Raisedon Baya
OVER the years, theatre has proved to be a useful and powerful tool for communication and education. Though informal in nature theatre has several advantages over other forms of communication; it is mobile, flexible, participatory, can include other forms of media, and most importantly, it has the ability to simplify issues and appeal to everyone — young, old, educated and illiterate. Theatre is fun too! Good entertainment if properly done. What could be more appropriate to catch young people than theatre and in schools?
Theatre by its very nature is people-centered. It is an activity that can involve many people, allowing them to participate in various roles and processes of playmaking. Normally, a school activity has to ensure participation of most, if not all students. It offers everyone an opportunity to participate. And that is what the Intwasa High Schools Drama Competition is about. Involvement. Participation. Teamwork. Having fun while getting educated.
The key elements of the drama competition are: Student Participation; Student Engagement; Student Empowerment; Student Protection; Creating stories or narratives relevant to children and young people; Creating space and time for play; Freedom of participation.
Theatre for children and young people is a special kind of theatre. It uses young people to tell stories about young people. This theatre can be used to: Bring children and young people together and to create contexts for collective reflection and action; Stimulate discussion, debate and understanding of issues affecting children and young people in the different communities they come from; Encourage mass participation and in the process build children and young people’s confidence; Level the ground by breaking social, political and economic barriers in terms of communication; Encourage a culture of dialogue and celebrating diverse views among children and young people; rouse children and young people’s emotions and consequently galvanise them for action.
It is therefore, no coincidence that the Intwasa High Schools Drama Competition is an integral part of the festival, anchoring the festival’s schools programming. The festival recognises the serious potential of theatre as an effective vehicle of communication in participatory development within the schools and communities around schools.
Remember theatre teaches young people how to solve some of life’s problems, more importantly it does this in a much more entertaining and involving way. It uses the tool of imagination and it is often said that those with imagination will always find it easier to navigate around modern life. Only those armed with a good imagination will be able to rule today’s world. Taking part in theatre activities at school will no doubt help a child prepare better for the world — a world of different cultural experiences and different role plays.
The Intwasa High Schools Drama Competition encourages children and young people to create works for themselves, using mainly their own experiences, and in the process find their own voices.
In the past Intwasa has used theatre to tackle issues to do with child rights, particularly girl child rights and development. This year the festival is using drama to move towards another angle — social justice, conflict resolution, diversity and cohesion. The aim is to inculcate a cultural of tolerance and peaceful conflict resolution within our communities. And what better way to do it than through drama and taping on the experiences of young people.
Some of the participants of the drama competition have gone on to study theatre arts, film or other art related subjects at university level and done extremely well for themselves, others have gone into the arts sector and made their mark as semi-professional artistes.