Work In Progress for a Project on Engaging Adult Learning Communities in Using the Principles of Theater Arts to Prepare Them to Create Social Change, Phase A
What are the steps that I can take to engage the adult learning communities in using the principles of theater arts to prepare them to create social change?
Within modern adult education, learning often addresses the skills needed to improve one's professional opportunities or increase knowledge and awareness in areas of personal interest. Another outcome can be to enable adult learners to create social change by developing key skills at the foundation of such change. These skills may include interpersonal communication, collaboration, community organizing, appreciation for diversity and alternative cultures, and expanded use of imagination. Complex social challenges such as poverty, injustice, and poor health may be more effectively addressed when the individuals with these skills use them to find a collective understanding of the underlying issues. Further, the process of change must have ownership by all within the community and particularly be inclusive of those without power, influence or status. I am particularly interested in the ways that adult learning communities may employ the principles of the theater arts as a strategy for introducing and reinforcing the key skills, without requiring that the participants have formal exposure to theater or social activism. I would like to develop methodologies that both use theater as a foundation for learning and are most appropriate for adult education forums. Further, I hope to understand how to introduce and advocate those methodologies to organizations, community groups, and individuals that seek social change, drawing upon my own experiences in adult education at social service agencies. By using principles such as storytelling, character development, role-playing, point-of-view, methodological belief, monologue and dialogue, directing, and empathy, I hope to help construct a perspective of adult education that represents an alternative to the traditional classroom, supports participation from diverse groups, and creates a truly enjoyable learning experience that better prepares adults to meet the most critical issues of their social environment.