Theater for Social Change in Chalatenango

On September 10^th 2011, the annual Youth Encounter was held in San Antonio Los Ranchos,  Chalatenango, a part of the SHARE-CCR Youth Leadership Development Project that provides high school scholarships for 16 youth leaders. Around 50 young people came together to laugh, learn, and connect with other young leaders. The agenda was lively, interactive and youth-led. 

 Although the content was serious and focused on youth development and organizing in Chalatenango, a fun spin on education and awareness was presented: education for social change through theater.

 In the first play, a young man wants to get involved and do something meaningful and important.  His opportunity comes, and he visits the home of two women in his community to sign them up for a literacy circle.  The younger woman is immediately convinced and excited.  The older woman resists, saying, “What do I need to learn to read and write for?  I’m old!,” “I have too much housework to do.  I can’t just leave to go off to meetings,” and “My husband won’t let me.” 

As the conversation between the young man and two women continues, young people in the audience are given the tools and arguments to get people in their community involved in the literacy circle.  These are the reasons they’ll hear for why people don’t want to participate, and now they have ways to respond.   The theater piece is engaging, interesting, funny, and a creative way to get young people involved, explain the importance of the literacy program, and give them the tools to organize people in their communities

 The second play presented was written and organized by the youth theater group “New Youth Stars” of Carasque, Nueva Trinidad. Their new play,  “The Good and the Bad: Dating,” includes lessons and experiences in dating.  The principal couple is a young man who tries to pressure his girlfriend into a sexual relationship she isn’t ready for.  As she explains the reasons why she wants to wait, his respect for her grows.  In the end, he tells his friends that he loves her even more for her decision, and is going to wait, too.  During the play, other young people encounter STDs and confront ridicule in their communities.  In a country where sexuality and sexual health are taboo subjects, where young people don’t understand how their bodies work or how to protect themselves from diseases, this a powerful mechanism for raising awareness. Far from a lecture from adults, this play is about young people engaging each other in a conversation about their bodies and decisions.  And a brave move for the fifteen members of the Carasque theater group, questioning taboos and pushing boundaries in rural El Salvador. 

The literacy theater group presented a second work towards the end of the encounter, in which Salvadoran mythical figures El Cipitillo (above) and Sihuet face evil forces trying to prevent rural people from learning to read and write; “they’ll be smarter than me,” says the witch, “and it will be boring because everyone will be in class!” Complete with the involvement of unwitting audience members, the play has the teenagers paying attention and laughing. 

 In a country where many meetings, assemblies and forums are organized around a handful of adult speakers making presentations, this was a welcome change.  Young people creating and sharing their own messages with other youth leaders in a dynamic, creative way, breaking down barriers to conversation about taboo subjects and giving each other positive encouragement to stay involved. 

September 2011