Popular Theater is a form similar to Theater of the Oppressed, but developed into a unique approach by Ras Mo and other Caribbean cultural activists. It uses a lot of high-energy games, performing arts, and Caribbean drum rhythms, but it can draw upon the indigenous cultural forms of any community. It is democratic and action-oriented toward community education and mobilization for change.
PTYD participants include young people from African-American, Latino, Asian, white, and other communities. They are using Popular Theater to explore issues ranging from drugs and violence--among gangs, within families, by police, against immigrants, etc.--to the positive theme of youth empowerment.
Ras Mo taught two intensive Training-of-Trainers workshops for 60 of the staff and youth leaders. There, teams of participants from each group learned the basics of Popular Theater. Then each agency used what was learned to develop its own unique Popular Theater process, with some additional support from Ras Mo. The project culminated in dramatic presentations in each of the communities.
It was supported by the Puffin Foundation, Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, the East Bay Community Foundation, the Cowell Foundation and the San Francisco Foundation, and co-sponsored by the Community Network for Youth Development.
Ras Mo--who is also a playwright, percussionist, and performance poet--is interested in making links with other artists and organizers in North America and internationally who are using--or would like to try using--Popular Theater with youth and in community work oriented to social change. Here's what Ras Mo has to say about PTYD:
"Popular Theater for Youth Development is an opportunity to explore innovative methods in youth work, and to give youth a creative voice in the issues that concern them.
I find that youth in the U.S. are really confronted with a lot of problems. They want to be seen, and they want to be heard, but sometimes elders are afraid to listen. Youth are misunderstood and stereotyped. Media disinformation is bombarded at them daily. All this pushes them into situations where if they dress a certain way, they're considered gangsters, and so they get on the defensive and start to behave like 'gangsters.'
Often their parents are working long hours and can't give them attention, so they seek it from others who take advantage of them, and end up involved in drugs, violence, or prostitution. You also see the effects in their disrespect, including for each other, such as the "B" word in their vocabulary. Plus, a lot of them come from different cultures, so there's no common community base. Or, their parents have come from one culture, and they're growing up in another one.
But there's a very positive side, and that is their zeal to express themselves. You see in their dress codes and communication idioms--the rituals of the street. The problem is, that zeal and creativity is not channeled in any positive direction.
Even when they understand the problem, they usually don't have a sense of a way out, because they lack any collective vision of an alternative, and don't see where their base of support for that alternative could from.
We use PT to allow the youth to use that energy for empowerment. We channel physical energy into drums and dance, and creative energy into music and poetry, and storytelling. Of course, not every youth is going to be a rapper or a dramatist, but using by drawing and writing and set and costume design and building, we create vents for everyone's energy.
Some youth are afraid to express their thoughts and feelings. Part of the process is giving youth the confidence to do so, and to help them understand they're not alone in confronting the problem. Other youth are more individualistic. The process teaches them to understand others' point of view. It raises their level of hope, builds trust in each other, and thus, their collective confidence. Popular Theater also gives them means of expression, by allowing them to explore different performance forms.
We start by using games and performing arts forms first, for group-building, and then for the identification, selection, and analysis of issues the groups select. Then we use various cultural forms, and processes like 'play and re-play,' to deepen that analysis.
Every community has its own traditional forms, and different ethnic and immigrant groups bring their own. We can use all of these, and we borrow modern media rituals, such as radio call-in and TV talk shows. We also use non-verbal techniques, like drawing, to bring out different individual perceptions of an issue, or to come up with a collective picture of a problem, and then another picture of ideal solution.
So, there are always several levels going on: (1) consciousness-raising about the issues and how they affect individuals, families, and the wider community, and people strengthening their own analytical skills, (2) individuals learning performance skills and other ways to express themselves to each other and in public fora, and (3) building collectivity and strategizing to confront the issues, and to make use of all the resources available within the group and from the community.
The process can go beyond the group when the youth do performances for their peers, parents, community organizations, schools boards, or government representatives. In all these ways, Popular Theater can be a tool for people to come up with their own solutions, and for organizing for social change."
How to reach us:
Bay Area Popular Theater Project
640 orange Street
New Haven CT 06511 USA.
Telephone (203) 605 0925.
e-mail: rasmo@igc.org