The more serious the subject, the more humor is used to help make the subject more palatable. The response to live theater can be positive or negative, but the response is almost always one that touches the heart. The negative response is as much a learning tool as the positive. What an individual learns is not necessarily painless, but many people find it easier to approach sensitive issues through live theater. Audience members have been so deeply affected that the need to walk out to escape the confrontation is countered only by politeness or the potential loss of the necessary CEU credit.
Dramatic techniques allow the audience to participate in an experience that has universal truths.
The result is a group learning experience that goes deeper than intellectual learning alone. The producer of any program of this nature has a tremendous ethical responsibility to see that situations portrayed accurately reflect realities. Instead of simply depending on the audience to ask questions, the performers pose issues to the audience, solicit feedback, and respond in role. This has been an effective tool, and discussions are usually lively. The actors have been trained to be knowledgeable in the subject being presented.