Beyond Local Spaces: Engaging Digital Space/Media in Theatre for Development Practice
Keywords:
Local Community, Development, Digital Space and Theatre for Development.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.