Applied Theatre

Abstract

This chapter describes applied theatre as an innovative and novel intervention for helping individuals and organizations to manage change. Applied theatre engages participants to understand their emotional responses to change and how they might respond more effectively to it. These processes are discussed through the legacy of Aristotle's ideas on emotional participation and Boal's Forum Theatre on engagement with groups and their empowerment. After a brief introduction to applied theatre methodology, the chapter presents key insights from interviews with five directors of applied theatre that highlight how they use their skills and competence in emotional awareness and emotional management in order to shape the emotional states of participants and achieve learning to cope with change. Finally, the authors highlight recent studies suggesting applied theatre can have positive impacts within a broad array of settings.