This massive 94 page guide produced by WPRIG is an excellent primer for an activist group who has thought about using theatre as a form of popular education but wasn’t sure how. The guide is based on the experiences of WPRIG’s Enviromaniacs troupe who performed skits about topics like deforestation and food politics. Though it was produced in the early nineties the practical tips and workshops remain just as useful today.
The main goals of this guide are to educate, facilitate group processes and act as a resource. It effectively goes through the history of popular education and theatre in social justice movements, using consensus and other methods of organizing. It has many detailed activities to get groups started performing and getting comfortable making their own scripts. These exercises are grouped into warm ups, movement, concentration and improvisation.
The guide also contains an outline to help activists create their own theatre workshop for other activists based on their experiences.