Performing Media

The organization and extended volunteer team at Eka is passionate about the performing arts especially when it facilitates a dialogue with the audience. Songs, story-telling, theatre and recitals are the key forms of expression that we explore with groups and communities.

The team organizes participatory theatre processes with varied groups to engage them in a dialogue around Rights, Participation, Communication and Collective Action. The group is encouraged to participate in various group exercises that help assessment, analysis and reflective action.

The workshops are usually 5-7 days residential processes engaging with tribal women farmers, organization project teams, members of youth groups from urban and rural backgrounds, Anganwadi Workers, Street Theatre group members, Adolescent girls from schools and colleges, working children, unemployed and school-drop out youth among others.

The effort is to engage in a learning and sharing process to discover methods of self-expression, understand the various dimensions of social change and work as a collective to evolve a performance that raises questions, prods the audience to enter into a dialogue with the performers. For the audience and the performers its a shift from being passive audience to proactive actors, from spectators to spect-actors. We are inspired by Paulo Freire and Augusto Boal’s approach to working with collectives.