Navigating New Approaches for Grassroot Community Theatre in a (Post-)Covid World

The cultural revolution of 1968 paved the way for many artists to reconsider how and where theatre was made. Community theatre gained currency and one company who became prominent during this cultural shift was Welfare State, later Welfare State International. They were one of the theatre companies who focused not only on a community theatre aesthetic but a grassroot one. I examine the radicality of community theatre and consider the efficacy of the historical approaches to engaging with communities in a (Post-)Covid world. I acknowledge and explore the shifting understanding of communities and assert that a deeper engagement is needed to foster collectivity (Tannahill 2016; Fişek 2019; Weston 2020; Bartley 2021). To reconsider the role that theatre may play in the future, I focus on a grassroot approach to community-led work and posit that location will be a key component to how theatre is made as we emerge from a pandemic.

Connecting Faith through Theatre: Barazan’yee as a Semi-Ritual Performance in Thai Muslim Communities

This research paper examines the creative process used to connect young Muslims with their experience, their faith, and their community through a community-based performance. It also stresses the different levels of connections that resulted from the performance itself. The author sought to reconnect Barazan’yee, an important Arabic poetic chant, to people in the Bangkok Islamic community using tools from community theatre. The performance design process allowed them to tell their own story in relation to Bar’zanyee poetry in ways that are meaningful to them and their community, thus connecting their lives to the life of Prophet Muhammad. The first performance was in a public theatre resulted in a shift in structure and participation choices for audience in the second performance at a public theatre. Although both performances were conducted in a semi-ritualized environment of the Muslim community, the latter better engaged both the performers and audience.

”Du förstår, men du förstår ingenting.”

In the following article, based on two years of participatory ethnographic fieldwork with the No Border musical, as well as interviews with 16 of the musical’s 30 participants, community theatre is investigated in a context of deportability. We analyse the working process in the theatre group, in which actors with and without resident permits participated, through the concept of politics of translation. We show how inequalities due to the constant threat of deportation for several members were brought to the forefront during the work process of creating the musical. It concerned risks of detection for the undocumented participants as well difficult living conditions related to deportability (for example insecure access to livelihood, healthcare, housing etc.). The article conceptualizes various dimensions of working together in a group where participants live in unequal conditions as a politics of translation. This concept includes the work of language translation, and also captures translations of the different experiences mentioned above, and how different positions of power can be handled and understood, within a group with the ambition to work together, in this case on a theatrical performance. Our analysis shows how theatre in a context of asylum rights activism can challenge and create alternatives to the conditions of deportability, while these simultaneously condition the activism and translation. The article contributes to knowledge about mobilization in the context of vulnerability and inequality. We hope to also contribute to a development of critical social work both within and outside academia.

PSICODRAMA Y TEATRO ESPONTÁNEO:EXPERIENCIAS INNOVADORAS PARA EL ÁMBITO COMUNITARIO EN CUBA

This work tells innovative experiences of implementation of psychodrama and spontaneous theatre for the community environment in Cuba. The three experiences were developed in “El Canal”, an alternative space for the promotion of Psychodrama and Spontaneous Theatre/Playback. The modalities implemented were: public psychodrama as a device to enhance citizen participation;psychodrama for the construction and reconstruction of historical memory; and the spontaneous community theatre to promote an intergenerational meeting, with the direction of Julia Motta; Úrsula Hauser; Ana Ara and Bea Huber, respectively. The modalities used are based and described, highlighting their potential to be used for different purposes within some of the essential tasks that work in community settings demands.

Community Theatre as a Tool for Birth Control in Bekwarra Local Government Area, Cross River State-Nigeria

This study examined the problem of understanding Community Theatre as a tool for controlling outrageous birth rate in Bekwarra Local Government Area, Cross River State, Nigeria. In line with the study problem, Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory served as the frame. The study blended qualitative and quantitative methods of research for data collection and analysis. Because of the enormous population size of the people which was 105,497 according to Federal Republic of Nigeria’s official Gazette 25, a multi-stage cluster sampling technique was used to draw out a sample of 150 respondents for the study. Data generated were analyzed, using simple percentages and thematic analysis of emerging issues during the investigation. Findings reveal that community theatre is a better medium for sensitization to birth control because of its strong influence on personal and social development of the people through drama. This study therefore recommends that Bekwarra Healthcare Management teams should form community drama group and frequently develop interventions, using drama and workshop which are community theatre strategies that embody the capacity to make people understand the importance of using artificial contraceptive methods for births regulation.

A report of community theatre groups during the coronavirus pandemic

The objective of this paper is to present the story of three community theatre groups working with older people from West Yorkshire, England, and how they manage to rehearse and perform before and after the new coronavirus pandemic. The article looks at what factors, such as audience involvement, the groups had in common. Finally, the article concludes that the future is – no one knows.

Arts and social sustainability: Promoting intergenerational relations through community theatre

It is now widely argued that arts and cultural activities play a significant role in maintaining health and well-being, particularly in later life. At the same time, there are mutual benefits gained by older and younger people who participate in what scholars and cultural practitioners are beginning to call ‘intergenerational shared space’. Drawing on semi-structured interviews carried out with members and organizers of the Ages and Stages theatre group in Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom, this article examines the role of community theatre as an arts practice that facilitates intergenerational relationships. The findings point to a need for a deeper integration of arts and cultural practice, intergenerational practice and urban regeneration schemes.