Application for THEA 3700

Devising Theatre for Social Change inZanzibar, Tanzania

Dates of Course:June 23rd to July 7th(Summer Interterm 2018)

Instructors: Ashley Hamilton, PhD and Clare Hammoor, EdD ABD

Application due via email: Monday, February 26th by 12:00pm

Note* Please be aware that we will be only accepting 5-7 students for this travel course. Please only apply if you’ve read the application thoroughly and are very serious about attending. And, please type your answers into this form. Thank you.

Course Overview

The major objective of this practical, travel based, interterm course is to examine and explore the purpose, practice and procedures of site-specific, group-specific theatre which is intended to create social change. Theatre for Social Change is the practice of creating and/or using theatre for or with a community with the intention to create social change. This course will give us the opportunities to explore devising theatre for social change with a group of high school students in Zanzibar, Tanzania (East Africa) over the course of two weeks with the organization Global Empowerment Theatre (GET) as our host. GET has been working in Zanzibar every year, running this specific program, for the past 10 years and his built up a strong relationship with the community. Ashley taught in Zanizbar for three weeks in 2014 and in Mumbai in 2016, with GET.

For two weeks we will work with a group of 20-25 Zanzibarian students (ages 14-17, mixed gender) to devise a play about social justice issues in their community. As an example, in the past, we have explored issues of poverty, gender bias, drug use and religious prejudice in our plays in Zanzibar. As a class, we will use various theatre of the oppressed (TO), writing and devised theatre exercises to help the students explore their lives and their stories. We will assist the students with playwriting and also with blocking and producing their production, which they will perform for their community at the end of our two weeks of work. DU students will not perform the show we create. We are there to support the Zanzibarian students in their playwriting, devising and the telling of their stories to their community.

In addition to the on the ground work we will do in Zanzibar, we (DU students and instructors) will be discussing the various perspectives and complexities of this work, including the challenges of cross-cultural awareness, power, privilege and oppression. Additionally, we will consider larger themes of ethics, aesthetics and best-practices as we work.

In this course students will be introduced to various examples of theatre for social change on the ground, which will consist of the major of their class work. But, prior to departure, students will read and analyze several case studies and projects that have emerged from the field of social justice and applied theatre. Additionally, students will write a reflective paper after the course is over.

The major goals of this course are:

•To review the key theories informing theatre for social change

•To practically work and create theatre on the ground with a cross-cultural community

•To become more aware of the power, privilege, oppression and ethics of this work

•To learn more about the practice and work of devising theatre for social change, including specific exercises and tools

•To support the Zanzibar students in their writing and performances

•To develop a perspective of how this work impacts both facilitators and the populations involved

•To use critical thinking and analysis, informed by our course, to reflect on your own experiences on the ground

Application Questions

Name: ______

Gender Pronouns: ______

Major(s): ______

Year: ______

Are you able to attend a mandatory course orientation on Saturday, March 31st at 10:00am? (Date may change if many can’t make it)

___Yes ____No

Are you able to be in Zanzibar, Tanzania from June 23rd till July 7t, 2018?

___Yes ____No

Are you able to secure an international passport and visa for travel to Zanzibar, Tanzania by June 23rd?

___Yes ____No

Are you able to take care of all medical necessities (i.e. shots, immunizations, malaria medication, etc.) necessary for travel to Zanzibar, Tanzania by June 23rd?

___Yes ____No

Are you able to purchase an airline ticket and the program fee (the program fee covers all of your travel in-country, supplies for the course, all of your meals and your lodging from June 23-July 7th) for this course? *Note: The Interterm office does offer generous scholarships

___Yes ____No

Have you reviewed the attached course itinerary and feel comfortable with the timeline/amount of work? (Please note that it is an intense amount of work in a quick period of time.)

___Yes ____No

Have you ever devised theatre before? (If yes, please explain)

___Yes ____No

Have you ever created theatre for social change before? (If yes, please explain)

___Yes ____No

Have you traveled to a third-world country before (either on vacation, humanitarian projects or for work)?(If yes, please explain)

___Yes ____No

Are you comfortable working and living with a group? (Due to safety, and for the good of our ensemble, we will be working, eating and living together for 2 weeks)

___Yes ____No

Why are you interested in participating in this course?

What is your experience working with diverse populations?

Are you willing and able to examine your own identity and to discuss issues around cross-cultural awareness (race, class, gender, etc.) for this course?

What potential ethical concerns/issues could you forsee within this project? And, what will you do to navigate them with the ensemble?

What do you think you, personally, can bring to this experience (to the students in Zanzibar, the ensemble, etc)?

Thank you for your time and thoughtfulness. Applications are due via email by Monday, February 26th at 12:00pm to Ashley’s email: . We will let you know by Friday, March 2nd if we’d like to interview you for the course (in early-mid March). Don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.

Course Itinerary as of 2/13

(Subject to Change)

Mid to Late March 2018

1st Orientation: Discuss GET, syllabus, reading assignments, travel plans, visas, medical preparations, etc.

Early June 2018

2nd Orientation: Discuss final travel plans, cross-cultural awareness and course itinerary

June 15th

Reading reflections due on Canvas by midnight

Saturday, June 23rd

All students and instructors will have arrived to Zanzibar

Morning-afternoonWalking tour of Zanzibar

EveningWelcome dinner

Sunday, June 24th

MorningNew Facilitator Final Orientation and training

Prep and check all supplies

** Generally we will be working with the Zanzibar students from 9am-12pm (subject to change) Monday through Friday for two weeks. After that, we will break every day for lunch and then come back together to reflect, type up our work from the day, make new copies of scripts, prepare for the next day’s activities -- before we head to dinner each evening.

Monday, June 25th

MorningDevising Day One

AfternoonStudent Lunch

2-4pmType stories and print

5-6pmDirector plans, Prep for the day

Tuesday, June 26th

MorningDevising Day Two

AfternoonStudent Lunch

2-4pmType stories, Enter student names on spreadsheet “The Grid”

5-6pmDirector plans, Prep for the day

Wednesday, June 27th

MorningDevising Day Three

AfternoonStudent Lunch

2-4pmType Stories/Image theatre scripts, script order

5-6pmDirector plans, Prep for the day

Thursday, June 28th

MorningDevising Day Four

AfternoonStudent Lunch

2-4pmType stories, finalize script order, final edits

4pm Print

5-6pmFinish script edits for first draft – Send to photo copy

5:30-6:30pmDirector plans, Prep for the day

Friday, June 29th

MorningDevising Day Five

AfternoonStudent Lunch

2-4pmType stories, finalize script order, final edits

4pm Print

5-6pmFinish script edits for first draft – Send to photo copy

5:30-6:30pmDirector plans, Prep for the day

First week Facilitator debrief? (or move to Sat am?)

Saturday, June 30th

Possible Excursion (on your own, not hosted by DU) -- Spice tour or travel to beach

Sunday, July 1st

AfternoonShort meeting and Prep for Monday

Monday, July 2nd

MorningDevising Day Six

AfternoonStudent Lunch

5:30-6:30pmDirector plans, Prep for Tuesday

Tuesday, July 3rd

MorningDevising Day Seven

AfternoonStudent Lunch

5:30-6:30pmDirector/rehearsal plans, Prep for the day

Wednesday, July 4th

2-5:30pmDevising Day Eight

6-7pmPrep for final rehearsal

Thursday, July 5th

9-10:30amFinal Dress Rehearsal

11am-12pmShow #1

OR

1:30pmArrival & Prep

Student Lunch

2-3:30pmFinal Dress Rehearsal

4-5pmShow #1

Friday, July 6th

10-11amShow #2

11:15am -12pmCertificates & Speeches

AND/OR

3-4pm Show #2/3

4:15-5pmCertificates & Speeches

EveningDebrief, Reflection, Close Out and Final Celebratory Dinner

Saturday, July 7th

Depart head back to the US

Saturday, July 14th

Final Paper due on Canvas by midnight

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