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MS-Nepal has supported People’s Theatre groups in Nepal to develop
these methods. We have worked with professional theatre workers
from Kathmandu and grassroots groups from marginalized communities
in various parts of the country.
The idea behind the regional workshop is to allow the Nepali
groups to learn from the experience of People’s Theatre groups
from other places in Asia and vice versa. The groups joining the
workshop are:
• The Philippine Educational Theatre Association (PETA).
PETA has struggled for over 30 years to develop a theatre that
reflects the people of the Philippines, their concerns, their
history and the people themselves.
•
The Alternative Living Theatre (ALT) from Calcutta, which
works with physical theatre, using the rituals and movements
inspired by local culture.
•
The Aarohan Theatre Group from Nepal. One of the oldest and
most dynamic cultural groups in the country, Aarohan has performed
stage and street theatre in Nepal for over 20 years. Aarohan
pioneered Kachahari theatre in Nepal and has recently started
Nepal’s first school of theatre.
• And
6 grassroots People’s Theatre groups from Nepal.
The workshop asks the question, what role can People’s Theatre
play in transforming conflicts into social change? For the past
months, the groups have been experimenting with conflict theatre
in their own communities. In the two week workshop, they will
share experiences and methods, as well as provide training for the
grassroots theatre groups.
Exposing conflicts and acting out solutions
 Kachahari theatre is
based on Brazilian dramatist Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the
Oppressed. In the 1970s, Boal developed a form of participatory
theatre that transformed spectators into “spect-actors”, not just
passive audiences but protagonists who are actively involved in
shaping the work on the stage. The idea was that the audiences
themselves could seek solutions to the problems and oppression
that confronted them. Boal created a space for them to act out
these solutions on stage, creating a theatre which was “a
rehearsal for life.” Today the methods are practiced with
marginalized and oppressed groups in many places in the world as a
tool for self-empowerment.
In Nepal, MS and the Aarohan theatre group have adapted the
methods to work with social conflicts. We call them Kachahari
theatre. A Kachahari in Nepali is a form of village court, where
communities gather to settle local disputes among themselves. In
Kachahari theatre, the same idea applies; only the medium of
communication is theatre and the conflicts are often structural
and social. The theatre group identifies local conflicts together
with the community. Issues differ widely. They could be anything
from domestic violence or the treatment of dalit children in
schools. The theatre group creates a performance that exposes the
conflict. The villagers gathered in the audience suggest what the
wronged party could do to find a solution to their problem. Every
suggestion and the possible consequences are acted out.
The basic principles of Kachahari Theatre remain true to the
Theatre of the Oppressed: theatre is emphasized not as a spectacle
but rather as a language designed to: 1) analyze and discuss
problems of oppression and power; and 2) explore group solutions
to these problems. The language is accessible to all.
For more information and links on Theatre of the Oppressed see:
 LINKS
Centre for the Theatre of the Oppressed, Brazil:
www.ctorio.com.br
Formaat, a networking and training organization, Holland:
www.formaat.org
The Theatre of the Oppressed Laboratory, NY, USA:
www.toplab.org
Headlines Theatre, Canada,
www.headlinestheatre.org
Kachahari Theatre in Nepal
Local
theatre groups
•
Equality Development Centre, Doti
• People’s Concern Group, Bardiya
• Backward Society Education, Bardiya
• Kachahari Theatre Group, Sindhuli
• Taranga Group, Hetauda
• Mithila Theatre Group, Janakpur
• Sristhi Group, Dharan
Profile of the Asian groups
Philippine Educational Theatre Association
 The Philippine
Educational Theatre Association (PETA) was founded in 1967. From
the time of its inception, and especially during the Marcos
administration, PETA spearheaded a cultural resurgence in the
Philippines with the aim of developing a national theatre movement
that would reflect the people’s condition, history, and
experiences of struggle, their hopes and their aspirations.
It has become one of the most outstanding cultural groups in the
Philippines.
In
addition to the work of its own performance unit, PETA teaches and
trains students, youth, and community groups to develop their own
theatre through workshops and courses. The members of PETA
describe themselves as “a community of theatre artists dedicated
to the development of a People’s Theatre that mirrors Philippine
social realities, a theatre that serves as a potent agent and
instrument towards personal, social and societal transformation.”
Adapted from Khor and Lin, Good practices and innovative
experiences in the South, Volume 3 (New York: TCDC, UNDP, 2001).
The Alternative Living Theatre
Established in 1977 in Khardaha, West Bengal the Alternative
Living Theatre (ALT) has been consistently attacking communalism,
abscurantism, oppressive social conventions, superstitions and
political apathy, while attempting to build up new ideals and sow
the seeds of change in human minds. ALT has discarded the
monotonous grammatical acting and has experimented and evolved a
new aesthetic of theatre where physicality is their means of
communication. They have taken the main ingredients from their own
cultural resources and martial arts from all over India and
abroad. ALT reject6s the ‘problem theatre’ of urban intellect6uals
in favour of of theatre of living feelings, which focuses less on
the issues than on the experienceof hunger, unemployment and
social inequality, and portrays the pain, humiliation,
disillusionment and alienation of the downtrodden. ALT believes in
the overpowering impact of direct and innocent communication and
has, therefore, rejected conventional notion of dramatic form.
“ALT is not just a theatre group; it is, instead, a movement,
unity, power and altogether a family where we love, scream, enjoy
and happily share theatre among ourselves,” according to ALT
members.
Adapted from ALT brochure
East is Not East -- Theatre on the margins
The
groups assembled in Kathmandu have been invited to participate in
the Images of Asia festival this summer in Denmark with a joint
project called East is Not East. Images of Asia is the biggest
festival in Denmark this year, a two-month long nation-wide
cultural festival. The East is Not East project will explore the
margins of the festival. Where does festival stop and daily life
start? What are the local conflicts relating to Asia in
communities where the festival will take place? The project is a
collaboration with amateur theatre groups, and teaching and social
organizations in Denmark. Together they will create theatre
interactions which explore the margins and marginalised in
Denmark.
For more info see:
www.images.org
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