Drama for Life programme debuts
February 9, 2008 – The Drama for Life Programme, a SADC-based Wits-GTZ partnership, supported by the Goethe-Institut and the Southern African Theatre Initiative was officially launched last Thursday, 14 February 2008 at the Wits Theatre.
The Drama for Life Programme is an international project that focuses on the extended and integrated use of applied drama and theatre practices for HIV/AIDS education. According to the Director of the Programme and Head of Dramatic Art at Wits, Warren Nebe, the project allows for collaboration across education, community, drama and health settings within the SADC region. “It is firmly committed to promoting personal and social development and empowering students and their communities to enhance the ways in which HIV/AIDS education and counselling is thought about and carried out.”
With the focus on developing a particularly African framework that contributes to research about drama and theatre practice within Africa, the programme has offered 28 scholarships to an eclectic group of Africans from the SADC region with diverse backgrounds in drama and theatre, education and health. The group consists of leading theatre practitioners from SADC universities, non-governmental organisations and theatre groups.
“Drama for Life aims to partner with other leading funding agencies and universities, colleges and non-governmental organisations throughout the region, particularly those dedicated to social development and quality of life research through applied Drama and theatre,” adds Nebe. “The programme further aims to provide support for these scholars to return to their home countries to implement sustainable applied theatre projects.”
According to the participants, this project is not about a didactic or entertaining one-off performance but it is rather about processes stimulated through drama and theatre, aimed at changing the behaviour of young people. ”It is an innovative approach to HIV and AIDS education going beyond messaging as it simultaneously offers a cognitive and emotional experience. The project will be closely monitored, researched and evaluated, with a view to reinforcing HIV and AIDS education through applied drama into schools (life skills curricula) and into the non-formal education of out-of-school youth, by theatre groups.”
“We are convinced that drama and theatre have a much larger role to play in HIV and AIDS education, especially in Africa, than at present,” says Nebe. “Our dream is for governments, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders across the region to start a combined roll-out of the project in their respective countries from 2010 onwards.”
The prestigious event was attended by special guests Prof. Tawana Kupe (Dean, Faculty of Humanities), Helmut Mueller-Glodde (GTZ Programme Director, SADC Governance and Reform Programme), Dr Hans-Georg Knopp (Secretary- General of the Goethe-Institut) and Mpho Molepo (CEO, Southern African Theatre Initiative).