Community Theatre as Cultural Intervention: The case of the Samre Community Theatre Project on Evil-Eye Organized by the Tigray Arts School
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Date
2006-07
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
It seems that the traditional canon of conceptualizing theatre along the line of ‘Art for
Art’s Sake’ ends up in this epoch. Instead its practical relationship with the cultural, socioeconomic,
and political realities of societies is becoming more apparent and persistent. Thus,
the need for community-based-theatre also emanates from its pertinent efficacy in bringing
changes within a defined community. These types of theatres are developing and are
frequently applied for issues akin to the process of community change, in the third world
countries. Especially, most community-based theatres echo the very principles of Paulo
Freire’s (1993) Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which underscores the importance of
community’s direct participation and their authentic values in education systems.
By the same token, the Theatre Department of the Tigray Arts School (in Tigray) had
organized a community-based theatre in 1999 within local community of one rural Woreda,
Samre. The objective of this community theatre project was meant to specifically deal with
the traditions of harmful perceptions particularly related to ‘evil-eye’- with a view to bringing
attitudinal change amid the cultural context of the whole community and to consequently
benefit the target communities in the Woreda. Therefore, this thesis inquires into the efficacy
of the Samre Community Theatre Project as a means of cultural intervention made to benefit
the direct victims of ‘evil-eye’ in the given Woreda
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Keywords
Community Theatre and Evil-eye