Beyond Local Spaces: Engaging Digital Space/Media in Theatre for Development Practice

Abstract

As a practice, Theatre for Development (TFD) has been significantly employed at local community spaces. This is because TFD prioritizes the challenges affecting ordinary people who are living in marginalized and local community spaces. The essence is to ensure that they are empowered and challenged to play active roles in salvaging their marginalized spaces and to contribute their own quota in addressing development challenges. However, in the light of new realities of today’s digital world, there is need to broaden the space of engaging ordinary people, who beyond their local domains, have become part and parcel of an evolving digital world with a real spatial presence that directly affects them. The need to engage ordinary people who are not exempted from the impacts of digital space is quite key in pushing the frontiers of the TFD agenda. This paper therefore seeks to examine the importance of having TFD practice that can attract and engage digital and spatial audience in achieving developmental agenda. Although the paper pays attention to some of the challenges which this platform/approach presents, however the possibilities and prospects of 
such an engagement is the thrust of this paper.