Programme

PGP

Term

V

Academic Year

2021-22

Course title

Participatory Theater for Development

Area

Public Systems Group

Credits

1.25

Instructor(s)

Prof. Navdeep Mathur, Prof. Anju Uppal (VF), Prof. Prabir Bose (VF)

Course Description & Objectives

Course Outline: Among the pedagogies for learning, the participatory theatrical form is innovative in its contribution to developing social analysis and empathy skills. Through enacted physicality, participants are able to enter the hitherto (un)experienced worlds in order to develop a deep relational understanding of rationality, justice, systems (of thought and action) and processes that have a profound impact on the way social lives are constructed whether in an urban informal settlement, an elite gated housing society, a government department or a corporate boardroom. The design of this course engages participants with the methods and techniques of participatory developmental theatre, towards enacting social change. This engagement will consist of facilitation of group and individual theatrical processes. This training will be in a form of a workshop that will be conducted both at IIMA as well as Ahmedabad's Budhan Theatre. The core objective of this course is to add to the skill set of future managers by developing communicative strategies in group/teamwork that are based on the lived experiences of the team members, privileging the development of collective goals and shared values, and the capacity for empathetic leadership. The Budhan Theatre, Ahmedabad is not only a theatre performance group but also a site of profound social complexity and change; brought about through theatrical engagement. Here, the Budhan Theatre's actors, who are both actors in the traditional sense, as well as the 'en-actors' of their own communities transformation will facilitate the course participants' thinking processes enabling them to enter their own world through a variety of theatrical techniques. The outcome of the course will include performances using a variety of forms of expression chosen by participant groups over the duration of the course.