This book acts as a forum for investigating how African Theatre works and what its place is in this postmodern society. It provides the subject with a degree of detail unmatched in previous books, reflecting a new approach to the study of the performing arts in this region. The book provides an opportunity to discover contemporary material from experts, critics and artists from across the world. The contributions are in a language and style that allow them to be read either as aids to formal study or as elements of discussion to interest the general reader.

Chris Baugh explores how developments and changes in technology have been reflected in scenography throughout history. Taking into account the latest research, his new edition examines moving light technologies, the internet as a platform of performance, urban scenography and how scenography has developed as a collaborative practice. Chris Baugh explores how developments and changes in technology have been reflected in scenography throughout history. Taking into account the latest research, his new edition examines moving light technologies, the internet as a platform of performance, urban scenography and how scenography has developed as a collaborative practice.

Theatre and Empowerment examines the ability of drama, theatre, dance and performance to empower communities of very different kinds, and it does so from a multi-cultural perspective. The communities involved include poverty-stricken children in Ethiopia and the Indian sub-continent, disenfranchised Native Americans in the USA and young black men in Britain, victims of violence in South Africa and Northern Ireland, and a threatened agricultural town in Italy. The book asserts the value of performance as a vital agent of necessary social change, and makes its arguments through the close examination, from 'inside' practice, of the success - not always complete - of specific projects in their practical and cultural contexts. Practitioners and commentators ask how performance in its widest sense can play a part in community activism on a scale larger than the individual, 'one-off' project by helping communities find their own liberating and creative voices.

The contributors explore diverse contexts of performance to discuss peoples' own reflections on political subjectivities, governance and development. The volume refocuses anthropological engagement with ethics, aesthetics, and politics to examine the transformative potential of political performance, both for individuals and wider collectives.

The Theatre for Development (TFD) is a learning strategy in which theatre is used to encourage communities to express their own concerns and think about the causes of their problems and possible solutions. This overview contributes to both the theory and practice of Theatre for Development. The author contextualises it historically within the evolving range of development theories, strategies and practices, notably including the now widely accepted notion of participatory approaches to achieving social change.

Essays of Brecht translated and edited to explain his theories and discussion of his dramatic works.

The contributions to this volume in the African Theatre series make clear that the role of women in the theatre across the continent has changed as control is mainly held by literate elites and women's traditional standing has been lost to men.

Community theatre is an important device for communities to collectively share stories, to participate in political dialogue, and to break down the increasing exclusion of marginalised groups of citizens. It is practised all over the world by growing numbers of people. Published at the same time as a video of the same name, this is a unique record of these theatre groups in action. Based on van Erven's own travels and experiences working with community theatre groups in six very different countries, this is the first study of their work and the methodological traditions which have developed around the world.

This book investigates the educative role of theater in processes of social change and development, and considers how to evaluate the use of theater as a small-scale medium in realizing development projects based on a participatory or interventionist model. The book is in three major parts. Following an introduction and an introductory chapter, the first part (The Historical Antecedents of 'Theater for Development) is concerned with the formation of theories which form the basis of the book's approach. Part 2 (From Traditional to Popular Theater: Historical Case Studies from Asia, Latin America and Africa) consists of a description of the historical development of theater as an educative medium in development processes in the Third World. Part 3 (Theater for Development: Performing Arts as Instruments of Intervention) presents a number of descriptions of theater used in clearly defined development projects. The book's 12 chapters are as follows: (1) Introduction; (2) Development and Change: People's Participation in Adult Education; (3) Popular Theater from a Social Scientific Point of View; (4) Popular Theater from an Educative Point of View; (5) Popular Theater from a Theater Historical Point of View; (6) Traditional Media for Publicity and Information Campaigns: Wayang Theater on Java and Bali; (7) Adult Education and 'Teatro Campesino' in Latin America: Mexico as an Example; (8) African Universities Hit the Road: From Travelling Theater to Theater for Development; (9) Theatrical Forms: Puppeteers and Crooners Participating in Mass Campaigns; (10) Learning Approaches: Shifting from Sector Policy in National Campaigns to Target Group Policy in Local Development Projects; (11) Target Groups: NGOs and the Marginalized Rural and Urban Poor; and (12) Conclusions. Thirteen pages of notes and a 23-page bibliography are attached. (SR)