To understand what theater for social change is, you must understand the culture it belongs to, something Dr. Bourgault explained. Performance is part African life. An ethno-musicologist friend of mine has a book about how Africans are always making music. For example, in the post office where they still cancel letters by hand, they do it rhythmically. If there is a traffic jam, Africans will start honking their horns and they start honking in rhythm.
Performance is life.
The first very important point is that Africans have always used performance for socializing people. In Mali, for example, they use masks and accompanying clothes. Their entertainment is not pure play, even today. It has a story, and has a moral. Dancing is often used to gently correct people who have transgressed the values of the society.