Little words BIG ISSUES: co-creating an applied theatre workshop with young women

ABSTRACT

Recognising young women’s authorship as a powerful force for civic change, we developed a creative framework for applied theatre that cultivates a space for young women to co-author little words, BIG ISSUES: a diversity and inclusion workshop facilitated in cooperation with U.S middle school students. Activating girl-led activism through performance-based methods, students envisioned a more inclusive community by practising how to author responses to the hurtful little words that relate to big societal issues. We describe and analyse the programme design and workshop facilitation, and emphasise the value of young women’s leadership in pursuing inclusivity in a variety of contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Young women
• applied theatre
• youth activism
• inclusive practices
• social justice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Our Framework is inspired in part by the Framework for Applied Theatre developed by Osnes, Manygoats, Weitkamp, and women in the Navajo Nation during the Navajo Women’s Energy Project, which offered one method for how women may collect and transform local knowledge to become active members of their community (Osnes, Manygoats, and Weitkamp 2015).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sarah Fahmy

Sarah Fahmy is a PhD candidate in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Colorado. A multi-disciplinary scholartist, she designs community-based embodied programmes that reignite the stories of the Global South and support youth’s decolonial identity formation. She develops and facilitates programmes with SPEAK internationally.

Beth Osnes

Beth Osnes, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Theatre and Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado. She is co-founder of SPEAK, an approach towards vocal empowerment for young women for increased self-advocacy and civic participation that is being researched in Guatemala, Tanzania, Egypt, and the USA.