&quot;Street Theatre for Edutainment&quot;: A Participatory Research with Youth in Delhi
Author: Capila, Anjali
Date: 2010-04-05
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Participatory Research,Theater Arts,Public Health,Individual Development,Youth,College Students,Knowledge Level,Audiences,Daily Living Skills

Youth constitute an important section of our society. They are the biggest reservoir of human resources and are the future of our country. Their development has direct affect on the development of the nation. Street Theatre is not a moment's act. It is a participatory approach which deals with fictional narratives and thus used for communicating important societal issues. It allows individuals to express themselves in their own unique way. The freedom to participate is always there. The influence of Theatre activities on development can be seen as it stimulates life skills and challenges the attention of the participants and audience. Life skills are developed through experiential learning. Skills are always developed through active participation in activities that enable young people to sharpen their thinking, social and self-management skills. The context and environment in which activities take place influences the outcomes not only in terms of building life skills but also sensitizing the youth on the issues that are focused in the activities. The present study entitled Street Theatre for Edutainment: A participatory research with youth in Delhi was conducted with the active participation of young people who developed Street Theater to communicate messages among audiences. The views of participants from various colleges of Delhi about street theatre were also sought. The main objective of the study was to explore the relationship between street theatre for edutainment and youth development. Street plays are effective means of edutainment. In 2009, Using knowledge level, life skills and resources students of the Lady Irwin College were involved in evolving a street play on the theme of public health system. The existing knowledge of the participants of various colleges of Delhi about street theatre was  also studied. The impact of street theatre was studied on the audience who completed the process by watching the play. The timing was three month The process comprised of various stages: Planning -- involved understanding the issues -- reasons for deterioration of public health systems, process of campaigning and problems faced by people at the time of public health services. Theatre workshop enhanced performing skills and deliberated on the messages to be communicated through the street play. Scenes were developed through improvisation developed into a script. The deliberations for deciding the characters, situations and messages enhanced thinking skills -- critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving, decision-making, planning and goal setting. Performance -- the play was performed at several places with the target audience of young people. Adaptations had to be made to contextualize it and roles of some key performers had to be switched to fill in the gaps. Social skills were enhanced in the process -- interpersonal relationships, effective communication and team building. A democratic and transparent process provided opportunity for building negotiation skills. Post performance dialogue -- theatre engages the audience, focusing their attention and actively involving them in an experience. Dialogue after the performance focused on issues related to the theme as well as depiction of scenes and characters in the play. An annexure presents &quot;Most Significant Change Story.&quot;