Education through community theatre

TAMK’s specialisation studies in Drama and Inclusive Theatre organised a community theatre event together with the Centre for Practice as Research in Theatre on 5 October. Daniel Maposa from Zimbabwe visited the event. The event was part of the project Voimaa taiteesta. The workshop of the day considered the role of community theatre in promoting wellbeing especially in Zimbabwe, where Daniel Maposa directs the Theatre for Development  ”Savanna Trust”  group. The group aims at educating people and making them aware of their environment and wellbeing by means of community theatre. The main objective is to strengthen cultural democracy.  To attain it, the group also teaches very practical matters by means of inclusive theatre, such as sanitary issues to keep cholera under control, sexual education and other everyday wellbeing issues.

The inclusive theatre is a development approach, which along with education has also been introduced in Finland, for example to increase wellbeing in work communities. Theory and practice alternated in the workshop organised by the colourful and captivating personality.

Maposa’s work is so called field work in whole Zimbabwe, but he also teaches inclusive theatre methods in Harare University. Dance belongs to the African learning tradition. We could learn from the holistic and functional learning situations here in Finland, where the learning approach is IT and sitting oriented. 

Text and photo: Annukka Häkämies, Senior Lecturer