When the stage is shaken, and the lights go dark: Discovering how performance and social work can continue to share the spotlight together!

Abstract

Since March 2020, community-based performance social groups have shifted drastically. With COVID-19, quarantining and social distance protocols, the ongoing pandemic has altered in-person social work and the way communities interact. The information shared in this thesis is drawn from 4 semi-structured qualitative interviews. The data showcases folks who are community leaders, teachers and social workers who use performance techniques with their clients. My study asked the Participants about their history using theatre arts within their practice and investigated how COVID-19 impacted their endeavours. The data collected implies that community work using theatre has an ongoing potential to support social change efforts toward rebuilding and sustaining connection. Yet, the data also discovered a growing divide that is further affecting marginalized folks who can not access community within a digital world. Inspired by the works of Lisbeth Berbary (2011) and Jonathan Gross (2021) this thesis artistically re-imagines the collected data as a social performance amongst the Participants involved. With permission from the Participants, an ethnographic screenplay using a creative analytical approach (Berbary, 2011), transformed the semi-structured qualitative interview findings to highlight key discoveries. These key discoveries outline a nuanced understanding of how performance for social change has been transformed and the tensions that arose, particularly the growing social divide for access (the divide between those who can access online community performance groups and those who lose out from a lack of technological accessibility). Analyzing these conflicting advantages and disadvantages can help build toward an inclusive and equitable approach for theatre as a vehicle for social justice.