Theatre for Social Change

While most people's common conception of art is as a means for entertainment, the arts have always been a platform for social awareness. Everyone can probably name a protest song or two, or a painting that depicted the scene of a tragedy, or a play that really gets people thinking about an issue.According to our Theatre Department's mission statement, our theatre program serves to "cultivate the stewardship of intellect and imagination in a forum for civic dialogue." No course serves this objective more than Theatre for Social Change (THEA 363), taught by department co-chair Valerie Smith.

The Theatre for Social Change course presented "This Just Might Be the Ride of Your Life" in Fall 2008 (written by the Spring 2008 class), a show that sold out on most nights of its run. The Spring 2009 class tackled the issue of civic dialogue directly and presented a 20-minute piece for a faculty retreat that happened right after commencement.

"I definitely had a group of activists in the class, and they wanted to affect a lot more change than what they perceived this little venue was going to provide for them," says Smith. Regardless, the community of educators at the conference cited the skit as the highlight of their weekend.

This year's class is tackling a much more specific topic: worldwide human trafficking. "We are going to be collecting all kinds of information, doing really good solid research on traffickers, on victims, on survivors of trafficking.and creating a small piece that's about 50-60 minutes long that could be easily performed by a group of 8-10 people in any setting anywhere," says Smith. The rehearsal process will be easy, and a staged reading will be enough for maximum impact. "It's not a huge, major production, but it's powerful in the content."

To gather this information, Smith and her class are working with David Batstone, of Not For Sale, who spoke in chapel on February 16. They are also working with Kristin Miller ('10) of the on-campus International Justice Mission and Love group to collect stories and promote awareness.

"I contacted [Batstone] a few months ago before the class started, knowing that he would be here." After speaking in chapel, Batsone spent the afternoon with the theatre class and gave them feedback on a few scenes that they have already prepared. When speaking of Batstone and his organization, Smith has high praises. "Whether you're a dancer, or an economist, or a marine biologist, he can think of ways you can use your vocation to help end human trafficking."

The students in the class, who come from all sorts of different majors across campus (theatre, nursing, social work, and Christian ministries, to name a few), have already been changed by the class. "We're so much more conscious of what's around us and how much has been created by slave labor that we were not aware of two and a half weeks ago," says Smith. "If God has chosen us for this situation to be His hands and His eyes and His feet, then in order to affect change we have to be the ones to figure out how to do that."

The class will culminate in a presentation by its students on May 7, 2010 at 8 P.M. in Miller Auditorium.