Theatre and Social Change

Resumen

El teatro es una forma cultural y artística que implica un proceso de comunicación entre creadores y receptores en un espacio y en un tiempo que se sitúan en la esfera pública, lo que ha permitido que a lo largo de los siglos haya servido como espacio de expresión, intercambio o debate de todo tipo de ideas, causas y luchas. En ese proceso están implícitos procesos de expresión, creación y recepción por medio de los cuales las personas muestran, analizan y cuestionan formas de ver y entender la vida, maneras de ser y de estar en el mundo; de ahí deriva su potencial educativo, cultural, social y político, avalado por numerosos estudios e investigaciones. En este trabajo, que tiene una orientación teórica asentada en una revisión de literatura pertinente, consideramos diferentes intersecciones que se producen entre teatro y trabajo social, para señalar también que la expresión dramática y la expresión teatral ofrecen metodologías substantivas en la consecución de algunos objetivos del trabajo social, especialmente en ámbitos como la alfabetización crítica, la reflexividad y el reconocimiento, la concientización, la participación social, el desarrollo personal y/o comunitario, la apropiación de capital cultural o el acceso al bienestar personal y social.

Palabras clave: Teatro, trabajo social, alfabetización, concientización, participación.

Abstract

Theatre is a cultural and artistic event based on a process of communication between creators and receivers which takes place at different times and places in the public sphere, an arena which over the centuries has served as a space for expression, exchange and discussion of all kinds of ideas, causes and struggles. In this process there go implicit processes of expression, creation and reception through which people display, analyze and question ways of seeing and understanding life, ways of being and being in the world; hence derives its educational, cultural, social and political potential, supported by numerous studies and research. In this work, which has a theoretical orientation grounded on a review of relevant literature, we consider various intersections that occur between theater and social work, in order to point out that drama and theatrical expression provide substantive methodologies to achieve some of the objectives of social work, especially in areas such as critical literacy, reflexivity and recognition, conscientization, social participation, personal and community development, appropriation of cultural capital or access to personal and social welfare.

Key words: Theatre, Social Work, Literacy, Conscientization, Participation.

Just days after the George Zimmerman verdict, the Truth N Trauma (TNT) Theatre Ensemble, comprised entirely of African American actors, performed the devised piece The Only Way Out is the Way Through. Wearing a hoodie and holding a package of Skittles, the ensemble’s only male actor delivered a monologue that spoke eloquently about the threats that young black men face. By briefly embodying the figure Trayvon Martin, this performance interrogated the perceived dangers of black masculinity in order to reveal that the deadly violence levied against black men is not an aberration, but rather is the norm. This article seeks to locate the death of Trayvon Martin historically, tracking similarities in the murders and trials of Trayvon Martin and Emmett Till. It then focuses on the monologue, interrogating its themes, its creation, and its effect in performance in order to discuss the multiple narratives surrounding black masculinity that emerge through it, narratives which speak truth to the dominant discourse that normalizes the murder of black boys. Finally, it demonstrates how theatre is an arena in which such divisive issues can be explored, deconstructed, and transformed into a vehicle for social change.

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Against the backdrop of segregation, limited resources, and violent crime that defines Chicago’s failed gestures toward racial equality, the multidisciplinary Truth N Trauma (TNT) youth engagement program sought to reduce violence by addressing the impact of trauma within African American communities on the South Side. As head of the Theatre Component, I worked with 11 black youth in the creation of a devised piece of movement-based theatre entitled The Only Way Out is the Way Through.

This article augments the growing scholarly discussion that situates failure as a threshold of potential by highlighting the insights that become clear when viewing my work with TNT through a lens of failure rather than sugarcoated success. If we are to become more deftly responsible theatre artists and more engaged citizens, I argue that we need to adopt an critical embrace of failure, especially when working to address social inequality. I interrogate the different uses of failure that arose in our process: the deliberate use of a dramaturgy of failure, the shedding of expertise through the devising process, and failure as a means of structuring loss. Through the analysis of these failures, some expected and others unexpected, I argue that the stakes to critically embrace failure are desperately high, as failure – not success – disallows absolution of the responsibility to act.

This essay examines how the theatrical experience of a peer educator-led walking tour with students can transport students outside of their comfortable frameworks, challenge their assumptions, and deploy a radical empathy that connects them to the larger canvas of history, more specifically the events of the Mississippi Summer Project (now known as Freedom Summer) during the Civil Rights movement.  While such a theatrical experience may generate dialogue moving towards a racial consciousness (and potential social action), it represents only the micro-practices and attempts at individual change. Emerging methods within the field of community-based theatre assist me in placing these individual interactions of the walking tour within the context of a much larger interdisciplinary project that seeks confronts white privilege and moves beyond tokenization to deeply value diversity.