The Roles of Actor/Teacher in Creating Youth Community Theatre: Empowering and Re-Connecting Youths with their Community in a Partnership School Project, Pichit Province, Thailand

Abstract

This study documented the community theatre process for young people led by facilitators from the Play-Spirit Studio and examined how their processes and roles impacted the development of the youths. The program was implemented in four schools in Pichit Province, Thailand, with each project lasting five days. The facilitators used the community theatre process, working with youths between the ages of 9-12 and 13-18 as an intervention in 4 schools, encouraging them to create narratives based on their community. The narratives functioned as a learning process for the youths and as a production for the community audiences. The facilitators' leadership in the process provided a safe learning environment for the youths to explore social issues, assume roles in drama, and reflect on themselves. This was a transformative experience for both the young people and their teachers. The young people developed communication, team-working, and resilience skills through the theatre process while the teachers recognized the youths’ potential and the importance of community engagement in the young people’s learning.