

seven years ago and used to work as a hotel manager for less hours

and more money. She left the for-profit world because she felt her

skills and passion could be best used in advocating for human rights.

Sunny Nyamka, 21, also a founding member of “Hands Up 4 Your

Rights” youth campaign is scheduled to graduate from NUM-Law

school in 2012 with a concentration in International law. She would like

to build her career specialty in human rights. Sunny describes herself

as “social service” oriented and it is therefore important for her,

underneath her piles of law school homework, to make time for Human

Rights Theater.

Mandkhai Tse9, 23, another founding member of “Hands Up 4

Your Rights” youth campaign, is also a lawyer. She asserts that “All

lawyers have to know about human rights issues and democratic

values. I love this campaign.”

8
www.monfemnet.org.
9
Due to Mandkhai’s and Chinzo’s lack of fluency in English, most of what they said
was translated by Sunny and Zola.
46
 I noticed a ring on Chinzo Tsa’s9 forefinger and asked if it is a

wedding band. He laughed and told me it is not, but his boyfriend gave

it to him. Chinzo, 22, remains a part of “Hands Up 4 Your Rights”

youth campaign after joining during the theater production in Fall

2009. He additionally works for a local LGBT organization.

While Mongolia ranks 112 (making it considered in the “Medium

Human Development” category) according to the Human Development

Index (2009)10 and is making significant headway in terms of health,

education, and overall development, it continues to face high poverty

rates and inequality (Mongolia human development report, 2007).

In late 2009 (coinciding with the debut of Blue Skarf), the LGBT

community attained legal regard for the first (and only) LGBT center in

Mongolia. Robyn Garner, the Executive Director of the newly-registered

center, asserts that most LGBT persons live closeted lives in

substantiated fear of being outcasted; losing jobs, housing, friends,

and family. She alleges that much hate crimes against LGBT persons

goes unreported due to the victims’ fear of secondary police violence.

Robyn states, “There are no legal or constitutional protections for LGBT

people in Mongolia. In essence, legislatively and constitutionally, they

are invisible.” She adds that the situation has worsened with “Neo-

Nazi” ultra-nationalist groups dedicated to the preservation of

10
For comprehensive explanation for country classifications, see United Nation’s
Development Program’s Human Development Indices report:
http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDI_2008_EN_Tables.pdf
47
“traditional” Mongolian values: “Swastikas have become a chillingly

familiar sight in Ulaanbaatar [the nation’s capital],” (Momaya, 2010).

Nepal According to the Asian Development Bank Staff (2009) Nepal is

characterized by rapid population growth and a fragile economy

resulting in chronic poverty. Most of the country lives in rural areas

where employment opportunities are scarce. The U.S. Department of

State’s 2010 report on human rights, acknowledges that while

Nepalese laws are in place to protect victims of sexual and physical

abuse, incidents of rape and domestic violence were underreported.

There was a general unwillingness among police, politicians, citizens,

and government authorities to recognize violence against women as a

problem. For example, in September 2009, police publically

interrogated a 14-year-old rape victim outside the Sunsari Police

Station in Dharan; One of the alleged rapists was a police officer.

Additionally, violence against women is also strongly linked to ongoing

practices of polygamy, dissatisfaction with dowry, traditional beliefs

about witchcraft, and sex trafficking.

Seema produced, Any One of Us: Words From Prison, as a V-Day

2010 event in Nepal. This set of monologues evolved from a decade

long writing group with Eve Ensler (author of TVM) and 15 women at

Bedford Hill’s Correctional Facility. This piece is a collection of stories

from the organic voices of the original 15 women combined with

writings from female inmates. Any One of Us: Words From Prison is

48
intended to insight healing, understanding, and change as well as to

impact policy, laws, and treatment of incarcerated women. Together

these writings reveal the deep connection between women in prison

and the violence that often brings them there.

Palestinian Territories

Lajee Center (Aida Refugee Camp) I interviewed Nidal al-Azraq, a

Palestinian refugee who was born and raised in Aida Refugee Camp.

After being badly injured in an Israeli raid, Nidal began volunteering at

Lajee Center, a youth center in Aida where he taught a computer class

for children, coordinated local summer camps, and co-directed a youth

play. Eventually he became the administrative director of Lajee

Center. Nidal utilized and amalgamation of Augusto Boal11 and his own

community theater techniques. Nidal would record the participants

speaking on stage and then worked with them individually to make it

an artistic monologue and clear to an audience. Additionally, they

wrote a full play about their lives as well as a play called, The Birds

aimed at educating the youth about how to handle an interrogation by

the Israeli Defense Forces. Ironically, part of crew arrested before the

play.

11
The Theater of the Oppressed refers to a range of theatrical methods formulated
by theatre luminary Augusto Boal. This approach initiated in Brazil in the 1960s and
later made its way to Europe. In the Theatre of the Oppressed, the audience becomes
active, such that as "spect-actors" they explore, evaluate, and transform the
performance which is meant to be reminiscent of their reality (Boal, 1993).

49
 Nidal tells me about his first-hand experience in Aida: “There is

so much political and social violence in the street in our refugee camp.

Psychologically it was heavy. Because houses are crowded, invasions,

curfews, schools are closed…they [the residents] are poor and have no

place to go besides the streets. And there’s so much frustration and

anger inside the family because the poverty, because the political

situation, and everything comes together to effect the children and

teenagers as well.”

According to UNRWA’s website, Aida camp was established in 1950

between the towns of Bethlehem and Beit Jala. The camp’s hardship

was worsened during the second intifada, when the school sustained

severe damage and 29 housing units were destroyed by Israeli military

incursions. The camp is characterized by high unemployment, poor

sewage and water networks, severe overcrowding, and damaged

infrastructure which is reflective of the general conditions of Area C

(Kingori, et. al., 2010).

INAD Theater Group (Beit Jala) INAD12 Theater group in Beit Jala is

committed to utilize community theater for educational purposes.

Unique to the region, the group focuses on social issues (such as

women’s rights and special needs populations) rather than the all-

consuming conflict. Khalid Yousef Massou, Founder and Director of

INAD Theater, declares, “Not all of the conflicts are because of the

12
Meaning “stubborn”.
50
occupation, rather, we have interior problems as well.” INAD conducts

drama and theatre workshops at schools in attempt to further develop

the students' personalities and give them supportive behavioral,

emotional, mental, and physical direction. Khalid expresses the ideals

of his unique organization: “We don’t ask about religion or your

background in general. We deal with people as human beings.” Over a

pot of homebrewed piquant tea, I interviewed Khalid and

Administrative Director, Samia Abu Hmud as well.

Born in Jerusalem and raised in Beit Jala, Khalid began acting

when he was nine years old and in 1987 founded INAD Theater

(originally Theater Group of Beit Jala). He studied theater at University

of Fine Arts and Science of Communication (UNI- IAAC) in Chile and

received his B.Ed. from Al-Quds Open University. Notorious in the Arab

theater world, Khalid has written, directed, and acted in an impressive

array of national and international performances. He has additionally

participated in theater festivals worldwide, uses stand-up comedy to

discuss sex and religion, and offers workshops in such related fields as

mask-making. Khalid says about his work at INAD Theater: “It gives us

a big responsibility. It’s not just entertainment.”

Samia, born and bred in Bethlehem, is a Christian Arab. Formerly

an Arabic language teacher at Bethlehem University and host to

various television programs, Samia’s career drastically changed when

she was appointed Administrative Director of INAD Theater in 2006: “I

51
have a message to give. I have something to give to society. The best

way is through theater.” Samia continues to justify her professional

repositioning, “There are many problems and social issues like child

labor, early marriage, violence against women, and poverty. We have

to pay attention. We have to use all the tools to stop this.”

Khalid explains the necessity of INAD Theater group in dealing

with interior issues, “Because the ministries don’t work. They drink

coffee and smoke cigarettes. They don’t role up their sleeves.” Samia

adds, “They don’t sweat.”

Before developing a play, workers from INAD Theater will

thoroughly research the topic at hand. Also, when necessary, INAD

Theater ensures that social workers are present to hold a post-

performance discourse. Khalid and Samia described many of their

plays to me; here are a few samples. The play called, Kepha (meaning

Enough) is about violence against women. Kepha depicts a husband

expressing his frustration about his unemployment by beating his wife.

The play also illustrates the effect of this dynamic on the children.

Another highlighted play was Friday, which is the weekly day off in Beit

Jala. This play talks about the parent-child relationship, and explores

how these interactions can influence the children’s behavior. It also

examines early marriage and dropping out of from school.

52
 According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics13, Beit

Jala (opposite Bethlehem) is predominantly Christian with a Muslim

minority. A mere 10 km outside of Jerusalem, Beit Jala’s location has

made its residents prone to, and often a focus of, military and civilian

fighting related to the Mid-East conflict. Subsequent to a violent

Palestinian uprising in 2002, Israel began construction of a

controversial barrier that would separate most of the West Bank from

areas inside Israel (Isseroff, 2004). Although the barrier has

substantially reduced the number of Palestinian infiltrations and

suicide bombings in Israel (Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, date

unknown), it has exacerbated the economy on the Palestinian side,

including Beit Jala. While Palestinians enjoy a reduction in the quantity

of Israel Defense Forces checkpoints, they suffer from road closures,

loss of land, increased difficulty in accessing medical and educational

services in Israel, restricted access to water sources, and an economic

recession (UNRWA, 2005).

In addition to being a hub to the regional conflict, Beit Jala and

surrounding areas suffer from internal social issues inherent to a

patriarchal society. Early marriage, lack of information on family

planning, and high incidences of domestic violence and related stigma

are predominant problems facing Palestinian women. The increasing

economic hardships of the area intensify these issues (UNFPA, 2005).

13
http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/
53
Additionally, Samia informs me that there is little programming

available for underserved populations such as mentally challenged,

mentally ill, and physically handicapped.

Tanzania In Summer 2009, Circle of Health International (COHI) sent

me, Talia Weiss, author of this thesis, to Tanzania to conduct

community theater groups with at-risk youth. The objective of the

project was threefold: 1. To infiltrate remote areas with HIV/AIDS

awareness; 2. To educate about other local issues; and 3. To offer

hands-on training for Tanzanian professionals to utilize community

theater for such campaigns. This project, later to be named Project

Anna, was implemented in the rural area of Kisarawe as well as the

rural ward Ukonga in Ilala district outside of Dar es Salaam city (the

capital). Here, Agnes Lugendo was trained to facilitate the theater

group upon my departure.

Agnes was born and bred in Tanzania and worked at her father’s

church on a main drag connecting various squatter settlements in the

Dar es Salaam district. Prior to Project Anna, Agnes had facilitated

various drama activities at the church; never formal nor structured.

She is currently studying nursing and aspires to work with children

infected with HIV/AIDS.

Two plays emerged from this group. The younger children’s play

concerned themes of alcoholism and orphans. The teenagers

performed a play involving dropping out of school, prostitution, and

54
unwanted pregnancies. Both plays, including musical numbers, were

written and acted by the participants. The workshops utilized

improvisation and other dramatic exercises to create the scripts.

In Kisarawe district, I worked with a group of teenagers who were

not enrolled in school because they either dropped out or were

expelled for behavioral problems or academic failure. Due to time

constraints and other logistical issues, there was no final performance,

although the participants performed many expressive and educational

vignettes and short skits surrounding themes such as poverty, tribal

dances, FGM, and safe sex. Every session concluded with a

supplementary educational component concerning the topics raised

led by Wilson Mahemba, a social work intern stationed in Kisarawe.

I was raised in New York and moved to Israel when I was 24

years old, two years prior to her excursion to Tanzania. I co-founded a

Jerusalem based theater group for social change and produced and

directed various performances and events including two of Eve Ensler's

pieces: A Memory A Monologue A Rant and a Prayer and TVM. I also

have been working as a mental health worker since graduating Rutgers

University in 2004, often utilizing drama in my practice.

Despite its ethnic diversity, a factor which has plagued

neighboring countries with war, Tanzania has remained quite peaceful

and stable for some time. (Seemingly, for this reason, it has been

referred to as “Africa Light”.) That being said, Tanzania is still faced

55
with problems common to a developing country. According to the CIA

World Factbook (2007), Tanzania has the world’s 12th highest rate of

HIV/AIDS prevalence, and ranks 6th in terms of AIDS-related deaths.

The U.S. Department of State Human Rights Report (2008) attributes

Tanzania’s 2.5 million orphans to this disease. The report additionally

conveys:

There were a number of continuing human rights

problems…The law prohibits assault but does not
specifically prohibit spousal battery…The law prohibits
prostitution; however, prostitution remained common…
[Due to financial constraints] many children did not have
access to a complete secondary education… Child sexual
abuse remained a problem… The law prohibits female
genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female
circumcision; however, it continued to be practiced by
some tribes and families… According to 2005 data, the
Ministry of Health estimated that 5 to 15 percent of women
and girls underwent FGM… FGM and was most prevalent in
the mainland regions of Arusha, Singida, Kilimanjaro,
Morogoro, and Dar es Salaam…Corporal punishment in
schools remained a problem…

Thailand TVM Laura Godtfredsen participated in V-Day events in 2007

and then again in 2010 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Additionally, she

produced That Takes Ovaries: Bold Females and Their Brazen Acts, a

compilation of the heroic tales of sixty-four brave, audacious, and high-

spirited women from around the globe. Laura was born in San

Francisco, California during WWII. She graduated from UC Berkeley as

a Political Science major, obtained her MA in Government from the

University of New Hampshire, and finally Ph.D in Political Science from

Tufts University (pol.sci 1973). Additionally, Laura is trained as a

56
Gestalt Therapist and speaks 5 languages. Currently, she serves as

president of Zonta International Chiang Mai14, a women’s service

organization whose primary mission in Thailand is to support

underprivileged grandmothers who care for their grandchildren;

orphaned after their parents had died of AIDS.

After-School Theater Kelley Thompson instituted an after-school

theatre programs at three primary schools in Phayao, a province in

northern Thailand. At one of the schools, the students performed in a

Thai folk story about familial relationships. Kelley holds an MA in Social

and Economic Development. She currently runs a youth leadership

program in Washington DC that focuses on environmental and

diversity education, global cultures, community service, and civic

engagement. Kelley asserts, “…Prejudice and discrimination,

homophobia, stigma, violence against women, gang violence, etc.

Anytime you can give youth a safe place to voice thoughts about such

topics, I think you are doing them a service.”

The CIA World Factbook (2006) places only 9.6% of Thai peoples

below the poverty line. While the economy has celebrated a solid

recovery from the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98 and celebrates a

rapid economic growth, their advances in terms of women’s rights

have not been as progressive. NGOs report that that domestic violence

and rape are a huge problem. The laws which prohibit these acts are

14
http://zontachiangmai.com/
57
not vigorously enforced and shelters and counseling services face

severe budgetary problems. Additionally, while prostitution and

trafficking of women and children are illegal, they are often protected

by local officials with interest in the industry. Sex tourism is said to be

a considerably challenging issue as well (The U.S. Department of

State’s Country reports on human rights practices, 2009).

Venezuela Maribel Vasquez arranged for TVM to be performed at

Universidad de Oriente-Nucleo Sucre in Venezuela. Born and raised in

the South Bronx, N.Y.C., Maribel graduated from Franklin & Marshall

College 09' with a major in Government and minor in International

Studies. Since then, she has received two grants that have transported

her abroad: The first called, Humanity in Action, bringing Maribel to

Denmark in the summer of 2009 to study minority rights, immigrant

rights, and human rights. The second was a Fulbright English Teaching

Assistantship Fellowship: A 10 month grant enabling Maribel to teach

English at public universities in Venezuela. Maribel discovered TVM her

freshman year of college at a Valentine’s Day performance. Struck by

cupid, she fell in love with the performance and participated in it

during her sophomore and senior year of college. Maribel says about

herself, “I'm a simple woman. I want what any ambitious woman

wants. I just want it more.”

Maribel informed me of some cultural/political matters which

complicated the efficiency of the production process: “At the university

58
where I worked, we endured recurring blackouts constantly (as the rest

of the country) that sometimes affected our schedule. More pressing,

was the problem of strikes and looting that brought violence onto our

open campus at any given moment and forced us all to evacuate. Mid-

day, as we were rehearsing, it would not be uncommon to hear that

students were burning tires at the entrance of the university protesting

school or government policies.” Despite these obstacles, Maribel and

her determined crew persevered. However, about a month before

opening night, “Our university's chemical deposit blew up releasing

toxic gases (mercury for starters), and consequently shut down our

university. Almost 2 months later, the university remains closed.”

Maribel insist that, “It is important to host TVM at Universidad de

Oriente-Sucre being that many of the topics covered in the show tend

to be taboo in Venezuelan society.”

The World Bank (2005) estimated that in 2000, 10% of the

population lived on less than $1 per day and 32% of the population on

less than $2 per day. Wagner (2005) discusses the history of the

women’s movement in Venezuela: “Up until the early 80s, married and

cohabiting women were not allowed to manage their own affairs, make

decisions for their children, work, own property, or sign official

documents without spousal approval.” Feminist activists in Venezuela

exploited the 1970-80s international women’s uproar for equality to

make progress on their home front. However, the economic crisis of

59
the mid-1980s forced middle and working class women to abandon

social activism and focus on personal finances. The relatively recent

Bolivarian Revolution has improved women’s rights under law,

however, sexual and domestic violence remain a major issue to this

day.

Zambia and Namibia Sampa Kangwa-Wilkie, a Zambian native, is an

artist and a mother. She holds a Bachelors degree in Sociology

from University of Namibia, a Masters Degree in Mass

Communications from University of Leicester, UK, and post

graduate qualifications from United Nations University, Japan.

Sampa works for a media rights advocacy organization as

Program Specialist for Freedom of Expression and Media Law

Policy, in Windhoek Namibia. She saw a performance of TVM by a

production company from Zimbabwe in 2005. Sampa asserts, “I

hadn’t seen such a powerful play in a long time.” After a five

year maternal break, she decided that TVM would be the play to

get her back on stage. She directed, produced, and acted in it in

Zambia and Namibia.

Zambia is characterized by extreme poverty with the majority of

the population living on less than $1 a day. The economy, complicated

by a rapid escalation in HIV/AIDS, has been on a decline for three

decades (2005 World Bank Data). In her report, Violence Against

Women in Zambia (2002), Bourke-Martignoni demonstrates that

60
although the Zambian government has introduced many regulations

opposing violence against women, Zambian women still face a good

deal of discrimination including domestic violence, disproportionate

representation in government, and poor access to healthcare,

education, employment, and contraception. Due to the lack of female

representation in the workforce and inadequate utilization of family

planning, many women and children are forced into the sex industry in

order to support their families. Additionally, sexual violence against

women is widespread and inappropriately dealt with in court. More

often, the perpetrator is charged with paying a fine to the family of the

victim thereby diminishing the magnitude of the offense and devaluing

the rights of the victim.

According to a United Nations publication (2008), Namibia is a

middle-income country with one of the most unequal income

distributions in the world. It is a place of poverty surrounded by

prosperity. According to the recent Namibia Household Income and

Expenditure Survey, more than 25% of households live in poverty. The

U.S. Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

(2005) asserts that while Namibian law favors the rights of women,

domestic violence against women, including physical and sexual

abuse, was pervasive. Traditional positions concerning the

subordination of women aggravated problem.

61
Results by Therapeutic Aspect

The results, presented in quasi list form below, are comprised of

quotes and paraphrased ideas expressed by the interviewees (unless
indicated otherwise). They are classified into topics and subtopics
(presented alphabetically) according to the most dominant therapeutic
aspect represented.
While catharsis does not retain its own topic, it can be easily
recognized throughout the quotes in other topics as nearly every idea
presented by the interviewees contained an element of catharsis.

Control

1. Zohar recalls a participant who opted to play a part of his father

who physically abused him. She interprets this as his way of

rebelling and having control of a situation where he lacked control.

62
2. Khalid explains INAD Theater’s lack of focus on the Mid-East

conflict, “And I try to say that we can’t always remain in the past.

We have to look to the future.” In other words, INAD Theater’s

activities are attempting to alleviate the stronghold and control the

conflict has had on Palestinians and enable them to look toward a

brighter future.

Empathy & Mirroring

“It’s therapeutic for you when you tell your story,

but if you’re there just for that, people won’t want
to hear it. It has to touch them,” (Yossi Alfi).

o Audience and Community

3. “Enactment has the beauty of drawing someone into the story…a

situation.” Fransesca says the above statement to describe the role

of theater in general. More specifically, she continues to explain

why this is the case with Cinderella: “Firstly, a lot of fathers

remarry and bring in a new wife. Much of the time, she ends up

being nasty to her step children.” Fransesca offers a second reason

the community can relate: “If a family does not have sufficient

economic means to care for all their children, they will ask a

relative to care for their child instead. Often, the child ends up

being treated poorly such as being expected to take on much of

the house chores.” She concludes, “I wanted to make a story to

connect with people; something which concerns them.”

63
 4. Tasaffy elaborates on the reaction of the audience, particularly the

male audience: “TVM makes the audience laugh and cry and feel

and understand things that they didn’t think of. And what is the

best is that, that’s how even the men feel when they watch this

show. The men forget to differentiate themselves from these

women and “women’s issues”; are empowered to feel a

humanitarian bond with the women…TVM is a performance that

brings together everyone in the room to feel the same emotions at

the same time simply based on the stories of women from around

the world. And everyone can relate to some part of each of those

stories. They [the male audience] seem to get a little inside-view of

some of the reasons why women feel the way they do. They sort of

understand where the differences are between their feelings of

disempowerment and those of a woman in a similar society.”

5. Sanjiv Kumar, ILO National Project Coordinator, says about utilizing

street theater performances to fight child labor in India: “The

themes are something that is taken from their life. And they can

see it is real stories that are being depicted. It is not something

that is in Bollywood films, etcetera. It is something very near to

their heart. And they immediately understand that.”15

15
I, unfortunately, could not reach Sanjiv Kumar for an interview. The information
about his project was mainly obtained from an internet video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsWzWCFvVyA
64
6. Kalaj Natraraj, a puppeteer at Garud’s theater, asserts, “The

audience relates to the characters and they feel for the children in

the play as if they were their own children.”

7. Chinzo states that, “It would be great if this [Blue Scarf] could

happen annually. Other people can understand my feelings and

courage.” Chinzo cautiously professes a particular concern he has

which stemmed from the production: Suicide.

8. Seema highlights the difference between sympathy and empathy:

“We need to not only sympathize with the women, we need to

empathize with them. If a women comes and reports about her

rape and sexual abuse, she just gets sympathy and then becomes

a subject of social stigmas. The very fact about a monologue is a

person is speaking directly about herself. This is why it is very

touching to the audience. Everyone in the audience can relate to

what is going on the stage. To evoke compassion.”

9. Nidal introduced into our discussion a young girl named Shahid

whose father was killed by an Israeli sniper. Nidal explained that

despite this story being well known in the camp, when Shahid

expressed it theatrically, “Other kids got emotional because it was

the 1st time they heard the story from her.”

10. Samia says that the play Kepha (Enough) was performed in a

Palestinian refugee camp because it depicts, “…the exact situation

65
 as they are living it.” She says about the all-female audience,

“They saw themselves in the play.”

11. Khalid spoke to some teary-eyed female audience members after

the performance of Kepha. Consolidating all their voices into one,

Khalid quotes, “I feel like you’re telling my own story.”

12. Laura explicitly states: “The audience identified with it. They really

understood it.”

o Actor

13. Laura herself performed “My Vagina Was My Village,”7 a

monologue spoken from a Bosnian woman. She explained that this

“hit home” for her because she was in Yugoslavia “at the time of

the rapes.”

o Director

14. Nidal conveys, “I wanted to see it through their eyes. What do they

think about the refugee camp, their situation, themselves. I used

community theater for this. For example, we used monologues.

Without acting techniques. Just go and discuss and problem. About

school, about parents.”

Empowerment and Motivation

o Audience and Community

15. Tasaffy very much focused on the empowering effects of street

theater: “I think it is empowering to just sit and hear it… My

mother was there, and she did not really know what to expect, but

66
 she loved it! She laughed and cried and came out of it with the

message that, ‘Women need to respect themselves; that they need

to know their strengths and love themselves for it’. These women

[in the audience] were phenomenal. They screamed and cheered

us on through the whole play; there were whistles when we ended

and women we didn’t even know came and hugged us and told us

how brave it was and how wonderful they had felt being there. And

that is why I think it is amazing to be there in a room, especially of

only women, and you can almost breathe the power and liberation

that fills up the room.”

16. Marsha concentrated on the tangible effects TVM had on the

audience: “A young girl talked to me about her sexual abuse and

her decision to stop it since that moment [of seeing the

performance]. One girl in the audience came to me and talked

about…having difficulty leaving her husbands who beat her, but

[said that] after watching TVM she would end the situation.”The

effect on the audience was very important; they came to me after

the performance and talked about the way they had been abused

and that they will stop because [now] they know they can do it. So

TVM empowers people to get out of violent situations. Also, the

audience vowed to make their houses and homes Violence Free.”

Marsha recalls her first time seeing TVM: “I felt like it saved my life;

67
 empowered me to not go back with my husband who was abusing

me.”

17. Kepha tells the story of a criminal turned social-action leader:

“There is one of the guys who witnessed a performance in his

neighborhood. At that time, he was a drunk and a troublemaker, a

criminal who was shunned by everyone and so he was in terrible

condition. after the performance he began following our theatre

group in the different locations we performed, one day we

approached him and spoke to him at length, he ended up to

become one of the strongest members of the theatre group months

later and is now a ‘Peace Facilitator’ in his own village.”

18. I questioned Kepha about “the guy with the dreadlocks” in a

Youtube video16 about KCYP. He responded, “The guy with the

dreadlocks used to be a bad guy as well. He actually participated in

the 2007 post election violence in Kenya where thousands were

killed.17 He, like many others, was supporting violence because he

felt cheated by the election results. The only language was

violence… And it was widespread. He was motivated when he saw

our theater group performing during a very tense period. He

16
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClR80x6lgHM
17
A supposed buried tribal rivalry surfaced in a violent eruption in Kenya following
the 2007 presidential elections. The aggressive response, resulting in countless
deaths and displaced persons, was the result of a tribal and ethnic rivalry. The
elected president, Mwai Kibaki, was a Kikuyu and his opponent, Raila Odinga, a Luo
(Post election violence in Kenya, 2010.) Kibera is predominantly Luo (Kibera, the
forgotten city, 2006).
68
 became a great guy. He is now a radio presenter for a local fm

[radio] station.”

19. Kepha adds, “There are other great stories. One of our theater

members is now a news anchor at a leading television station.” He

proudly states, “We helped him develop a talent he never knew he

had.”

20. Laura interprets “The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy”

, as “giving women permission [to have orgasms]. That’s what

18

theater can do.”

21. Sampa confirms Laura’s analysis: “Once a woman told us how,

after watching the play with her husband, she demanded for better

sex. When the husband came before her as before, she demanded

that they start all over again. He promised to make it up to her the

following night. She took him on his promise the following night to

his surprise and irritation. Apparently he did better.”

22. Laura says about June, an audience member, that it “invigorated

her.” June adds, “It was important because usually we don’t realize

what we can do; how great we are. It empowers you. You feel

important.”

18
“The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy” is a monologue spoken from a
sex worker who discloses the captivating details of her career and her affinity for
giving women pleasure. At the end of the monologue, she demonstrates various
orgasms, closing with a "triple orgasm."
69
23. Maribel maintains that, “TVM is extremely therapeutic because in

the midst of violence, the monologues bring the message of peace.

It's that message of peace that leaves you hopeful.”

o Actors

24. "I am here, get used to it!" sums up Tasaffy’s reaction to acting in

the performance. “And to have had performed it, it is literally truly

just an honor…We all came out of it with a new-found respect for

ourselves, a true feeling of pioneering something, of actually

having had pushed the boundaries, even if it just by a little bit.”

25. Bryan describes the period before opening night: “I feel that in the

days leading up to the performance there was a general sense of

mounting dread among the actresses, Ethiopian and foreign alike,

most of which had never been on stage before. But on the day of

the performance, there was a pervasive sense of, 'We're doing

something worthwhile here, and we're going to do it well.'”

26. Stiofainin Nic Lomhaird wrote an article about the TVM

performance in Ethiopia: “Beyond the superficial thrill of

performance, however, was the genuine sense of achievement in

having successfully broached this massive, daunting subject, with

the aim of creating change for the better, especially in Ethiopia,

where female genital mutilation, early or forced marriage and

domestic violence still occur at such dramatic levels.”

70
27. Martin witnessed how being involved can, “Increase motivation

and determination.” Martin describes the Orphans of Qumbu

project as his “Most remarkable life event.” It makes him feel that,

“Anything that comes my way, I can do it. It gave me courage and

motivation.”

28. In our interview, Manjul mainly focused on a play called, Mera

Bachpan, (My Childhood). This play explores the issue of child

abuse (Labour) and exploitation in its varied manifestations. The

still-running play has been performed more than 12,000 times,

both on the street and on stage, all over India and also in Germany

since its opening night in 1995. As a result of their participation in

the play or audience, more than 50,000 children are no longer child

laborers.

29. Sriya says, “The happiest moment for me throughout this whole

program was when Sahil shouted out saying that he was so strong

and could do anything now. He wasn’t scared of anything anymore.

This is exactly what we had wanted. We had empowered these kids

to feel strong and have the attitude that they can achieve

absolutely anything.”

30. Zohar likened the aspirations of the participants to that of a

westerner’s. When I asked her what the participants wanted to be

when they grow up, she responded: “It’s the same as in America:

doctor, policeman, teacher, etc. They would play these parts. Now

71
 they can see it as a possibility rather than not. Hope is a motivating

force.”

31. Chinzo describes how the theatrical experience empowered him as

a member of the LGBT community: “Before the performance, I was

concerned about how it would affect people. Will people be angry?

Will they understand? Will they come to the performance? But the

day of, I felt strong. I am not only doing this for myself, but for

everyone. I felt empowered because I am standing up for a lot of

people’s rights.”

Expression

32. Zohar remembers various stories about how the students utilized

the theater group: “One kid enacted his father coming home and

beating him. A girl student spoke out about how she wants an

education like her brother, that all girls should have an education.

The last part [of the platy] was about how one kid couldn’t stand

the unsanitary conditions he was living in.”

33. When asked “Why theater?” Juhi responded, “The focus was to let

the children speak their minds in methods they might be more

comfortable with.”

34. Nidal explains the importance of community theater to facilitate

expression in areas plagued by violence: “One of the main

challenges in conflict areas where people lose their siblings, are

affected by violence, is that it is hard to encourage them to talk

72
 about their problems. It is absolutely sometimes impossible. We

loosened this complication through theater. It was really an

amazing way to do it…How can we encourage them to talk about

their situation, about their pain, about their problems…Without the

stage, they felt like I was doing a kind of therapy work and they did

not like it. They felt anxious facing each other in a circle talking

about and discussing their issues but the use of theater loosened

this tension in them and encouraged them to talk about it. We used

to sit in circles for two or three hours and all we did is argue: ‘We

should resist.’ ‘No we should fight.’ ‘We should make peace,’ or

‘We should make war’. If we sit in a circle the tension will come and

the whole discussion will turn to politics. But in the stage there was

so much personal emotions would come out. So much honesty.

This would really open the eyes of the audience: The teenagers in

the camp. The whole stage would be an active discussion group.”

35. Maribel explains the casting process: “Some requested

[monologues about] rape, others monologues that dealt with

pregnancy and so on. I never asked for the reasoning behind their

choices, but I could tell many of the women felt connected to their

given monologues.”

36. Nidal told me the story of an 11 year old girl, Shahid (also

mentioned in #7 above). Shahid was playing on the street when

her father called her for lunch and was subsequently shot by an

73
 Israeli sniper. “She did not cry did not scream; she was in total

shock.” Social workers from Beit Jala attempted to work with

Shahid for months; their efforts noble, yet in vain. She began

participating in Nidal’s theater group. “So many times she would

stand on the stage and didn’t say anything for 3 or 4 minutes. Then

she would start talking about something else, friends, what she ate,

etc.,” recaps Nidal. After months of this incessant pattern, Shahid

told her story through theater. Nidal imparts, “She stuttered a bit.

Before theater we had tried other mean like art, music, and dance.

The only way she did it was this type of theater work. It was

amazing.”

37. Agnes informed me that “Jackie” continues to utilize theater to tell

her own stories and the stories around her.

Resurfacing of Repressed Emotions

Audience and Community

38. Marsha says audience members, “Thanked me for letting them

feel.”

Actor

39. Tasaffy confesses that as an actress, “I can honestly say I have

never felt such a myriad of emotions. The closest would be when I

gave birth to my precious son.”

40. In Orphans of Qumbu, many of the actors could closely relate to

the storyline because they were orphaned themselves or because

74
 they generally still feel the negative aftereffects of colonization.

Martin reveals that the actors were “very emotional” often crying

because of their related, “emotional baggage.”

41. Maribel explains that, “Venezuelan women undergo a lot of

pressure to be seen as beautiful as the country prides itself with

having the most beautiful women in the world (with the most

number of Miss Universe titles to prove their point). Monologues

like "Hair"19 and "Angry Vagina" vocalize the thoughts that many of

these women would never dare to admit they have had and

empower them to question and vocalize inner monologues they

have been repressing.”

Self Esteem and Self Confidence

42. Martin eloquently describes being involved in the production of

Orphans of Qumbu as “Enacting freedom to own life.” He adds that

the experience makes one feel like, “You can do anything.”

43. Zohar bluntly states that the “main effect was self-confidence.”

44. Sriya agrees with her colleague, “The actors definitely gained self-

confidence. We saw a definite change in the confidence level of the

kids and the ability to stand up and speak their thoughts.

45. Manjul: “Then over a period their confidence is growing, that they

are being accepted, that somebody is there to hear and somebody

is there to spend time with them.”

19
Monologue celebrating vaginal pubic hair. The tone is established in the first
sentence: “You cannot love a vagina unless you love hair.”
75
 46. One of Manjul’s students asserts, “I love to act. I was really scared

to talk to people. Now I can speak confidently with anyone.”

47. One woman in Sampa’s Zambian performance of TVM told her, “I

feel so tall. My husband should have been here. I will bring him

tomorrow.”

Sense of Self and Roles

“[Community theater instills] more awareness to

one’s identity and the development of a new
identity, which is really an old identity that was
never used,” (Yossi Alfi).

48. Tasaffy explains how Community Theater assists one to integrate

their various learned roles: “You learn about how in this society, we

all learn how to play all those different roles – the colleague, the

manager, the homemaker, the mother, the wife, the ex-wife, the

daughter, the sister, the friend, the lover, the party-goer – and how

in mixed societies all those roles almost seem to contradict each

other, but somehow they don’t and somehow they all come

together to make us who we are.”

49. Fransesca says, “They now know something they didn’t before…

about themselves.”

50. Bryan talks about a set of Ethiopian twins who were cast to share

the “My Short Skirt”20 monologue: “They were extremely shy and

bashful, and being that the role called for them to be in-your-face,

20
“My Short Skirt” is a monologue suggesting that when a woman or girl wears a
short skirt, it is not a provocative measure; rather, it is meant to proclaim a state of
non-fear and ownership over one’s body.
76
 confident divas ("I am here, and I am HOT"), they had a long way to

go… [They] certainly came a long way during rehearsals, and got

some of the loudest applause. And they had a perma-grin (not the

fake kind) the entire time they were on stage.”

51. June explains that even as an audience member, new roles can be

uncovered: “It makes you think about what you can do and how

you think…To realize who you are and what you can do.”

52. She later adds, “It made me feel more like a woman, more

feminine. We are women and we are great.

53. Nidal says about a performance which was written and rehearsed,

but never staged: “It helped them to understand their relationship

with their families and communities; they were able to learn about

surroundings, and themselves.”

54. Samia tells me about a Tamer, a lad with a mental handicap who

lives in Beit Jala. For the better part of his childhood, he has been

coming to INAD Theater to retreat and assist. Otherwise, he was

often found playing the role of policeman, i.e. standing in the

middle of the street and directing cars. Samia interprets this as him

trying to find his role in society. Tamer’s participation in INAD

Theater activities offered him, “Skills in etiquette and

communication and ADLs; As well as tools to help him discover his

role in larger society.”

Spontaneity and Creativity

77
Audience and Community

55. Zohar explains the lack of and subsequent need for the program’s

activites: “There’s trash everywhere. It’s dirty and muggy. The kids

were rowdy and not participating. They needed spontaneity.”

56. Tasaffy expresses the revolution experienced by the audience

during the performance: “The older women, most of them have

never watched a performance, and it was amazing for me to watch

how for some of them this was literally stepping out of their usual

positions.”

Actors

57. Additionally, Tasaffy shares her own feelings of spontaneity: “This

was a coming out of sorts for me...a breaking away from what

people expect of me.”

58. Nidal says that the children, “Used to react in camp without being

conscious of what they were doing.” He is differentiating between

impulsivity and spontaneity.

59. Kelley explains what theater, as opposed to school, had to offer: “I

think that the community theatre project gave the students a

chance to be creative and expressive in a context (school) that

doesn't always encourage creativity and self-expression.”

Therapeutic Setting and Containment

78
 One female student proclaimed, “Why should I tell
you something which is so obvious?! I didn’t cum
and you know it,” (Sampa).

Audience and Community

60. Bryan asserts that community theater allows for “…a wide

spectrum of emotion to be felt safely through a shared

experience.”

61. Fransesca offers another perspective on how theater is a safe

place, “In Ghana, you don’t speak about things that are bad,

awkward, or uncomfortable. You endure them. That being said, in

theater one does not have to speak; just listen and possibly relate:

“’You sit back and relax; we’ll tell the story.’”

62. While in Guatemala there was no formal discussion after the

performance, some people from the audience opted to share their

experiences with Marsha anyway: “For the audience some people

come to me and talked about their experiences with violence. One

girl in the audience come to me and talked about the way she was

abused by her uncle.”

63. Kepha asserts that the audience members would open up at the

end of the performance and, “Being able to give them a listening

ear, even the worst criminals can change.”

64. Laura: At the end of the performance, women got up to tell their

own heroic stories. “It would have been difficult for them to do

79
 this, but because they saw what other women did it [in the

performance], made it easier.”

65. Sampa reflects on her experience in Namibia: “The discussion after

the show has become an indispensible part of the play, if not more

important. The auditorium comes to life as students, male and

female, take to the floor to comment, ask, question, challenge

sexual taboo issues from genital mutilation to lack of orgasms…

TVM is as explicit and as blunt as can be [which] makes it safe for

people to discuss their views, which pale in comparison to what the

play touches on.”

66. She offers an example of a topic discussed, “The lack of orgasm

has been the most recurring and controversial topic in every single

discussion. It turns out many women are suffering quietly from a

lack of pleasure in sex. Quietly because the majority of the women

who had raised the issue in the discussions said they had never

mentioned it to their partners. ‘I don’t think I have really ever

experienced an orgasm,’ commented one female student to much

applause.”

67. Another example was, “The idea of a stinky vagina is very

embarrassing to most women. They are afraid of it not smelling

good and find it humiliating if it smells bad; not just in front of men,

rather, in front of each other! Women even often have difficulty

talking to each other about the topic. The issue of the vagina

80
 smelling was first raised at Windhoek College of Education and was

a recurring topic at Ongwediva, Rundu and Caprivi Colleges. Both

male and female thought the vagina had a smell.”

68. Sampa concludes: “Theater provides a ‘safe’ environment to

discuss otherwise difficult subjects. The discussion with 13 and 14

year old girls from the Northern Girls Conference was the most

revealing on how much rape and incest was going on, yet untold.”

69. Khalid recalls that at the post-performance discussion of Enough,

women were able to say that how men behave is wrong. Some

discussed how to solve the problem of violence against women

recommending that the government should interfere or that social

services be more active. He sums up their statements as, “I am

against that.” Additionally, women were able to share their own

stories and support each other.

70. In cooperation with a Jerusalem based women’s organization, INAD

performed Friday in Jericho. Khalid recalls Farah21, a Jerusalemite

woman who attended the performance and shared her related

story: When Farah was 14 years old, she was sealed into an

arranged marriage as the third wife of a man who was about five

times her age. Her impoverished parents encouraged for the

marriage because he had a prosperous large family (which

culturally is positively correlated with status). After the first six

21
Name changed to ensure confidence.
81
 months of their marriage, the husband ceased to provide the

promised financial support to her family. Farah advocated for a

divorce, but her family refused because of the associated stigma.

Without familial support, Farah got divorced and completed high

school. She is now studying education at Hebrew University (an

Israeli University outside of East Jerusalem) and honorably

proclaims, “I want to work and be independent.” Farah expresses

that she is “…proud to tell her story after seeing Friday.”

71. In her report on Zambia, Sampa states: “The men and women

questioned and confronted issues that have gone unchallenged for

generations from genital mutilation to lack of orgasms for most

women.”

Actors

72. Fransesca recalls a girl who spoke to the ensemble about being

raped: “To talk about it, to cry about it, to hear, ‘You’re gonna

make it!’ really helps.”

73. Nidal said about the actors’ ability to focus when performing,

“When they acted it, they acted it with full feelings. With no

consciousness of the life around them.”

74. Maribel also describes the actors’ ability to center themselves:

“Above the rehearsals being fun, they were a safe haven for the

actresses to be women with no strings attached.”

82
 75. Reflecting on her experience in Zambia, Sampa construes: “The

theatre is both intimate and distant, it’s an accessible and equally

inaccessible world, the ideal place to discuss and be anything.”

Transformation

Audience and Community

76. Tasaffy reveals the difference in how the audience feels before and

after the performance: “Even when they walk into the showing not

knowing what to expect and scared of being based at by all the

feminists there, they do walk out feeling completely different and

on some level relating to the stories heard in there.”

77. Manjul tells me about a time when a child laborer’s employer

came to see the performance and was, “Clapping for the children.

The same employer who hits and kicks and beats and exploits.”

78. One resident of Kibera speaks about his experience with KCYP

community theater group: “When I [saw] people fighting, I was

supporting it to continue. But when I joined this ‘peace club’, I can

tell people not to fight.”22

79. Sampa describes the transformation the audience undergoes at

the commencement of the play: “It all starts the same with a

worried and excited looking audience, not knowing what to expect.

The tension in the room is palpable. Then the moment everybody

has been waiting for arrives, “I bet you are worried,” starts the

22
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClR80x6lgHM
83
 play, “Well, you should be worried, you should be worried

about vaginas…” Immediately the ice is broken and soon the

audience is taken on a journey of changing emotions.

80. Sampa mentions the change in discussion when she performed

TVM at a conference for 13-14 year old girls in Namibia: “We heard

that the girls could not stop raving about their vaginas.”

Actors

81. Tasaffy alleges that, “At the end of it, everyone has a new found

idea and picture of what a vagina is and what makes a woman… All

of us actors , it was a journey for us, especially given how different

our group was, we all grew in our own selves.”

82. Fransesca tells me that being involved in the project, “…Changed

my perspective. It brought me closer to my father and

understanding what Ghana and Africa is.” She concludes, “Theater

can change people’s lives. I mean really change. And I’ve seen it.”

83. As an actress, Tasaffy felt, “That was truly one the best

experiences I've had. It was beautiful, exhilarating, transformative

and just plain fun.”

84. Manjul recalls a child named Naresh. Naresh was raised in Gautam

Nagar, a slum near Mumbai International Airport. Manjul met

Naresh when he was ten years old working 12 hours a day as a

child laborer in a garage. Shortly after becoming a part of Mera

Bachpan, Manjul enrolled in school.

84
85. Zola confesses the variation in her views of LGBT issues from

before and after the production of Blue Scarf: “Of course before

theater I was for human rights for all because I am a human rights

activist. But, [she laughs] I just thought about the sex aspect. Now,

after my involvement in the production, I realize the love involved.”

86. Sunny relates, “I learned more about their love and strongly felt

it.” She separately adds, and Mandkhai agrees, “Before the theater

[was established] I discussed human rights issues very surfacely

[i.e. superficially]. After playing the role, I felt a closer connection.”

87. Marsha asserts that, “The actresses changed what she sees in her

world.”

Validation

88. Zohar suggests that, “Kids who are not listened to during the day

had the opportunity for validation, affirmation, and presence.”

89. Manjul explains how the children perceive the audience clapping:

“That means I have substance. I am not only there to be exploited;

I am there to liberate myself. I belong to the society.”

90. Laura connects drama and emotional support as follows: “That’s

what drama is about. It does something nothing else can do. It

moves people in a way that makes them feel understood. Nothing

else can do that.”

91. Maribel “kids who are not listened to during the day had the

opportunity for validation, affirmation, and presence.”

85
Discussion

Conclusion This concludes the first official extensive documentation

of the therapeutic aspects of community theater. As demonstrated by

the quotations cataloged in the results section, community theater

provides a therapeutic setting to allow for an emotional and

psychological cathartic process to take place. Beginning with the

86
theatrical expression of one’s stories, emotions, and thoughts, this

therapeutic process is uncannily reflective of that which occurs in an

therapist’s office. Because the themes in community theater are either

universal or specific to the community involved, the performance de

facto fosters empathy in the actors and audience. The actors

essentially play themselves or those around them while holding up a

mirror to the audience who is effectively watching their stories being

depicted on stage. This empathy enables them to feel validated in

thoughts, feelings, and even existence. Self-esteem and self-

confidence are augmented and control is reinstated. The actors have

the opportunity to utilize and expand on their creative outlets to

cultivate increased spontaneity both on stage and in their real lives.

They broaden and advance their sense of selves in relation to their

roles on stage and the audience follows their lead. All this and more

empowers and motivates the participants to make positive changes in

their lives.

The interviewees spoke optimistically and positively about their

experiences. Many ideas they presented simply did not correspond to

one of the subjects in the results section, but I thought should

nonetheless be included. Here, the interviewees answered the obvious

and inevitable question: Why is community theater a necessary

measure in accomplishing the aforementioned therapeutic results as

87
well as other outcomes such as awareness about pending sociopolitical

issues? Please find these quotes in Appendix I.

Other factors raised during the interviews which I deemed

needed further attention are discussed below.

Witness I recall that at the beginning of my studies, renowned

Psychodramatist (and my mentor), Louise Lipman, would instruct the

protagonist to appoint someone specific to play the role of ‘witness’ in

a Psychodrama about a trauma. In Louise’s words, “I made it up as an

idea to help the person who was traumatized to have someone see

what had happened so that it would no longer be a secret. Making

trauma visible and no longer colluding with the perpetrator in keeping

the secrets was to me a very important part of the healing process.”

Often during a traumatic incident, like rape, there is no witness around

to protect the victim, to corroborate the event, and endorse the

associated trauma. This is rectified by the implementation of a witness

in a Psychodrama. John Casson (1997) suggests that in Psychodrama, a

witness’ purpose is twofold: Firstly, to validate the client’s experience;

additionally, to share with the client in the closure process. He

suggests that the audience, auxiliary ego23, and director can serve this

role.

Fransesca Quartey informed me of Alice Miller, renowned

psychologist specializing in child abuse. In her book, Banished

23
The Auxiliary Ego in Psychodrama is equitable to a supporting actor in Theater.
88
Knowledge (1991), Miller confesses that she herself was abused as a

child. Here, she introduces concept of an ‘enlightened witness’, a

person who could support and empathize with a victim of abuse; in

Miller’s words, “People who helped them to recognize the injustices

they suffered, to give vent to their feelings of rage, pain and

indignation at what happened to them,” (Miller, 1997). Miller claims

that with the emergence of an ‘enlightened witness’, the cycle of

abuse is broken: “People who found such witnesses never became

criminals,” a claim supported by Kepha’s tales of reformed criminals

who were such as a result of their participation in KCYP’s theater

activities.

The idea of a witness seems to be integral to the community

theater process. The audience serves as a witness to the story

depicted by the actors and the actors serves as witnesses to the

people who lived those stories (many of whom are on stage and in the

audience). Fransesca tells me that some of the actors and other

theater persons had a “psychotherapeutic resolution.” She explains

that, “It turned out to be important that someone was there to hear

their [the audience’s] stories.”

Benefit for the Audience

“The most important thing on stage is the

dialogue between the actor and the
audience...And he [someone from the audience]
says, “My God! He is telling my story,” (Yossi Alfi).

89
 At first reflection, it may seem that the community theater

experience is therapeutic first and foremost for the actors; benefits for

the audience are secondary. After all, the actors are the ones actively

participating and contributing to the performance. However, many of

my interviewees depicted the more passive role of the audience as

either not actually as such or in fact beneficial.

Khalid distinquishes INAD’s style of community theater from that

of Augusto Boal: “In Theater of the Oppressed the audience needs

courage,” asserts Khalid. He says that with INAD it works to the

audience’s advantage that the, “Actors do the work for them”. In the

discussion after Kepha, audience members thanked INAD: “You said

that for me. You gave me a push.”

Fransesca seems to agree with Khalid, “In Ghana, you don’t

speak about things that are bad, awkward, or uncomfortable. You

endure them.” That being said, in theater one does not have to speak,

just listen and possibly relate: “You sit back and relax; We’ll tell the

story.”

In contrast, Mahesh’s street plays are more interactive which he

considers to be valuable to the audience: “Usually, in a theater

performance, it’s only the actors who perform. But what is unique

about the street plays is that the audience not only watches us

perform, but people also get involved and begin to ‘act’ along with us.

It’s exhilarating and very exciting.”

90
 It seems whether active participants or attentive spectators, the

audience’s role in community theater is of utmost importance in terms

of providing empathy, witnessing, validation, and, depending on the

style of the production, input.

Process vs. Performance I would like to take a moment to discuss

the therapeutic value of the two parts to a community theater

production: the process and the performance. Different styles and

participants of community theater favor one over the other.

In preparation for the play, Nidal interviewed people around Aida

Refugee Camp and gave cameras to the youth to take pictures. The

images enabled Nidal to understand the children’s perspective on their

lives. This became a play which never made it to the stage because 3

or 4 of main characters were arrested while protesting. Nidal tells me,

“It was amazing to work with them anyway, but it was a bummer. They

realized, ‘This is our life in the camp.’ They made sense of it because

the camp is so complicated politically, socially, and economically. It

helped them to understand their relationship with their families and

communities; they were able to learn about surroundings, and

themselves.” Here, Nidal is demonstrating benefits that can only be

attributed to the process and the performance was nonexistent.

Zohar’s project also placed heavy weight on the process with

spending countless hours facilitating the students in numerous drama

exercises not directly meant to enrich the performance as opposed to

91
rehearsals. She told me the performance was minimalistic, amateur,

and unpretentious: “The product was not this polished performance;

the process was the most important.” Zohar attributes this method to

Manjul, her mentor.

Zola presents a different take on the ongoing process vs.

performance debate. She discusses the degree of empathy she was

able to feel as a result of watching the performance: “On stage, I

forget that it’s a drama; I just feel that it’s true. I cried when there was

a suicide. On stage, it feels real.” She revealed that during rehearsals,

she did not experience compassion to this extent. Additionally, Bryan

adds, “I feel that in the days leading up to the performance there was

a general sense of mounting dread among the actresses, Ethiopian and

foreign alike, most of whom had never been on stage before. But on

the day of the performance, there was a pervasive sense of, 'We're

doing something worthwhile here, and we're going to do it well.'”

Certainly both the process and the performance possess

significant therapeutic aspects of community theater. The specific

contribution of each, possibly according to style of production, needs

to be further researched.

Post Performance Discourse Another factor contributing to

the therapeutic benefits is the post performance discourse which was

incorporated in many of the community theater productions discussed

in this thesis. This is an important avenue of expression, awareness,

92
clarification, and education for the audience. Additionally, it lends the

opportunity for dynamic interaction between the participants and

audience.

For INAD theater’s production of Kepha and Sampa’s productions

of TVM, the post performance discourse provided the opportunity for

the audience to engage in debates regarding women’s rights and

interact with their community on a topic otherwise considered to be

taboo.

The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child24 was

read to the children after a performance of African Cinderella. After

INAD’s performance of a play on Brucellosis (A.K.A Maltese fever or

Mediterranean fever)25, a didactic session was implemented to educate

the local community on prevention, symptoms, etc.

Other community theater productions utilized the post

performance discourse, but the above made it a central focus. Whether

formally or informally, this measure is integral to the therapeutic

effect. Without post performance discourse, the audience is left

suspended, not knowing what to do with or how to make sense of the

emotions they experienced during the performance. Additionally, I

would recommend (as INAD often does) to have a mental health

24
http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/humanrights/resources/child.asp
25
Brucellosis is caused by ingestion of unsterilized milk or meat from infected
animals, or close contact with their secretions. Brucellosis induces inconstant fevers,
sweating, weakness, anemia, headaches, depression and muscular and bodily pain
and can persist from a few weeks to many years.

93
worker (clinical social worker, psychologist, expressive therapist, etc.)

to conduct these sessions.

Importance of Therapist In order to maximize therapeutic gains, I

propose a therapist to be present at the community theater

productions and even possibly at the process before the productions

including rehearsals and script writing. Theater producers and directors

may be unaware or insensitive to the therapeutic aspects of

community theater. In many ways, the presence of a trained mental

health professional will only serve to enhance the outcome (Boehm

and Boehm, 2003; Snow, D’Amico, & Tanguay, 2003), but the absence

will not necessarily hurt. The audience’s and actors’ feelings of

empowerment and validation and the encompassing presence of

empathy in the room will survive irrelevant to a therapist whose

presence will only augment the aforementioned aspects.

94
 That being said, there exists scenarios in which the absence of a

trained therapist could be detrimental. Often, the topics raised in

community theater are of sensitive nature (sexual abuse, physical

violence, medical matters, etc.). This can be clearly appreciated in

Marsha’s testimony of audience members literally divulging stories of

their own experiences of sexual abuse immediately following the show.

Resurfacing of repressed emotions and memories and general dealings

of sensitive matters demands the presence of a licensed therapist

(Schwartz, 2002; CNN report ignored, 2006; Soldier’s suicide spotlights,

2009). Kennedy-Moore and Watson (1999) argue that the outcome of

the expression of negative emotions (which characterizes much of the

community theater content and post production discourse) is at the

mercy of the listener's reaction.

Shock Value

“Some too shocked for words…Others opened

their mouths in disbelief,” (Sampa, Zambia).

When I produced TVM in Israel, I used my online chat status as a

marketing venue: “VAGINA MONOLOGUE TICKETS ARE SELLING FAST!”

An amused friend informed me that the program’s algorithm only

allowed for “VAGINA” to show on other’s screens (unless one actively

expanded the window). Needless to say, this caught a lot of people’s

attention and we indeed sold-out all three performances.

A couple of interviewees included their thoughts on shocking an

audience and the role shock plays in inciting social change. Seema
95
began her interview on Any One of Us: Words From Prison by

explaining to me why TVM was not performed in Nepal: “Nepal is a

conservative society. TVM was performed here some years ago. When

translated, vagina sounded too dirty and bold. People were not

comfortable with it; the actors were not comfortable with it so their

acting was not convincing. People have that kind of mentality over

here.” She explains that there are two Nepalese words for vagina:

Yuni, a more accepted term and Pupi which is considered a very dirty

word; feedback from the audience determined that neither was

acceptable. Similarly, a prominent media organization in Zambia asked

Sampa to change the title, “We won’t lie to you, Zambians are not

ready for such a production.” Seema reflects on the failure of TVM in

Nepal: “If you want to change society, you don’t have to shock them.”

She maintains that Any One of Us: Words From Prison was more

successful because the community could empathize with the

characters without the distraction of so-called foul words. Seema then

re-reflects, “Actually, it’s high time that people here should start

accepting these subjects!”

Tobias also weighted the consequences of shocking the

audience. A potential added feature to African Cinderella was that of a

criminal who attempts to sexually attack Cinderella. Tobias explains

why this scene was censured: “If we shock the audience, they may

miss the boat.” Some tweaks to the script were also made to reduce

96
shock factor. For example, the original script has Cinderella say to her

stepmother, “You are a fool,” after her stepmother calls her a fool. This

would be considered to scandalous for the Ghanaian public and thus

Cinderella’s comeback became, “No I’m not.”

Some considered the shock a positive thing. One Ethiopian male

audience member called it, “Shock therapy,” and others expressed

varied ambivalence on the matter.

Chinzo of the Mongolian Human Rights Theater group explains

the performances use of romantic dancing to demonstrate the love

between two men. Zoya clarifies that they also had men kiss on stage

as well. Possibly, both techniques were vital: Some people gain from a

less culture-threatening more symbolic approach (the former) while

others may react better to a candid no-nonsense approach (the latter).

Bryan recalls that during the last scene of the dress rehearsal,

the owner of the theater came in to observe. “He was a well-heeled,

smooth operator, but evidently no one had told him about the details

of the subject matter in the show, and as a tiny Ethiopian woman

onstage kept saying the word 'vagina' and talking about all the things

that came out of it during birth, he lost his composure: 'What?!?' he

exclaimed. He was pretty much wordless after that and had a look of

consternation. But, at the close of the performances, he gave a

heartfelt thanks and praise for the performance and for having us

choose his theater as the venue.”

97
 Sampa details the shock effect in Zambia: “It was definitely

shocking for the audience to see two actresses dissect the female body

part, not only as a female part, but as an organ that can bring great

pleasure. You have to understand it from a context of traditions where

sex is rarely discussed and vaginas are not discussed at all. So when

you have a play where two women are discussing the vagina and sex

in public, like football, the word shock is insufficient as a description.

During the discussions one guy asked if we had underwear on, another

asked me politely if he could look at my vagina. Seeing this woman on

stage moan with pleasure18 was like watching a porn movie with the

difference being that she was right in front of the audience fully

dressed.”

It is difficult to measure the effectiveness and ineptitude of

shock. On the one hand, it can detract or distract from the primary

focus. Additionally, it can cause people to dissociate, disconnect, or

even repel people. Alternatively, it has the ability to grab people’s

attention and desensitize them to otherwise taboo topics ultimately

breaking the culture of silence.

Culture of Silence The expression ‘culture of silence’ refers to a

topic or issue which is recognized to exist, but by implicit collective

accord is not discussed nor acknowledged. Often the culture deems

these matters to be shameful and taboo. Common examples are

violence against women, war crimes, government conspiracies, and

98
even sex. Sampa contends that, “The biggest threat to female sexual

health in most Nambian societies is the culture of silence. Abuse,

especially rape and incest, is thriving on silence.” Samia had the

feeling that, “Many want to do things, but can’t because of cultural and

religious issues.”

Chao Chung and Hsiao-Chuan Hsia adopted methods of “Theater

of the Oppressed” when working with foreign brides26 in Taiwan.

Inspired by Freire, they concluded that theater which combined literacy

with issues concerning the oppressed was the secret to breaking the

culture of silence. The foreign brides began to speak about their

difficulties leaving home. In comparison with those who did not

participate in the workshop, they were more assertive and had a

stronger sense of solidarity. Not surprisingly, their new found voice

brought about uneasiness and restlessness for their husbands (Hsia,

2006).

When Seema was a student in India she saw TVM in New Delhi.

Seema explains that there is a “culture of silence” in Nepal. “The

women over here, we are not very bold... Even if there is sexual abuse,

a women will not speak out against it because she is afraid that society

won’t accept her; she might be subjected to social stigma. Women are

not used to speaking out against family and friends. The more we keep

quiet, the more we do not express these things, the more the violence
26
“Matchmakers” encourage marginalized women from Vietnam, Indonesia, and
other southeast Asia countries to marry Taiwanese men in exchange for a small
dowry to be paid to her family.
99
will continue.” She continues, “More and more women are coming up

and voicing their opinions.”

Bryan also comments on Ethiopia’s culture of silence: “Ethiopian

culture in general calls for individuals to be stolid and stoic; emotion or

complaint are not things that are generally accepted. Beyond this,

women in particular are repressed by their culture; modesty of dress

and deference to men are valued. Attitudes towards women are

changing...but slowly. TVM is exactly the sort of forum which allows

the 'unmentionable' to be said aloud.”

However, community theater is not a failsafe antidote to the

culture of silence: Sampa shares that the most difficult performance

was at Caprivi College of Education: “We performed the play without a

single reaction from the audience, not a sound, not any movement,

except for absolute silence from start to finish.” During the post

performance discourse, Sampa came to the realization that Caprivi

must be the most culturally conservative stop on their TVM tour: “The

women who watched TVM were young people with an above average

education and teachers in the making, yet remained mute for two

hours as men discussed social and health issues affecting them.” In

spite of that, Sampa sees the silver lining: “One thing for sure is no one

walked out. The very fact that it was staged and we had an audience

was a good start and a form of success in itself.”

100
Community Theater Use in Developing Countries As

mentioned in the introduction, I believe that community theater is an

indispensable tool to further the development of a developing country.

Fransesca agrees: “I think it’s extremely important for countries to see

there are other ways to help develop: The Arts. If you want a nation to

thrive, you need to give them the means.”

Nidal explains why regular psychotherapy is not an option in the

Palestinian Territories, and other methods are necessary for expressing

emotions: “We don’t like to talk about our problems. We don’t like to

show we are hurt inside; that we are damaged inside. This is one of the

resistance elements. Don’t show your weaknesses or tears. This will

make you stronger. It [not expressing emotion] is bad. It’s a harmful

thing to do. When we want to talk about it with each other we get

stubborn. ‘No man, I’m strong, I’m ok, I’m fine.’ We also make light of

it or jokes about it. It happens every day. All the time. If you want to

feel sad about it, you will feel sad your whole life.” A society such as

the one in Aida Refugee Camp is not receptive to conventional

psychotherapy or anything that resembles it.

While Israel is not considered to be a developing country, it bears

some similar characteristics such as being plagued by wars and

terrorism. In the mid-1970s, Yossi Alfi produced a community play

about the stress of war in which the Israeli children actors had indeed

101
survived the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Both Nidal and Yossi needed a

back door, i.e. community theater, to reach the children.

Additionally, Zola turned to community theater to cope with the

infamous 2008 riots in Mongolia: “The results of the 2008 election led

to violent riots. There was a lot of police brutality and five people were

killed. 27 It was complex to talk about human rights after these

incidents. So…we chose a positive, fun way.”

Aside from being inundated by wars and violence, most

developing countries are additionally characterized by relentless

poverty. Psychotherapy is simply not something the average person

can afford. Seema asserts, “The only way 70% of the normal

population will watch theater is if it’s free and on the road: street

theater.” Samia explains that community theater is specifically

necessary for a community like hers, where a resourceful idea is

needed to reach marginalized group.

Zohar justifies the students missing class time to participate in

the theater workshop: “Creativity and art is very important for most of

these kids who won’t do anything besides construction, farming, and

27
To the great dismay of the Democratic Party, the preliminary results of the 2008
elections in Mongolia revealed an obvious victory for Mongolian People's
Revolutionary Party (MPRP). Tsakhia Elbegdorj , leader of the Democratic Party,
immediately claimed the results were fixed, inciting a violent uprising. President
Nambaryn Enkhbayar declared a four day state of emergency and a 22:00 curfew
was imposed. Despite the police’s use of seemingly non-violent techniques to
control the protesters, the MPRP headquarters were set to fire five people were
killed, over 300 police and civilians were injured (Mongolia calls state of
emergency, 2008).
102
sewing. Yes, for these kids creativity and self confidence is just as

important as math.”

The problem is that community theater cannot be a substitute

for genuine forms of psychotherapy which are very much needed in

developing countries. While community theater may bear therapeutic

aspects, it is by no means a form of therapy and should not be

confused with psychodrama and drama therapy which are in fact that.

However, community theater may be able to serve as a gateway for

the admission of therapy in developing countries. The ‘process’

component of community theater is not a far cry from legitimate

recognized forms expressive therapy.

Language Barrier If community theater is in fact an effective and

useful tool in developing countries, one may probe as to how the

international facilitator communicates with the participants. The most

obvious answer is either the facilitator is a local, trains or supervises a

local, or uses a translator. The interviewees had a different take on this

matter.

When I was facilitating a community theater program in

Tanzania, I had a translator with me which definitely helped the

situation. However, his purpose was mostly to translate instructions

and logistical information. I was able to understand what the children

were acting on stage. Amy Miller who facilitated a theater experience

103
with orphans in Mexico reflects: “Although there was a language

barrier, the feelings shared between all of us were so strong.”

Zohar is of the opinion that theater knows no language bounds:

“We utilized theater because how else can you communicate to Hindi

speaking children?” She assures that, “We were able to see growth

without language.” Her colleague, Juhi, agrees: “For the purpose of

interaction, we needed the students to have a project which would

have a universal language.”

Tobias takes the idea that theater knows no language bounds to

a different level: Theater as a language itself. I asked Tobias why the

performance was necessary, i.e. Why could they not have just recited

The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child28 which

essentially is the point (and which they did anyway during the post

performance discourse)? Tobias justifies the performance by

accounting the amount of information one can obtain from a text vs.

the amount one can obtain from a play. “In a text, the only language is

words. In a play, you can use more language.” Tobias is referring to

tone, demeanor, facial expression, and body language.

Sunny concurs with Tobias. In Blue Skarf, Sunny played a ‘cover

up’ girlfriend to a gay man. Sunny, who demonstrates a genuine

concern for LGBT issues, explains her decision to actually act in the

play, “I want to say all these things; Just not in words.”

28
http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/humanrights/resources/child.asp
104
 Similarly, Kepha discovered theater to be a common language

between the different faces of Kibera: “This way we were capable of

communicating to the difficult parts of the population, the criminals,

the illiterate, the busy, the bored, etc. …We also break down the

jargon and communicate in the language best known and best

received by different social classes.”

In an e-mail to Kathy Knowles, Michael Williams, author of

Orphans of Qumbu, suggests the ability of theater to transcend

language: “The story is clear and does not need for an audience to

understand all the words.”

Effectiveness As demonstrated, empowerment is one of the

foremost goals and therapeutic results of community theater.

However, empowering someone to uplift himself from a negative

situation (abuse, child labor, etc.) does not take into account the

factors causing the negative situation. For example, Samia explains

the phenomenon of early marriage and high incidents of school

dropouts to be a direct result of the economic hardship and therefore

need for children to contribute to the family income. So once early

marriage and child labor are eradicated, how does the family sustain

itself financially? Sriya contemplates this matter: “Our thoughts were

that it is really hard to bring about change in a community, as

educating the kids was not enough to change the thought process of

the adults. Our efforts were a drop in the ocean but a drop

105
nevertheless.” The change inflicted by community theater is merely a

band aid on a wound which needs surgery. I propose that the most

effective implementation of community theater is when it is

accompanied by a larger program, such as various campaigns in India

which provide shelter and assistance to ex-child laborers.

Biased Results

I am a stage actor, so perhaps I am biased in my views,

(Sampa).

The results of this thesis are undoubtedly biased. I interviewed

proponents of community theater, not adversaries. Additionally, much

is based on second hand accounts and no long-term follow ups are in

place for most of the theater groups. That being said, while not

everyone may be community theater’s number one fan, I doubt

community theater maintains any radical adversaries. Additionally, I

would feel confident to challenge someone to corroborate a view which

maintains that community theater is not therapeutic.

106
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Appendix I

Significance of Community Theater

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 Theater is important because it’s very personal and

very upfront at the same time. Everything is right

there on the stage. No takes and retakes (Interview

with Seema Gurung, Nepal).

1. Tasaffy comprehensively demonstrates the universality of TVM: “The

significance of TVM as a performance I think is in how it tends to bring

out issues that usually no one tends to talk about. Like the normal

everyday musings of a women, that even women would tend not to

say. It is a play that is a major eye-opener for women, and I think

Dhaka’s women have reached the point where they are ready to

accept that they have issues like that which they want others to

understand.”

2. She continues, “I think one of the main thing about the issues

spoken in TVM is about everyday little, totally not thought of things like

tampons and thongs women choose to use/or not use, but no one

would ever say that it is uncomfortable or so unless someone else says

it for them because they have become normal objects in society. So

when you hear things like that actually being SAID out loud and with

the kind of power that the monologues have, you cannot help it but

feel a sense of accomplishment around you, even if you are only part

of the audience.”

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3. In regards to the male audience member Tasaffy explains, “Men are

usually used to hearing about ‘women’s issues’ in terms of women

wanting empowerment, they want equality, they want more rights, etc.

For everyday men, those are abstract in a sense, and not part of their

lives. They do not sympathize with most of it, and which is why it is

difficult for them to belong to any movement which calls for ‘women’s

rights’. Usually, when discussing women’s issues, it is also a usual

thing to make the issues sound like a women vs. men matter – men

harass women, men get more, women get less, etc. TVM has a

wonderful way of bringing out societal issues towards women, and

talking about problems, even rape, without making men (of course

those who are not violent towards women) understand these views in a

way where I think even they relate to some of the monologues.”

4. In regards to herself Tasaffy says, “What a sense of achievement!

Especially since I thought the nervousness was going to kill me right

there on the stage...clammy hands, dry throat, crazy thumping heart,

head spinning, legs shaking, want to run out of the room kind of

feeling. …And later, what a rush!”

5. Bryan says about TVM, “I think it was sort of a 'break from reality'

that was kind of welcomed by everybody; a chance to be in an

'alternate universe' where these things are talked about openly and

frankly.”

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6. Bryan says about theater that, “It makes the subject a lot more

accessible than through an 'academic' lecture. It also makes it more

approachable and 'human'… So I think it was a format that locals

could relate to, and audience members could always 'step back' from

even the most shocking or depressing moment in a monologue; after

all, it was 'theater', not real and present at that moment. While

'passing the book around' still would have effectiveness, few would

have been able to get as much out of some of the parts on their own

especially when it comes to parts like the job our actress did with the

various 'moans' in “The Woman who Loved to Make Women Happy”10,

or the way another actress talked about a piece of her vagina coming

off in her hand in “My Vagina Was My Village”29: These are moments

when what happens on stage transcends the directions and

descriptions in the script. Such parts are truly indescribable but

immediately recognizable, even among a culturally disparate

audience.”

7. Kepha explains the necessity for “edutainment”, i.e. education +

entertainment: “To bridge the information gaps due to either illiteracy,

lack of opportunity and to satisfy the need for entertainment, we called

it edutainment. It is theater because through theater you can reach

practically everyone, even the deaf can see and the blind can hear. We

also reach those people who either do not have time or passion to sit

29
“My Vagina Was My Village” is a monologue compiled from the testimonies of
Bosnian women subjected to rape as a weapon of war.
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down through a boring lecture. The most important aspect is that

people want to be entertained as they learn, it makes them less bored

and more patient.”

8. He continues: “It [the arts] is more effective in all aspects of

edutainment as it identifies with the values and daily happenings in the

community. It therefore acts as a mirror of what transpires in the

society, giving room for learning and self-assessment. Arts remain the

unique way to address developmental issues because anyone can be

creative and share that with others, even in settings of low-to-zero

literacy and also because the arts can convey messages which all can

comprehend and understand.”

9. Chinzo says about Blue Scarf, “It made the issues more real,” a

significant statement as it comes from someone who does in fact live

the issues.

10. Seema informs, “A lot of rape and sexual abuse is taking places in

rural areas and not reported to police.” She tells me there are crisis

centers for victims of rape and abuse, but most women are unaware.

“The majority of the women here in Nepal are uneducated and

illiterate. So that’s the reason why. Because of the ignorance they do

not even know that there are these services available for them. They

do not know they entitled to these services. That’s why through street

theater we can talk to these women.”

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11. When I asked Khalid why he could not just read the results of his

research to a curious audience instead of performing it, he explained it

as follows: “I read the reports and cases on paper, but I don’t see it.

When the audience witnesses the performance, it makes it more real.

When the actors see the reaction of the audience, it affects them.”

12. Kelley discusses the different aspects of oneself which can be

released in community theater: “It was pretty powerful to watch some

of the more reserved students really shine in the spotlight.”

13. Maribel discusses the use of community theater for protest or

delivering a political/social message: “Theater plays helps women use

their voice not simply in protest, but in discourse. Standing on a

podium and protesting violence is not as effective as theater because

people simply reject being scolded. People respond to theater because

in the midst of entertainment, they evolve.”

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Appendix II

Anna’s Story

I would like to take this opportunity to tell you about Anna whom

I was fortunate to meet during my excursion to Kisarawe. I leave

Anna’s story for the end because it does not fit into one category in the

results section. Her experience in the community theater group

demonstrates all the therapeutic aspects working together to create a

truly cathartic experience.

Anna walked into my life while I was situated in Kisarawe, a mere

half hour from the center of Dar es Salaam. (However, most

inhabitants have never been to the capital as they cannot afford the

~80 cent bus ticket.) Anna has a hardened appearance: glaring eyes,
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furrowed brow, and is visibly dirty. But, when she speaks, you realize

that underneath her rough exterior lies a jaded and defeated 19 year

old girl. Anna’s mother abandoned her children when Anna was 12

leaving Anna to care for her four younger siblings and deteriorating

elder father, 70, who is infected with AIDS. She failed out of school due

to her overwhelming responsibility at home. Anna works, cooks, and

cleans their mud hut.

So, Anna got into a water fight. Not the kind you’re likely thinking

of; this was a fight over water. Anna, along with the rest of the village,

fetches water from the local well on a daily basis. Sometimes, one can

wait several hours at the well for the government to open the ducts.

This day was one of those days. After roughly a five hour wait, a girl

about Anna’s age cut the line. When Anna and her sister tried to stop

her, the girl threw their buckets aside. Anna, on her last leg, threw the

girl into the well. Thankfully, the girl suffered only light injuries. Anna

and her sister were arrested. Fed up with her lot in life, and

understandably so, Anna had snapped.

I greeted Anna at the jail when she was released on bail after

36+ hours in solitary confinement without food or water. I could not

believe that Anna immediately returned to group after such a

traumatic ordeal. Even more surprisingly, Anna, on her own initiative,

directed a scene based on what happened. It was brilliant and the

other participants empathized with her and helped her through it. Anna

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was afforded the opportunity to tell her story, to have witnesses hear

her story, and to shine on stage. For the first time in Anna’s life, people

listened to her, she felt accepted in the community, and her story was

validated.

I do not condone what Anna did. I do not mean to say that a

rough life justifies attempted murder. I am saying that Anna’s

theatrical depiction of it helped myself and her peers to understand.

During her performance, repressed emotions about abandonment

resurfaced, and she expressed anger about her lot in life, her father’s

inevitable death sentence, her constant hunger, and her desire to have

a childhood. Anna expressed immense appreciation to me, and I to

her.

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