Group Education Manual - Peace Corps Wiki

Chapter 11 - Different Community Engagement Activities11.1ObjectivesTimeWorking With Theater Practitioners1. To help community members or groups plan a theatrical performance about gender,HIV, and male involvement.90 minutesMaterials • Flipchart paper and markers• Enough copies of Handout 14: Theatrical Performances/Street Drama andStepsHandout 15: South African Street Theatre for all participants1. Ask if any participants have ever conducted a theatrical performance/street drama toreach communities or groups. Ask them to share that experience, including whatworked and did not work. (Five minutes)2. Ask participants to discuss the benefits and challenges of theatricalperformance/street dramas. If the following benefits and challenges have not beenmentioned after five minutes, add them to the list:Benefits• Can reach large numbers of people• Can be very interactive• May require few resources (depending on props used)Challenges• Chance of unclear or diffuse messages, if performance is not focused• Cannot always control your “audience,” if performance is in publicplace3. Pass out Handout 14: Theatrical Performances to the participants. Reviewthe key points.Optional step: Review the case study, Handout 15: South African StreetTheatre, and discuss the example.4. Divide the participants into four groups and assign one of the topics below to eachgroup. Ask two of the groups to use ambush theater (see definition below) and havethe other two incorporate audience feedback into their performances.• Encouraging men to take an active role in home-based care and support• Raising awareness about the dangers of transactional sex amongcommunity members• Raising awareness about preventing mother-to-child transmission• Importance of couples communication around HIVBefore presenting their performances, each group should explain who their targetaudience is to the other participants.5. Debrief by asking the following questions:? What did participants find difficult when performing the dramas?? What did they enjoy about putting on the performances?? Is this a technique that they could see using in their programs? In whatway?90