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Theater Educational Program on Issues of Social Concern (TEATRO)

Since 1996, the team of young actors has engaged in enterprising and energetic street theater that tackles social justice issues. The all-youth team is responsible for writing and producing each play, and has recently incorporated puppet presentations. The plays have been presented in a multitude of settings, from rural villages and schools to marginal city neighborhoods. CASA’s theater team seeks to educate communities on various social issues such as sexual health, nutrition, alcoholism, drug abuse, puberty, violence, ecology, and HIV. The theater productions are meant to complement the work of other peer counseling programs.

Objective:

• Promote information to the public concerning social problems that exist with the use of theater presentations.
• The themes that are presented in the plays are: Domestic violence, violence against children, nutrition, values, addictions, ecology, HIV, migration, and more.

Achievements to date

• Theater Workshops: Hundreds of adolescents from various municipalities and states have participated in the theater workshops offered by the CASA theater troupe and have learned how to put on their own plays about teen dating violence, migration, values, addictions and more. These plays always stimulate important conversations on these issues amongst the audience members.
• In 2008, the CASA theater team produced and presented 4 plays with the prisoners in the Center for Social Rehabilitation (CERESO).
• In 2010, the team created and produced 2 new plays on nutrition and family planning, making the total number of plays 27. That same year, 50 theater productions were presented, including a puppet show, to a total of 6,071 people.
• Work with professionals: Throughout 2011, the CASA theater team has been working with Jesusa Rodríguez, well-known and respected Mexican director, actress, playwright, performance artist and social activist as well as with Argentine composer/singer/actress Liliana Felipe, both winners of an Obie. Jesusa directed the theater team and midwifery students in a July production on domestic violence for the prestigious Magdalena Project - a dynamic cross-cultural international network of women’s theatre and performance in 50 countries, committed to ensuring the visibility of women’s artistic endeavors.
• Innovating plays: So far this year, the team has presented 11 plays on various social justice themes and is currently producing one about abortion.
• Between 2010 and 2011, the team has given 23 theater workshops to 469 people.
• From January to June 2011, CASA’s theater troupe performed 37 plays, reaching 5,418 people. Their performances encompass and reinforce the teachings of the peer counselors. The subjects of the plays the troupe writes and performs range from domestic violence to environmental issues.
• To date, 104,581 people have attended 1,592 performances.

Goals for 2011/2012

• Professionalize the theater group’s work via additional workshops with specialists.
• Get more scenery materials and stage props to improve the production of each play.
• Promote the belief that theater is a valid teaching tool and offer higher quality performances that include more information and generate even greater impact.

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