update: Read Fay’s post “Theatre as Medicine: Lucid Body in Tanzania”
JULY 23rd-AUGUST 10th, 2012
Theatre for Social Change;
A YSD Summer exchange Program Intersecting
Theatre, Religion and Culture
This Year in Tanzania
Lead by world-renowned founder of the Parapanda Arts Lab Trust, Mngunga Mwamnyenyelwa, Gamal J. Palmer Yale School of Drama Lecturer artist and teacher of creative transformation, Fay Simpson Yale School of Drama Lecturer and creator of the Lucid Body and visiting faculty member Myra Melford School of Berkeley professor and renowned jazz composer.
The Theater for Social Change program is an interdisciplinary exchange program taking place in Tanzania from July 23rd– August 10th. Participants spend three days of preparatory classes in New Haven with Simpson, Palmer, and Melford before traveling to Dar es Salaam for a two week collaboration with Mgunga Mwamnyenyelwa, founder of the Babawatoto center. Together we create a piece of theater exploring the relationship between Muslim, Christianity and indigenous practices in Tanzania. Our aim is to uncover unspoken conflict between these three belief systems. By performing the theater piece in the community from which it was made, we hope to inspire a dialogue which will lead our audience of community leaders and citizens towards peaceful solutions.
An integral part of this course will be identifying how traditional and contemporary theater, religious expressions and musical traditions have been and are catalysts for social development in Tanzania. Participants will learn and apply The Behavior Change Process (designed by Mgunga and inspired by the work of Boal) to build a performance and . Our work intends to inspire wholeness and well being in both the participants and the audiences who witness our artistic collaboration. The program objective is to share theatre and music as a means to promote peaceful exchange to handle social conflict and religious intolerance.
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