Using The World as a Stage to Benefit Refugees

The present study looked at whether theatre could be used as a successful intervention for refugees living in the United States. Using Boal’s (1985) Theatre of the Oppressed model, Karen refugees from Laos and Thailand, now living in Minnesota completed a four day workshop. Before and after the theatre workshop the participants were tested on overall wellbeing (self-esteem and mood), creativity, and English language abilities. Significant improvements were found for overall well-being. In addition, the workshops were shown to have the greatest impact on those who had a lower English language ability to start. Overall, theatre appears to be a promising tool for helping refugees and other marginalized groups and the benefits should continue to be studied. THEATRE AS A BENEFIT FOR REFUGEES 5 Using the World as a Stage to Benefit Refugees All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts. William Shakespeare (1623) When coming to a new country, refugees report problems of feeling disconnected and a loss of community. Refugees often go through an acculturation process. Usually a negative experience, acculturation can be defined as the changes an individual must make when in contact with a new culture (Mio, Barker, Tumambing, 2012). Countries that have high immigrant or refugee populations are working on creating the best system to accommodate their needs. Creative approaches—theatre, dance, music and visual art—can sometimes be the best intervention simply due to the unique combination of structure and freedom (Grainger, 1990; Johnson, 2000). In addition to overall well-being, one of the most common problems refugees and immigrants face is learning a new language. Learning a new language can be an arduous process unless the refugee or immigrant is exposed to it before he or she arrives in a new country/home. Boal (1985) has argued that theatre is a literary tool that can improve language proficiency in an oppressed group. Theatre, when used properly, can be an alternative intervention that can address the language difficulties and psychological well-being problems that refugees and immigrants experience. Theatre has been adapted and modified to become a new therapy program: drama therapy. Creators of drama therapy recognize that theatre can be a psychological well-being intervention; its nature lends itself to creativity and the ability to create something new. Simply using one’s experiences can allow for discovery through the theatre. THEATRE AS A BENEFIT FOR REFUGEES 6 Theatre The Greeks are known for creating what we recognize as theatre. Theatre foremost provided entertainment but also addressed societal issues. Theatre gave a voice to problems in society that were often overlooked. Aristotle believed that comedy was the best for examining social inequalities while tragedy was best for examining the internal psychological problems (Aristotle, 1995). Plays allow an audience to watch and reflect on the characters’ situations. The audience can learn from the characters’ mistakes or successes without having to go through it themselves. Theatre became less of a form of entertainment and more a form of expressing real life beginning in the 1930’s. Clurman, along with Strasburg and Crawford, created a paradigm shift in the theatre world; theatre was a place in which “problems of their life, past and present, could be given a voice” (Clurman, 1975, p.4). Now, realism is the common genre amongst American directors (Martin, 2013). Plays need to imitate real life and reflect real struggles. Every character on stage needs to connect to the audience. The realness and truth that theatre seeks to find helps an audience come to an understanding (Martin, 2013). Theatre has allowed people to find the truth about one’s self and other difficult topics such as war and politics (Martin, 2013). To successfully portray realism, actors are encouraged to know exactly who they are so as they can easily adopt another character (Hagen, 1973). Stanislavsky, a revolutionary thespian, sought to create natural and real performances each night. His work was a major influence for Strasburg, Crawford, Clurman, Hagen, and all of Western theatre. He believed that acting needed to be inspired and reflect a true emotion. In other words, the actor or actress should be feeling and living what is going on-stage. To do so, one begins with becoming acquainted with their body and physicality. Stanislavsky believed this THEATRE AS A BENEFIT FOR REFUGEES 7 could be done through gymnastics, breathing exercises, singing, dancing, etc. (Hewitt & D’Angelo, 1932). After the body was well trained, Stanislavsky said the mind needed to be trained as well. It is through having a trained mind and body that an actor or actress could access the “realness” needed on stage. An actor does this in many ways, one of which is imagination. An actor or actress is instructed to imagine certain situations, real or not, and commit to believing these situations exist. This exercise brings up memory and emotions which the actor or actress can store and use later on stage. Through training the body and the mind, one can become a successful and present actor or actress (Hewitt & D’Angelo, 1932). At the heart of Stanislavsky’s work there was the idea of becoming aware of who one is. This idea is prevalent in most Western Theatre approaches. It is intensive work which was created to improve acting. This was a pivotal moment in acting history as the acting began to become an internal experience for the actor rather than an external representation of an emotion. For example, the actor is now encouraged to feel the action and emotion on stage rather than just act it out or show the emotion. To be vulnerable like this on stage comes from a deep reflection on the self and confidence in who one is (Hewitt & D’Angelo, 1932). Inspired by Aristotle and Brecht, Boal took a new approach to theatre. Still using realism, Boal began to use theatre as a means for social activism. Boal believed that people create characters in real life, and become the “protagonist”. This was a shift away from Aristotle’s emphasis on dramatic structure and Brecht’s emphasis on the message and meaning. Theatre is a language, Boal believed, that allowed anyone to express themselves and learn new concepts. In 1970, Peru was struggling to unite the country under one language, Spanish. There were 45 different languages in addition to multiple dialects of those languages and about one third of the country was illiterate (Boal, 1985). When Boal went to Peru, he created what has THEATRE AS A BENEFIT FOR REFUGEES 8 been titled the Theatre of the Oppressed. He partnered with the government to make Spanish the national language throughout Peru and unite the country. As theatre is not dependent on a language, and is a language in itself, Boal was able to work with these non-native Spanish speakers, oppressed people, and free them from the constraints of being illiterate. He focused on using the body and making pictures to converse with the Peruvians. Eventually, thanks to this form of theatre, the participants in Boal’s theatre were having complex discussions in Spanish